Golf retailer chips in for city’s art scene

A lack of experience with a brush and paint bucket did not stop one golf shop owner from contributing to Maricopa’s ever-growing art scene this week. 

If you have been to Maricopa’s post office this week, you most likely noticed a mural painted by Jack Nolan, owner of Tee It Up Again Golf Store. 

Nolan eyed decorating an empty wall to draw eyeballs to the shop but was not willing to fork over a hefty chunk of change to commission a professional muralist.  

“I called Maricopa High School to see if they had any great artists that wanted to do something,” Nolan said. 

He later reached out to some local artists who were painting traffic boxes around town, but with no success. 

Eventually, Nolan dipped his own brush in paint and got to work. 

“I researched it and did it myself,” he said. 

It only took $70 from the entrepreneur’s pocket to get the job done. 

With no experience in art, Nolan said he used a clever combination of tech gadgets and YouTube tutorials to get the look he wanted. He bought a projector from a garage sale and printed a silhouette of a golfer at a local printing store. 

Nolan lit up the side of the building with the projector and the silhouette and started tracing.  

After three days of work, Nolan finished his mural Saturday depicting a golfer in action backdropped by Maricopa’s iconic rugged mountain vista. 

“It was a lot of trial and error,” Nolan said of his fresco. 

He said he won’t let a lack of experience stop him from grabbing the attention of those who pass by. 

The club-swinging mural joined a herd of decorated horses and traffic-boxes in the city’s arts scene. 

It’s now one of many publicly visible murals in Maricopa. Others can be seen at Maricopa High School, the Maricopa Historical Society’s visitor center and museum, Maricopa City Hall, MOD Pizza and Thai Chili 2 Go.