20 Hats Per Minute: Merch Madness Hits PGA Championship

CHARLOTTE — The merchandise store at the PGA Championship won’t be confused for—or sell as much as—the famous Masters golf shop at Augusta National. But the 50,000-square-foot temporary structure built just off the first hole at Quail Hollow Club is humming this week.

While there aren’t any garden gnomes or $500 teddy bears for sale, the fun fact of the week is that the merch store, officially known as the PGA Shops, sells 20 hats per minute. That’s 1,200 hats an hour, and well over 10,000 on any given day. The total will easily surpass 50,000 by the end of the week.

Local-themed merch is turning out to be extremely popular, with many fans grabbing up and sporting the trendy large block-letter-style hats featuring inscriptions like CLT, 704 (the city’s area code), and QUAIL. 

With no fans allowed at Monday’s practice round and more inclement weather Tuesday, no PGA Championship merch sales records will be set this week, but there are more options than ever. 

More than 50 brands and 1,200 different logoed items are available for purchase. Men’s apparel accounts for roughly 70% of the offerings, and women’s 30%, which officials said lines up with typical sales at large events run by the PGA of America.

Nike is running a DJ booth at the front of the store (one of the perks of being the “official outfitter” of the PGA Championship), which has a big section of gear from the Swoosh as fans walk in.

For fans not at the course, PGA Championship organizers and Legends, the company that runs the merch operations, for the first time built an off-site pop-up merch shop in uptown Charlotte that’s open throughout the tournament.