feature image

David Lussier

Photo by: Diane Diederich Photography

David Lussier is an official U.S. Open artist for the United States Golf Association. He is also a nationally recognized landscape painter whose work has garnered more than 75 awards and is in numerous private and corporate collections throughout the United States. Mr. Lussier’s technique is characterized by a masterful use of color harmonies and poetic brushwork that bring his paintings to life.

Mr. Lussier has been commissioned by the United States Golf Association to paint several golf paintings, including Merion Country Club in Ardmore Pennsylvania, and the official commemorative painting of Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont Pennsylvania, for the 116th U.S. Open. Most recently, Mr. Lussier completed “The Ninth Hole”, his painting for the 117th U.S. Open, held in 2017 at Erin Hills in Hartford, Wisconsin. This beautiful portrait now hangs in the USGA Museum's permanent collection in Far Hills, New Jersey, bringing the the Museum’s total number of original David Lussier works to four.

Lussier recently had the privilege of painting a commissioned work of the 11th hole at Latrobe Country Club for the USGA, which presented it as a gift to Doc Giffin, Arnold Palmer's right-hand man from 1966 until Mr. Palmer’s recent passing. Mr. Giffin was honored for being a good friend to the organization for more than half a century.

Before beginning each new golf landscape, Lussier spends many days photographing the subject at different times of day, under varying light and atmospheric conditions. He completes thumbnail drawings and color studies as well, all before putting the first brushstrokes on canvas. It is a lengthy process, but integral to maintaining the authenticity of every golf hole and course he paints. Lussier always takes into consideration the design elements felt by the golfer, the characteristic beauty of the landscape along with the challenges the golfer will have to navigate while playing the hole. A golfer himself since the age of twelve, Lussier understands these types of challenges on a personal level. About his process, Mr. Lussier says, “Playing a great golf hole is satisfying in its challenge and beauty. Painting a great golf hole is all this times one hundred.”

Speaking with the course architect, club members and others knowledgeable about the course adds a great deal to the finished painting, in terms of a connection to the landscape and a sense of place. Adding to this is the excitement of how sunlight and shadow give a sense of form and unity to the scene. The final painting is a record of the hole, painted in its best artistic presentation of light and shadow from a perspective of both artist and golfer.