1937 to Present Augusta National Green Jacket Patches. The Augusta National Golf Club emblem is one of the most recognizable logos in the world. It has gone through an evolution that includes five different versions. These five patches represent the development of the Augusta National logo. They were obtained from Mr. Frank Christian, the official photographer and unofficial historian of Augusta National for over fifty years. Mr. Christian worked closely with Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts on many projects during his tenure at Augusta National. He made a point of salvaging for posterity a patch or two from discarded Green Jackets whenever a new design was created. In his 1996 book, Augusta National and the Masters, Frank devoted page 89 to "Patches." This is what he had to say:

"The Augusta National Golf Club emblem is one of the most recognizable in the world. As you might expect, it has gone through an evolution that includes at least five different versions. The first was very crude, according to Cliff Roberts, who explained the evolution to me: "The map of the United States looked as though it came from an ancient drawing," he said. "The members thought it was crude and someone suggested that the English made nice patches, so I told them to go ahead and design another version. It had a very nice map of the United States, with the flag coming out of Augusta, and it also had beautiful silver and gold silk braid. But, the metallic strands frayed, and we didn't like that, so another attempt was made, but that, too, always seemed to fray. Then, someone had the idea for a completely new design, using the map of the United States without a circle around it. This proved too bulky, so we decided to return to the original soft patch, with a more accurate map." The photo above shows the five patches described by Mr. Roberts. As far as I know, these are the only specimens remaining, and they are part of our permanent collection of golf memorabilia."

The five patches that Mr. Christian refers to are the very patches in this lot. He loaned them to Augusta National from his private collection. They were on display in the clubhouse for many years. From left to right they represent the earliest patch from the 1937 jacket up to the currently used version which has remained unchanged for about thirty years.