It seems as though not every patron who is on the ground at The Masters is adhering to Augusta National Golf Club's restrictive policy on cell phones and other electronic devices.
Per the official Masters guide for patrons: "laptops, tablets, beepers, drones and other electronics, including devices capable of transmitting photo/video, are prohibited."
And Augusta takes its rules very seriously. Just ask Mark Calcavecchia. Per Golfweek’s Adam Schupak, the 1989 Open champion was removed from the property by security on Tuesday after allegedly breaching the policy on no cell phones.
However, over the past couple of years, a handful of those people who are lucky enough to attend The Masters have been purposely circumnavigating the ban on technology.
They have been doing this by wearing smart watches, which can send and receive calls and texts, as well as putting on Meta glasses - eye wear that is capable of subtly recording whatever the user sees.
There is plenty of evidence online to prove this is the case, including several videos of the 2026 Masters tournament filmed using Meta glasses.
Other golf fans have commented on videos which have been uploaded to social media suggesting the glasses will surely soon be banned from the grounds of Augusta National.
Meanwhile, others have pointed out that there is every chance - should Augusta National discover the content - that those responsible for the filming could also face lifetime bans from The Masters.
Speaking to Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan on The Sports Agents podcast, golf reporter Dan Rapaport suggested Augusta National may well need to look at modernizing its technology policy for future editions.
Rapaport said: "I'm putting my old man hat on here. There's been a little bit of a of an issue, I would say, these last couple years. The Apple watches and the Meta glasses.
"I've seen a tonne of people with the Meta glasses this year and those things, you know you can send messages. So, I think they need to change the rule not just to no cell phones, but no wearable technology.”
It caused Chapman - who also works for BBC Radio 5 Live - to applaud and echo Rapaport's sentiments, with the sports anchor going on to air his frustration at people failing to simply enjoy "the purity of the moment" for once.
Chapman said: “No, I’m with you. I’m with you. Because that's the other thing with no phones. It's not that people can't communicate with each other, it means that they are – I mean, this is a very old man conversation – but it means they are in the purity of the moment. They're not filming anything. They're just watching it and enjoying it!”
On his own podcast earlier in the week, Rapaport had already touched on the subject of Meta glasses and was calling for them to be banned just like regular cell phones.
He said: "There's a no-phone rule at The Masters... people are getting around it. First it was Apple watches and now it's like these Meta glasses. Ban them. You've got to ban them.
"The rule should not just be no cell phones. We've got to keep up with the times. It should be no wearable technology.
"I've seen so many people with like vlogs of their day on the ground at Augusta National because of the Meta glasses.
Augusta’s no-phones rule needs to be updated to no phones or wearable technology. No Meta glasses, no Apple watches. The mystique of the Masters must be protected and it’s slipping. pic.twitter.com/dJPIDLSGGOApril 9, 2026
"There's a rule. You're supposed to be there. You're supposed to be present. It's supposed to be the one day of the year where you're not worried about content.
"You want to take a digital camera out there, that's one thing. But the videos from the Meta glasses?
"There's a rule that says no cell phones. Just make the rule no wearable technology. No cellphones and no wearable technology. Let's do this the old-fashioned way."
What do you think? Should Augusta National update its no-cell-phone policy to include Meta glasses or give wearable technology a pass?
