The Masters is built on tradition, but one long-standing rule fell as control in the sport shifted toward the players.

Augusta National Golf Club required players to use its local caddies for decades. That held until 1982. By then, players were pushing to bring their own bagmen, people they trusted, rather than rely on whoever the club assigned.

“Caddying was becoming a more professional job,” says Ward Clayton, author of Men on the Bag.

“Tour pros had their own guys, and they wanted them with them wherever they went.” At that point, separating from those relationships at a major no longer made sense.

By the 1970s, the PGA Championship, the British Open, and the U.S. Open had already allowed private caddies. Augusta National Golf Club was the only major still holding onto the old setup.

By 1982, major winners Tom Watson and Lanny Wadkins began pressuring Augusta to change the policy, arguing they needed their own caddies for major tournaments.

The policy had long been protected by co-founder Clifford Roberts, whose resistance prevented any change. After his passing in 1977, that barrier was removed, allowing Chairman Hord Hardin to make changes.

Local veteran Jariah Beard, who guided Fuzzy Zoeller to a 1979 win, later said the change would never have happened if Roberts were still in charge.

It did more than change who carried the bags. It changed what the job at Augusta meant.

The Evolution of the Augusta Bagman

When the rule changed in 1983, 63 of 81 players showed up with their own caddies. Most of the local caddies who had been part of the tournament for years were suddenly out.

Names like "Iron Man" Avery and "Burnt Biscuits" Bennett faded with that shift. Their knowledge of the course had guided players for years, and then it wasn’t needed in the same way.

For many of these men, the Masters paycheck was their most important source of income. Losing it meant losing one of the few reliable sources of income tied to the tournament, and the impact went beyond the caddies themselves.

The white jumpsuits are still there. The role is not, at least not in the same way. By 1995, a club caddie was last part of a winning team.

The change came from a clash between Augusta’s traditions and the control players demanded over their own careers. And once that pressure built, the club simply could not hold the old system in place.

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Written by

Abhishek Sharma

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav