AUGUSTA, Ga. – Come Sunday night to Augusta National Golf Clubsomeone will win the Masters green jacket and their life will change forever.
It’s the most coveted jacket in all of sports, but it’s definitely not your average coat. Let us explain.
First, the color. You know you’re wondering. It’s Pantone 342, also known as Masters Green. (Your new basement color? Smart choice.)
The club bought its first jackets from the Brooks Uniform Company in 1937, but members, who were encouraged to buy them so patrons could identify reliable sources of information, weren’t thrilled with how warm they were. There have been several different suppliers since then, but Hamilton Tailoring Co. has been making them since 1967. (No, you can’t buy one.) In addition to the club logo on the left breast pocket, it’s also on the brass buttons.
Jackets were not awarded to Masters champions until 1949, when Sam Snead won. They were awarded to all previous winners retroactively.
And you probably know this, but the tradition of the Masters is that the winner of the previous tournament puts the jacket on the new champion every Sunday night. But what about back-to-back winners? In 1966, when Jack Nicklaus repeated as champion, club co-founder Bobby Jones jokingly suggested that Nicklaus take on both roles and make it his own. The last two times there has been a repeat champion, with Nick Faldo in 1990 and Tiger Woods in 2002, the club chairman assisted with the jacket. Although, with the 2026 tournament nearing its conclusion, there is one there’s a chance we’ll have our fourth repeat winner in tournament history.
Jackets are reserved for club members and Masters winners. That’s it. And don’t even think about removing them from the grounds. This right is reserved only for the defending champion after their victory. But when their year ends and they return next April to defend their title, the jacket stays put as soon as the new champion puts on theirs. Three-time champion Gary Player forgot the rule for a year and returned to South Africa. When he heard from chairman Clifford Roberts, Player joked, “Well, why don’t you come get it?”
There are certain times when Masters champions can wear their jacket off the course, but this is only when they can represent the tournament or the club at a function or event, and of course, they need permission to do so.
As the Masters draws to a close each year, the club selects a few jackets that could fit the potential winner. The jacket that the winner receives on the night of victory is not usually what they wear. They equip immediately after their victory and get a new one.
These jackets are not often found in the wild, but when they are, the price is high. In 2013, Green Jacket Auctions sold the inaugural Augusta National Invitational winner Horton Smith jacket for $682,229.
So while you won’t win the Masters to get your green jacket, you can always be asked to join the club. Although this may be even less likely. of LA Times published a story in 2023 which detailed an exclusive vault under the members shop, which the club calls the Green Jacket Experience, and the Green Jacket Vault, where new club members are joined by chairman Fred Ridley and a tailor to be fitted with their jackets.
