ABOUT ROB MATRE

Rob Matre at Royal Dornoch Golf Club

Atlanta gallery owner Rob Matre began photographing golf in the Fall of 2003, after taking his black & white film camera to a practice round at Capital City Club’s Crabapple course. As he walked onto the course early in the morning, he found Tiger Woods playing his practice round for that week’s American Express Championship. Although Matre was not a professional photographer at the time, the resulting images only made him want to do it again.

The following year he traveled to a dozen or so PGA Tour events, starting in February at Riviera. Without credentials, he would simply go to practice rounds where anyone could take a camera. He quickly gained a worldwide following when he started posting his photographs on his Golf In Context website, with most golf blogs at that time sharing his images with links to his website. At a time before social media, his photographs offered an alternative glimpse into the professional game that was not usually available on television or in newspapers and magazines.

When staffers at the USGA learned of his work, they invited Rob to photograph the U.S. Open with full press credentials, starting in 2006 at Winged Foot. In two years, he went from photographing practice rounds to working inside the ropes at a major championship. In 2010, he joined the USGA photography staff to document the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where his photographs appeared daily in their own dedicated black & white gallery on the USGA website.

As his golf photography continued to grow, in 2013 he was hired to host and produce the Saturday morning golf radio show on Atlanta’s 790 The Zone. With no radio experience, he relied on a strong roster of guests, including media members and players he had met on tour.

Also in 2013, Matre began a return to painting, and his series of mixed media works made under the name Plaid Columns immediately began to take off. Dedicating more of his time to painting, in 2014 he resigned from the radio show, and traveling for tournament photography was put on hold. He would continue to photograph the game of golf, focusing on documenting courses rather than tournaments, including trips to the great links courses of Ireland and Scotland.

Eventually his Golf In Context website went away, with his photographs available to view on the Matre Gallery website and on his various social media oulets.

And now in 2025…Golf In Context is back!

Tiger Woods
Capital City Club (Crabapple)
Atlanta, GA
2003 American Express Championship