For me, spring only truly tees off with the first swings of the Masters.

Being from a northern state, where we can sometimes still have snow on the ground or at least be dealing with Jack Frost’s last gasps (it was 26 degrees here last night), watching the world’s best golfers compete on the lush, rolling greens of Augusta National in Georgia each April feels like throwing open the windows on the first warm day after a long winter.

A par 3 primer for Wednesday afternoon. #themasters https://t.co/6SfC02Kkte

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 9, 2025

Thankfully, I have an excuse – err, let’s rephrase that to “professional responsibility” – to pay extra close attention to the Masters. That’s because the storied competition isn’t just one of professional golf’s four major tournaments and the first of the calendar year. It’s also one of the biggest events in the world of branded merchandise.

Why? Because of the exclusivity and madcap frenzy over the tournament’s merch, as well as that swag’s broader relevance to the golf realm – trends from which have long influenced tastes among promotional products end-buyers in search of logoed apparel, accessories and hard goods.

Here’s an insane stat for your Wednesday morning #TheMasters made $70 Million Dollars in merchandise sales last year.

More than the Top 20 earners on Tour this year combined

A million an hour 💰🤑💰🤑 pic.twitter.com/QkRL8t4cXd

— Road Hole Golf (@RoadHoleGolf) April 9, 2025

Tickets to the Masters are super difficult to score – among the hardest to get and priciest in sports. Organizers only sell official Masters branded merchandise from a high-end retail shop at Augusta National, the private course where the tournament is played, during Masters week. Folks fortunate enough to get in spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars, on tournament merchandise – a way of showing they were part of the select few who attended and of maintaining memories of what’s a highly memorable week (provided too many of the shockingly affordable beers are not consumed).

Further testifying to the Masters merch madness? Sites like eBay run ablaze with people trying to resell, often at highly inflated prices, merch they purchased at Augusta. Official merch sales during Masters week reportedly are around $70 million, which doesn't account for all that secondhand selling, of course. For sure, the heavy cash outlay on Masters merch was underway again in the lead up to the Thursday, April 10 tee off.

While I’ll be sitting up North again and watching on TV, golf journalists have the scoop on some of this year’s top trending items, giving us a kind of look over the fence into Augusta’s merch extravaganza. Here are some of this year’s hot sellers.

The Caddie Tee

Golfweek and others reported that there’s a new T-shirt at the 2025 Masters that’s flying off shelves. It’s called the “Caddie Tee,” a $32 cotton model that features “25” for the year on the left chest, the Masters logo on the right chest and the word “MASTERS” stitched across the back. It’s a T-shirt interpretation of the famous outfit/jumpsuits Masters caddies wear. People were loving it.

“Other than the green jacket, is there anything more recognizable than the caddie outfit?” Drive, Chip and Putt attendee Tim Jenson said to Golfweek, in part explaining the appeal. “I don’t think so.”

This T-shirt is, by far, my favourite thing in the Masters Shop this year 🤟🏼 pic.twitter.com/3pLsx6ilDF

— Michael McEwan (@MMcEwanGolf) April 9, 2025

Promo Tip: The Caddie Tee appears to be a success because it takes something iconic about the Masters and transforms it into a tangible product. While not every client’s brand is going to have the reach and cachet of the Masters (yeah, an understatement), there may be strong elements of a customer’s brand that promo distributors can key in on. Match those with products and messaging, or even create products from scratch, that vividly evoke the brand elements in a way that will resonate with target audiences.

Corkcicle Drinkware

Journalist Miguel Legoas was on the scene at the Masters. In a report for the Augusta Chronicle, he said there’s a dizzying array of tumblers and water bottles for sale from various brands – perhaps no big surprise to the promotional products market, where drinkware is the second-largest product category, in terms of sales, behind T-shirts.

However, Legoas noted that one brand of drinkware is standing out: “Corkcicle is particularly hot. … Designs have changed over the years, with some including a 20 ounce canteen resembling a caddie’s jumpsuit and a 24 ounce tumbler covered in Masters badges.” Resellers were already trying to sell the Corkcicle styles on eBay.

Keeping with the caddie theme, Corkcicle was selling this water bottle modeled after a Masters’ caddie jumpsuit. This one was for sale on eBay, as of this writing, for $85.

Promo Tip: Listen, I’m not telling you Corkcicle is poised to take over the planet. But if the brand’s styles are gaining major traction at the Masters, that’s worth taking note – and can become, at minimum, a reason to have a value-adding discussion with end-clients who may be in the market for something new, especially for golf events and for end-user audiences partial to golf. Yes, Corkcicle is available in promo – not the Masters styles, of course. But you can find the brand on ESP and ESP+. Even if the discussion doesn’t lead to sales of Corkcicle per se, it’s a good look for a distributor to always be bringing ideas to clients.

The Masters Lawn Gnome

This adorable fella is, by more than a few accounts, the single most sought-after piece of Masters merch. Augusta has been offering different versions of the bearded Santa-like character since 2016. His popularity continues to grow each year.

#masters gnomes the hot collectable market. Move over pimento and cheese... who knew/ lol #themasters per @GolfDigest https://t.co/KjVX3q9ozy

— Joe Favorito (@joefav) April 8, 2025

Augusta only sells 1,000 gnomes a day. Patrons can purchase just one. This year’s 18-inch-high statue wears a golf shirt that’s decorated with food items associated with the Masters. He appears to be holding that symbol of Masters’ edible delights – the pimento sandwich. A knapsack strewn over his shoulder, he dons a cap and sells for $49.50.

“Only the very early arrivals manage to get their hands on one,” Journalist Philip Reid wrote for The Irish Times. “The gnomes started as a novelty but have become collector’s items.”

Promo Tip: In part, what the Masters has done with the Lawn Gnome is create a product that can evolve and that people look forward to anew every year. Perhaps distributors’ clients can do something similar, at least in essence, with employee recognition programs. For instance, distributors can help clients create a program in which annually, toward year’s end, recipients get a centerpiece product that’s themed around the brand or even the successes of that year. If the items are quality and useful, people will look forward to receiving the fresh iterations and keep them, building the client’s brand.

Rope Hats

Hats that feature embroidered phrases relevant to the Masters aren’t new to the tournament, but they’re once more selling swiftly, according to Legoas, as they did last year. Golf lovers will no doubt recognize phrases like “Azalea,” “Pimento” and “Amen Corner” that adorn the caps.

Resellers were looking to retail these Masters rope hats on eBay.

Promo Tip: The concept of taking something symbolic or emblematic about a brand and weaving it into the messaging/decoration on merch is a savvy marketing move – one distributors can try to emulate with their clients. Still, I see an even more basic and far-reaching implication from these Masters caps: Rope hats continue to be on trend. They carry appeal in end-markets that include athletics, corporate, collegiate, manufacturing and transportation.