In fashion circles it ranks alongside flared trousers, batwing shirts and kipper ties. Yet nothing comes close in golfing terms to the iconic Green Jacket handed to the winner of the Masters each April. As much a part of Augusta National Golf Club as pine trees and peach cobblers, this simple item of clothing is now associated with major championship golf the same way the Claret Jug is to the Open Championship.
Born out a successful trip to the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club – often known as Hoylake – in 1927, Club founder Bobby Jones came away hugely impressed by the smart red jacket worn by former captains there. So when Augusta National opened for business in January 1933, he floated the idea of a members’ jacket to business partner Clifford Roberts. Both liked the colour of the leaves which underpinned the azalea bushes found on the former Fruitlands Nursery. Known as verdant green, the choice was made and a legend was born.
Four years later in 1937, Roberts decreed that every member attending the Masters should wear his “Green Jacket” so that visitors could pick them out from the crowd and ask them for directions. Not surprisingly the idea of wearing a pure wool jacket in 90 degree heat met with a lukewarm reception but after a light-weight version was introduced the following year, the concept stuck and endures today.
The first professional recipient was Sam Snead in 1947. Accepting it from the hands of Jones himself, the ‘Slammer’ must have had mixed feelings as he pulled on the size 40, Brooks Brother jacket for the first time: not only was it green and made from an inexpensive wool polyester mix, it replaced the attractive gold medal presented to all previous Masters winners。
It may have left Snead underwhelmed but 66 years later it regularly tops the most wanted list of almost every PGA Tour professional. Not that many Augusta National members, honorary or otherwise, have the opportunity of showing off the most famous jacket in sport. With more “do’s and don’ts” than a typical Buckingham Palace tea party, only first-time winners are allowed to remove it from club grounds and then only for the first 12 months. After that they are kept permanently in the Champions Locker Room and are only worn once a year during Masters Week – and then only within the confines of Augusta National. (In a recent change winners are now presented with a replica jacket they may keep to commemorate their win.)
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