"You always felt at Augusta you could take a chance on something, whether it was a tee ball or a second shot"

Bill Fields files an enjoyable profile of Ben Crenshaw on the 25th anniversary of his first Masters win, and while I enjoyed many of the anecdotes, Crenshaw's assessment of the revamped Augusta National is really the most insightful. Because for all of the quibbling we can do about second cuts and Christmas trees planted, it really comes down to what the players believe is possible. And if they aren't buying in, setup ploys will not matter:

The old Augusta was a tightrope, where risks were encouraged but a fall could hurt. "You always felt at Augusta you could take a chance on something, whether it was a tee ball or a second shot," Crenshaw says. "You had more room to play, and more people could play dangerously. It was totally different from any challenge in the world." To Crenshaw, the narrowing of the fairways from the equivalent of wide boulevards to country lanes altered things dramatically. "The second cut on lots of holes—that's first and foremost, because the course went from here to like this," he says, moving his hands very close together. "I think they needed to do something in the way of length, [but] I wouldn't have constricted it as much.

"There is no question it has become more of a defensive proposition," he continues. "The thing that set Augusta apart forever is that it's exciting and theatrical. People would pull off shots, but the flip side of that is that if you failed—and Jones wrote about this—it would tax you mentally. If you failed, it had a big effect on you. All I remember is how I felt there as a player [in my prime]. I hope the guys today are doing the same gyrations that we did. That, to me, is the question."

Golf Channel announced Thursday that Crenshaw will be working their weekend roundup coverage.