Buttoned Up

For the winner, it's not as simple as just slipping the thing on. With the Masters' renowned green jacket comes responsibility.

- Evan Rothman

No white after Labor Day. No socks with sandals. And, for God’s sake, no black socks with sandals.

It’s rarer to find individual articles of clothing with their own rules. Augusta National’s green jacket is one such garment. Exclusive to ANGC members and Masters champions, the three-button single-breasted jacket was introduced in 1937 to make members identifiable to tournament patrons with questions and to waiters with the dinner bill. It was bestowed upon Masters winners starting with Sam Snead, in 1949, making him an honorary member—a privilege granted to all prior champions retroactively and to all future champions.

At a place where the pimento-cheese sandwich recipe is a closely held secret, information regarding the jacket’s protocol doesn’t hang on magnolia trees. Some diktat can be readily inferred. For example, the defending champion puts the jacket on the new champion, unless it’s a repeat winner, in which case Augusta’s chairman gets the job. And yes, detective, that jacket is merely for the ceremony, chosen among many on hand to more or less fit the winner. (Recently, officials began asking tournament invitees to submit their jacket size in advance.) Soon enough, it’s replaced by a custom-tailored version.