MASTERS | HISTORY
The Tale of the
Georgia Green n 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
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Bubba Watson slips on the most coveted item of apparel in the world of sports after his victory last year; Sam Snead (right), seen here with Ben Hogan at the 1955 Masters, was the first recipient of the Green Jacket 42
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Both Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts 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. HK Golfer・APR 2013
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Dale Concannon reports on the fascinating history of the fabled Masters Green Jacket.
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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.) Considering its vaunted reputation, you might imagine that modern day Green Jackets are Armani-made and fitted with diamond studded, gold buttons. Sadly you would be wrong. Supplied by the Hamilton Tailoring Company of Cincinnati since 1967 each single-breasted, centre-vented blazer costs Augusta National the 44
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Player adhered to his request, the jacket formed part of a collection of his memorabilia offered for sale at Christie's in 2002 but went unsold.) The same indignation was shown by Augusta National in 1994 when a genuine Green Jacket turned up in a Toronto thrift shop among a bunch of old sports coats. Discovered by a Canadian journalist, he immediately recognised the distinctive logo and gladly handed over the C$5 listed on the price tag! Contacting General Manager James Armstrong for information, the club was not best pleased to hear about the find. “If it had been the Turin Shroud, the secret society known as the Augusta National Golf Club could not have been more furious,” wrote Ian Wooldridge in the Daily Mail some years later. “It’s true that Augusta National is relatively protective over its Green Jackets but this was not always the case,” says Ryan Carey, president of Green Jacket Auctions, an auction website specialising in high-end golf memorabilia, including rare Masters Items. “I've spoken to many members, employees and former Masters champions and they all confirm the jackets weren't nearly so tightly guarded by the Club back in the 1940s and 1950s. Then in the early 1960s the shutters came down and have stayed down ever since.” Understandable when you find that a standard members’ jacket can fetch thousands of dollars at auction. Link it to 1959 Masters champion Art Wall and the bidding tops U$53,000; link it to Bobby Jones and the auction sale price rises to an astronomic U$310,700, like one sold in 2012. So what price any one of the six Green Jackets won by the great Jack Nicklaus? Curiously not that much as the Golden Bear has never actually owned one until fairly recently. In one of the oddest of stories to emerge from Augusta National in years, the player most associated with the Masters was ultimately forced to buy his own jacket 43 years after supposedly winning his first. “Everybody talks about the Green Jacket,” said Nicklaus, “but I never actually owned one until 1998.” The problem began after he won his first Masters in 1963 as a chubby 23-year old. Unable to calculate his exact size, officials handed Arnold Palmer a size 46 long to present to the young champion. Draping it over his shoulders in the traditional manner it quickly became obvious how massively oversized it was. “They must have thought I was huge,” Nicklaus recalled during a recent visit to Scotland. “It was like an overcoat. It hung on me like an old blanket.” Returning as defending champion 12 months later, no replacement had been ordered which meant that he was forced to borrow one from former New York Governor, Thomas E Dewey. Winning again in 1965 and 1966 to become the first repeat champion, Nicklaus gratefully HKGOLFER.COM
Supplied by the Hamilton Tailoring Company of Cincinnati since 1967 each single-breasted, centre-vented blazer costs Augusta National the remarkably modest sum of just U$250
Amazingly, six-time winner Jack Nicklaus (opposite) wasn’t actually measured for his own Green Jacket until 1998
borrowed the jacket twice more from his fellow Augusta member. With no Green Jacket other than the original 46 long hanging in his locker, he decided to tough it out rather than say something. “Nobody ever spoke to me about it,” said Jack. “And I was never going to say anything.” Nicklaus won his fourth Masters in 1972 and decided to take matters into his own hands. Dewey had died the year before and according to rumour had been buried in the much-used jacket. Having a sponsorship deal with Cincinnati-based clothing manufacturer Hart, Schaffner and Marx, he asked them to make him a Green Jacket of his own prior to the tournament. With nothing to go on except press photographs, they made a manful effort but still managed to get the colour and cut totally wrong. Presented with the only replica Green Jacket copy in the history of the Masters, nobody at Augusta even noticed. The same bootleg jacket was used again in 1975 after he captured his fifth Masters title. As his career went into decline in the 1980s, Jack decided to keep the story under wraps. As age took its toll he preferred to borrow other members' jackets – and it was a ‘loaner’ he wore on that historic afternoon in April 1986 when 46-year old Nicklaus became the oldest winner of the Masters. Still without a Green Jacket to call his own, Nicklaus finally summoned up the courage to approach Augusta National Chairman Jackson Stephens in 1997. “I told him the whole story and how I've never been given one I could wear,” said Jack. Stephens was understandably shocked and ordered an instant visit to the Augusta pro shop where Jack could finally be measured for his own Green Jacket. Nicklaus respectfully declined. “It was such a great story,” he said. “I didn’t want to ruin it ...” The same could equally apply to the Green Jacket itself. HK Golfer・APR 2013
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“Everybody talks about the Green Jacket,” said six-time Masters champ Nicklaus, “but I never actually owned one until 1998.”
remarkably modest sum of just U$250 (just under HK$2,000). Cut and stitched in Dublin, Georgia by Victor Forstmann Inc, each one is still made from a school uniform mix of wool and polyester. Lined with sheer Bemberg rayon, the buttons – three for each cuff and three larger ones the actual jacket – are made of polished brass by Waterbury Companies Inc of Connecticut. Bearing the celebrated Augusta National logo, they match the one stitched onto the left hand breast pocket before each jacket is finally delivered. As for the distinctive green colour it is somewhat unromantically listed as: ‘Pantone 342.’ Somewhat remarkably every new jacket in living memory has been taken from a single 500yard roll of wool purchased back in 1990 by Ed Heimann, chairman of Hamilton Tailoring. Estimated to make around 200 jackets, a re-order may be on the cards with the admission of two new female members in 2012 in the shape of former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore. The first women to join the men-only ranks of Augusta National Golf Club in 80 years, the question whether or not they received a more feminine cut was met with a polite but firm, “No comment!” from Hamilton Tailoring. (Coincidentally, the same answer was given by a club spokesman when asked to confirm all the previous manufacturing details.) Perhaps the best known “guideline infringement” involved three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo, who wore his during a number of high-profile TV Chat show interviews after his first win in 1989. At least he promised to bring it back – unlike Seve Ballesteros, who flatly refused to return his in 2002 when asked by Chairman Hootie Johnson. Not that either man was the first to "accidentally" spirit the jacket away from the club. In 1961, the first non-American winner of the Masters, Gary Player, was telephoned in South Africa by Chairman Roberts who admonished him for leaving the property with it in tow. Unaware of the heinous crime he had committed the Black Knight mischievously replied: “Fine Mr Roberts, if you want it come and fetch it!” Making him promise that he would never wear it in public, Roberts then introduced a set of strict guidelines before the 1962 Masters to ensure that no more Green Jackets went astray. (While
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