Trademark: Masters 12th Hole

First Used: 1934

Registered: 2020

Current Owner: Augusta National, Inc. [1]

Trademark Type: non-traditional trademark; trade dress; configuration mark

Primarily Associated With: golf courses [2]

Brief (and likely incomplete) History [3]:

The MASTERS® golf tournament has many famous features and traditions, including the GREEN JACKET® given each year to the victor. The Masters also features one of the most famous holes in golf: the Masters 12th Hole.

The Masters 12th Hole, known as Golden Bell, is a 155-yard par 3 at Augusta National. It is the shortest hole on the course, but also one of the most nerve-racking. The hole has looked almost the same since 1935, when it was originally the 3rd hole before Augusta flipped its nine and it became the 12th. The Masters 12th Hole features a tee shot over Rae’s Creek to a shallow green, with the Ben Hogan Bridge leading the walk across to the putting surface and azaleas, dogwoods, and towering pines framing the scene. Its beauty is part of the trap: players must hit over Rae’s Creek to a tight green guarded by one bunker in front and two behind, all while dealing with Augusta’s notorious swirling winds. That mix of elegance and danger is what made Jack Nicklaus call it “the most dangerous par-3 in the world,” and why the hole has been tied to Masters turning points for generations, from Bobby Jones finding the water in 1934 to Jordan Spieth’s quadruple bogey in 2016 that helped cost him a second straight green jacket.

The Masters 12th Hole forms the heart of AMEN CORNER® [4], the celebrated stretch at Augusta National that includes the 11th, 12th, and 13th holes. The phrase was coined by writer Herbert Warren Wind after a dramatic turn at the 1958 Masters, borrowing the name from an old song, “Shoutin’ in that Amen Corner.” Amen Corner has come to represent one of the most dramatic three-hole runs in golf: the long par-4 11th, the iconic par-3 12th over Rae’s Creek, and the risk-reward par-5 13th bending along the water. Together, those holes have produced some of the tournament’s most memorable swings in momentum, where a GREEN JACKET® can start to slip away or suddenly come into reach.

Interested in learning more about other 2026 sporting events? Check out our 2026 posts on the College Football National Championship, Team USA in the Winter Olympics, Super Bowl, and Final Four.