Boss Time: Every Hole of Pinehurst No. 2 - As a Springsteen song

By Alex Podlogar

I am turning 50 years old today. I am also a pretty-well-failed sportswriter.

That said, I went through journalism school at UNC and now ultimately do everything I can to help bring the best stories of Pinehurst to you. I love Pinehurst, and if you are reading this, I bet you do, too.

Please indulge me. It’s my birthday. A big one, I’m told.

Back to those first notes. Let’s review: I’m now 50. I’m a once-upon-a-time sportswriter.

And so, obviously, I adore Bruce Springsteen’s music.

(And let’s be clear: I’m not being political here. Music only, OK? We good? Let’s move on.)

It’s like a rule in sportswriting – no matter how bad a line like “speedball” is – that many sportswriters love Bruce’s music. (Just change it to “spitball,” Bruce, and it becomes such a better lyric.)

So, friends, for my birthday and as a gift to myself, here is every hole of Pinehurst No. 2, as if it were a Bruce Springsteen song.

As Little Steven might say when he ventures south, it is Boss Time, y’all.

(All yardages are for the Blue tees)

1st Hole, Par 4, 393 yards – “Out in the Street”

Do you know how many first tee shots end up on Midland Road left of the sandscape, left of the wire grass, left of the pine straw, left of the towering pine trees? It’s Hook City off the 1^st tee every single day.

Nerves, man.

So, let’s open with one of Springsteen’s biggest hooks for the 1st hole. But it’s also a fun hole, and “Out in the Street” is all about shedding work and living it up for that brief time before the whistle blows again. Donald Ross is letting up on you here, as long as you don’t tease that front-left bunker on the first green.

Honestly, you’re out of your work clothes, so enjoy the moment. You’re on Pinehurst No. 2. Have some fun while you’re out there.

2^nd Hole, Par 4, 439 yards – “Adam Raised a Cain”

Yeah, there’s nothing easy here. Sometimes, life can just be hard and you need a strong will to overcome it.

Bruce has been candid about his mental health and problems growing up with his dad. If you’ve seen the film “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” you can understand why (and yes, plenty of Nebraska songs are a-comin’ here).

The 2^nd hole of No. 2 may look benign – until it’s not.

“The first hole of No. 2 is probably one of the most docile holes on the course,” says 2006 U.S. Open Champion Geoff Ogilvy. “And then you get hit in the face.”

The 2nd will smack you and it will drive you mad, especially if the hole location is back-right or even middle-right. Don’t tempt this hole. Leave it alone. Good shots might not be good enough. Take your bogey, move on and wait on a sunny day…

3^rd Hole, Par 4, 350 yards – “Dancing in the Dark”

The 3^rd hole is fun, especially if the tee is moved up. Maybe it’s drivable for you. It’s a happy reprieve after the 2^nd and the nerves of the 1^st. Come on, listen to that melody. It’s bouncy and upbeat. Is Courteney Cox your caddie?

But did you listen to the lyrics?

I want to change my clothes, my hair, my face.

Same, Bruce. Same.

Trouble lurks everywhere around you on the 3rd. Don’t miss the fairway. Don’t miss this green. Don’t leave the ball above the hole – you might putt off the green and into a bunker. Don’t go long, or you are on the sandy cartpath with a terrifying pitch to a green sloping away. If you place a good tee shot, don’t flub the pitch into the front bunker.

Man, you ain’t getting nowhere.

4^th Hole, Par 4, 474 Yards – “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”

A song about the joys of the E Street Band coming together – especially when the Big Man joins the band.

The 4^th is a long and sweeping par 4 with nuance everywhere. The cantered fairway, the restored bunker on the right, the relatively modest green that plays larger than it looks. Put everything together, and it’s a sweet symphony of Donald Ross’s masterpiece.

5^th Hole, Par 5, 508 yards – “Atlantic City”

Look, we know it’s not a par 4 anymore.

But still, so much can go wrong. So much.

I want to quote every lyric here. Because I love “Atlantic City” so much. In every version – acoustic original, full E Street tour version (above), Electric Nebraska version.

But let’s just go with the hook:

Well, everything dies, baby, that’s a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Ask Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele about the 5^th hole of No. 2. (And Scottie’s hair was anything but pretty.) Every misplayed chip will certainly soon come back.

If you hit your drive down the middle, it will miss left. Then you are dead.

If you go for it in two shots and land slightly left of the middle of the green, then you are dead.

If you miss the green left, even with a wedge on a third shot, then you are dead.

Every shot is filled with dread.

Down here it’s just winners and losers
And don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line

That line is left.

