The storyline from the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines is of a champion at the pinnacle of his powers grinding out a playoff victory on a broken leg.
But Tiger Woods wasn’t the only one on a career high that week or the only one signing autographs. Some of the spotlight shined on golf artist Lee Wybranski, who created, among other things, the logo and poster for the ’08 tournament. A local TV station featured his work early in the week and, from the first day of the championship, Wybranski found himself an artist appreciated in his own time.
“I had 20 or 30 people standing in line for me to sign the poster,” Wybranski said in mid-September in a phone interview from his office in Flagstaff, Ariz. “The poster ended up being a best-selling item in the merchandise tent. It was a runaway success. It makes me smile just thinking about it.”
The project was huge for Wybranski because it was his first U.S. Open poster for the USGA, who hired him in 2002 after seeing his work at that year’s Senior Open. Wybranski also designed the art for Torrey’s yardage books and was thrilled to hear about the U.S. Open returning to Torrey Pines in 2021, where his posters again will be part of the allure.
Wybranski has been designing logos and posters for the USGA and PGA Tour events since his star turn in 2008. His work this year promoted the U.S. Open at Oakmont, the British Open at Royal Troon and the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National in Minnesota. He gained additional exposure this year when the Golf Channel highlighted his practice of painting live on the course during the majors.
Wybranski works in watercolor and is tasked with capturing the character of the courses at many of the majors. He does this by depicting simple scenes that depict the essence of the venue and have a timeless feel about them. He prefers “timeless” and “classic” to describe his work but said he also hears “vintage” and “old school” a lot.
“I try to depict things in a way that doesn’t go out of style,” he said.
His pre-poster for the 2021 U.S. Open shows a Torrey pine looming beyond a bunker with a paraglider floating into a distant sunset. The official poster is a few years – and at least another trip to Torrey Pines – away for Wybranski, who spent time at the course the past two years taking photos and filling notebooks with sketches.
His first visit to Torrey since ’08 produced “goose bumps,” he said, and Wybranski has developed a process for creating logos and posters that he re-employed at the La Jolla venue.
“I know Torrey really well, but I’ll typically just gather first impressions at the very beginning,” he said. “I’m trying to find grist for the mill, so I take quite a bit of notes and do a lot of sketching and snap a few pictures. I’m trying to take in as much information as possible and let it simmer and process.”
Wybranski is designing all posters and logos for upcoming U.S. Opens, except in 2019 at Pebble Beach, which will design that logo in house. He said he enjoys the creative liberties the poster projects entail, but the logo remains a collaborative process with the USGA. The economic impact of the posters is real, as the host courses see a rise in merchandise sales years in advance of the event, thus the pre-planning and pre-release of official logos and posters.
While working the major championships now comprise the bulk of Wybranski’s business, he also does quite a bit of work with private and public courses. In fact, he has that type of course client in SoCal – Goat Hill in Oceanside.
Goat Hill is a renovated short course in Oceanside, a recovery project taken on and overseen by John Ashworth, the CEO of Linksoul golf apparel. Ashworth hired Wybranski to create a poster of Goat Hill that will appear in Linksoul’s spring catalog.
Wybranski said he’s giving Goat Hill the same treatment he does with higher-profile courses, such as Pinehurst and Oakmont.
“I want to give that major championship look to Goat Hill,” he said of the poster that should be ready this fall. “I’m pretty excited about it.”
Wybranski spent most of a recent day playing Goat Hill and getting acquainted with the quirky layout and story of redemption.
“It’s a funky, cool muni with golf purists running it,” he said. “I find the whole thing very interesting. It’s about as unique as it gets.”
Ashworth said he appreciates Wybranski’s representation of the game and can’t wait to see how the Goat Hill poster turns out.
“We love his work,” Ashworth said. “He threw out an idea that we just loved. He’s a great artist, a great guy, and we’re happy to be involved with him.”
The Goat Hill project took Wybranski back to his roots as a golfer and an artist. He said he took up the game in his 20s on Philadelphia’s municipal courses. He credits his style to reading old golf books that depicted courses prior to technical enhancements.
“So much imagery today is made digitally that I think anything handmade really stands out and resonates with people,” he said. “It might feel old-fashioned but it also has a warmth that you don’t get with something computer-generated.
“Those old golf books and artists I’ve read all contributed to the heritage of the game, and I hope that I contribute that way. My goal is for my work to be a valid and meritorious contribution to the game.”
