1936 Masters Member's Badge with Ribbon

        When Bobby Jones and his Augusta National Golf Club hosted its first tournament in 1934, it was titled “Annual Invitation Tournament.” From the very beginning members of the press and Augusta National members had suggested the name “Masters.” Bobby Jones reportedly found the term “Masters” to be rather pretentious, so he vetoed the name. Much like the way people continued to call him “Bobby” rather than his preferred “Bob,” members of the press and members of the club constantly referred to the tournament as the Masters anyway, despite it not being the official title. In 1938, before the 5th tournament, Bobby Jones relented and the name was officially changed to “Masters’ Tournament" (later dropping the apostrophe).

        Items from those first 4 Augusta National Invitationals are extremely scarce. The tournament was only mildly popular at the time, known simply as Bobby Jones' tournament. Surely no one envisioned what it would become. We are proud to have the privilege of offering this outstanding Member’s Badge from the 1936 Augusta National Invitational. While the exact number of Augusta National members in 1936 is unclear (The Augusta National Golf Club is reported to currently have approximately 330 members, and in 1936 had a number far fewer than 100), there were obviously very few of these badges ever made. How many have survived, with the original ribbon, these past 70 years? It is our understanding the only 4 of these badges currently exist. In fact, a representative for Augusta National Golf Club was even surprised that we had this badge, as they do not even have one in their collection. The badge itself is measures about 2 1/8" in diameter and the ribbon 1 1/2" x 3 1/4".