Golf not the only draw at merchandise-mad Masters

The Masters tournament ended Sunday. So did another tradition unlike any other. The Masters merchandise tents, open annually for just seven days, closed for another year.

The competition for the prized Masters green jacket captivated an international community of sports fans across four spring afternoons. The chase for Masters apparel, golf accessories and trinkets, which can be bought only on the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club, was the obsessive fixation of tens of thousands of attending spectators 13 hours a day for an entire week.

The demand for Masters paraphernalia was so great that fans routinely spurned the golf being played to instead wait for a half-hour to enter the crowded central merchandise tent. After perusing about 700 items that included Masters cuff links ($65/€62) and Masters playing cards ($12/€11), customers queued up again, handing over cash or credit cards to 132 uniformed cashiers.

The average price of a purchase, according to numerous interviews with clerks and cashiers, was about $425 (€403).

At its core, the Masters is a golf tournament, but the merchandising of its brand and logo is a big business. Augusta National is exceedingly secretive about its finances, but golf industry experts have estimated that the Masters merchandise outlets take in about $45 (€43) million during Masters week.

How is that possible?

It is not from price gouging. While the Masters apparel and other goods are costly, the prices of hats (about $25 to $35), basic golf shirts ($69 to $79) and trendy pullovers and sweaters ($80/€76 to $185/€175) are comparable to what those items cost in the merchandise tents at other major golf championships.

It is the zeal to have a garment or a bauble like a Masters bracelet ($118/€112), a Masters beach blanket ($29/€27) or a Masters iPhone case ($25/€23) that fills the Augusta National coffers.

Since goods with the Masters logo are not sold in stores or online — except in the secondary market — a badge to attend the tournament becomes the gateway to an exclusive store within a famous enclave. A set of four Masters tumblers ($65/€61) perched on the dining room table at home confers status. It is proof of having been on the Augusta National grounds.

Or, commonly, evidence that someone else breached the Augusta National walls and brought home a souvenir like a Masters belt ($35/33), Masters binoculars ($46) or a Masters shot glass ($9).

“About 10 minutes after you announce on Facebook that you’re going to the Masters, everyone you know or work with sends you a message asking you to buy something for them,” Terry Martens, who owns a car dealership in Edmonton, Alberta, said as he lugged six bags of goods out of the central merchandise facility.

Martens spent $820 (€779) in the tent. He bought Masters flags ($22/€21) for the putting green in his backyard, vintage Masters signs ($95/€90 to $495/€470) for his man cave and an assortment of visors ($19/€17) and T-shirts ($38/€36).

“I think there’s one Masters hat in all these bags that’s for me,” Martens said, laughing.

Just behind Martens in line was Casey Hill of Salt Lake City. He bought 24 hats, all for colleagues at the nuclear services company where he works.

“The Masters brand is timeless,” Hill said. “People want to have some association to it. The last time I was here and came back wearing a Masters hat, all these people said to me, ‘Oh, I wish I had asked you to get me a hat.’

“So this time, I bought more than were requested. I won’t have trouble getting rid of them.”

Hill spent $550 (€522). Headgear is the most popular item sold at the Masters.

If a customer’s purchases are so abundant they cannot be easily carried from the store or the club grounds, security guards will help lug the goods to a nearby counter where, for a fee, the merchandise will be shipped to the customer’s home or workplace.

That is what Leandro Gonzalez, who was visiting from Buenos Aires, did on Friday. He had 10 bags stuffed full of hats, shirts, sweaters and other accessories. Gonzalez said the oddest thing he bought was probably a Masters flask ($70/€66). Or maybe it was the throw pillow embossed with an image of the Augusta National clubhouse ($195/€185).

Gonzalez spent $4,895 (€4,650).

While the central merchandise facility, which is about the size of a small grocery store, is just inside the main gate to the club, there are eight other locations spaced around the grounds. They open at 7 a.m. and do not close until dusk.

About 700 employees serve the merchandising effort. The outlets include a small traditional golf pro shop that is off limits to most Masters spectators. It contains certain items, like a coin dish or an ashtray with the vintage Masters logo ($20/€19), that are not sold in the main merchandise facility.

The least expensive item sold in any of the stores is a holder for a spectator’s badge ($6/€6). The highest-priced item is diamond jewelry ($4,000/€3,800).

“I didn’t see the diamond jewelry,” said Garry Hayes of Lacrosse, Wis., who had just spent more than $1,600 (€1500), mostly on Masters golf shirts, Masters jackets ($80/€76) and Masters golf towels ($18/€17). “I wouldn’t have gone near that anyway.”

Hayes, making his first appearance at the Masters, had specific marching orders when it came to his shopping.

“I had a list from clients, family and friends,” he said. “I went down that list and made sure I had everything. I mean, if you come here, you have to get all this stuff. Otherwise, did you really come here at all?”