You know you’re watching the Masters when the azaleas are blooming, the greens roll like glass and you see caddies carrying golf bags while wearing white jumpsuits that make them look like they might be house painters or cheer captains at a Texas A&M football game.
However, like so many things at Augusta National Golf Club, caddies wearing white jumpsuits is a tradition that dates back decades.
Caddies at the Augusta National Invitational Tournament and the earliest Masters tournaments in the 1930s wore clothes similar to the patrons attending those events, according to the club. Clifford Roberts, one of the co-founders of Augusta National and a club chairman, thought there were times when it could be challenging to identify the caddies, so in 1940 he wrote a letter and proposed they wear uniforms.
The earliest uniforms were made using blue denim and included a green cap with a yellow button for regular member play. In the late 1940s, the white jumpsuits started to be used during Masters tournaments. They were heavy, looked like clothing worn by painters and were hot for the caddies who carried clubs up and down the course’s hills. However, the white jumpsuits served their purpose and made it very easy to see who the caddies were during the tournament.
Until 1983, players who competed in the Masters had to use a caddie who worked at Augusta National, but after players were allowed to bring their regular caddies to the Masters, the white jumpsuit tradition remained.
Today, the jumpsuits are made from a polyester and cotton-blended material that is lighter and cooler. Each caddie’s jumpsuit has the player’s name on the back, affixed with velcro, along with the club’s logo on the right breast and the player’s number for the week on a left-breast pocket. The defending Masters champion is assigned the No. 1 each year, but after that, the numbers are assigned in the order the players arrive and check in at the tournament.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: The inside story of why caddies at the Masters wear white jumpsuits