And right isn’t much easier.

6^th Hole, Par 3, 203 Yards – “The River”

You know what your best shot is here? Probably a long iron that comes up a bit short, rolls off the false front, and you can try putting up the hill to whatever devilish hole location is there.

Don’t go right. And good God, don’t go left and into that bunker.

Is there any hope in “The River”? Is there any hope on the tee of the 6^th of No. 2? That walk to a ball in one of those bunkers? There ain’t no wedding day smile or walk down the aisle.

7^th Hole, Par 4, 393 yards – “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”

Such a pretty hole. Timeless, too. This perfect dogleg-right with the bunkering that Coore & Crenshaw restored. Everything about it just feels right. It’s gorgeous.

Bruce’s best song of his late-career era evokes all that is good here. But also all that has passed you by. Can you shape your drive into that narrow landing area? Can you put enough spin on the ball if that flag is front-left? What if you flare it into the right-front bunker?

A few decades ago, you might’ve been able to handle any of those things.

Can you still do them as well as you once did?

8^th Hole, Par 5, 469 yards – “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”

Go!

Just go!

I mean, don’t go long and left of the green, but, you know…still – GO!

Play this hole full tilt. Blast a drive. Blast a second. Go for eagle.

I once asked David Feherty why the best players all love No. 2. His answer was simple. “It’s all just right there in front of you.”

So go for it. Channel your inner Arnold Palmer. There’s nothing better than playing loud like you just got that big advance.

Halfway House, Behind the 9th Tee – “One Headlight” 1997 MTV Video Music Awards

Bruce was undeniably uncool in 1997. (You may still think he’s undeniably uncool and this whole exercise is utterly misplaced, but hey, it’s my birthday.) And what we didn’t know was that he was sitting on a masterpiece of an album that wouldn’t be released until 2025 with Tracks II.

But when Bruce performed with The Wallflowers on “One Headlight” at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, it was a good reminder of what was still in there, and what all had come before. And then his achingly devastating guitar playing at the end just eviscerates the poor Wallflowers guitarist.

This was a fun moment for 22-year-old me. Those “Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce” chants at the end gave me chills then, and they still give me chills now.

My guy still had it.

9^th Hole, Par 3, 148 yards – “Born to Run”

It’s the one hole where you might feel like you have your best club in your hand from the start.

And if that pin is on the right side, and if you can clip a little 8 iron into the air and start it left of that and let it land and then watch it roll toward the pin, and who knows how it will end up and…

Is there anything more thrilling on No. 2 than that moment of the ball rolling right toward the pin on 9?

Name a “Born to Run” lyric that doesn’t inflame you with that immense feeling:

I want to guard your dreams and visions

Or…

Strap your hands across my engines

Or…

Will you walk with me out on the wire?

Or…

I want to know if love is wild, babe, I want to know if love is real

Or…

The highway’s jammed with broken heroes

Or finally…

Come on with me, cause tramps like us, Baby, we were born to run

Yeah, that’s the 9^th hole.

10^th Hole, Par 5, 580 yards – “Prove It All Night”

You’ve made the turn. Your nerves have settled by now and you’re starting to get your game together enough to manage what’s ahead of you.

The 10^th is long. It’s a three-shot hole. Again, all right in front of you. Make three good swings and you’ll be fine. You are starting to figure Pinehurst No. 2 out and there’s nothing to stop you as you ready for the rest of the round and the back nine. Let’s go!

But…

Everybody’s got a hunger, a hunger they can’t resist
There’s so much that you want, you deserve much more than this
But if dreams came true, oh, wouldn’t that be nice
But this ain’t no dream we’re living through tonight
Girl, you want it, you take it, you pay the price

Look, you can do this.

But you will work for it.

11^th Hole, Par 4, 455 yards – “Backstreets”

One of Bruce’s all-time best songs is about a best friend, about being young and wanting to take on the world. The 11^th is a delightful par 4 to walk with your playing partners. There’s even more forgiveness on the green to the right than you think.

Also, it runs along Morganton Road. And a caddie tip for you: Every putt breaks toward Morganton Road.

12^th Hole, Par 4, 419 yards – “Born in the USA” – Electric Nebraska Version

Springsteen’s most misinterpreted song in his catalog is the album version of “Born in the USA.” Mighty Max’s booming drums, the synths, Garry W. Tallent’s throbbing bass line and Bruce’s guttural, heartfelt screams make it feel like the most patriotic song ever.

It is not.

Before the Born in the USA album and that version of the song rocketed Bruce to superstardom, though, he toyed with a version not heard for 40 years until this October. A bluesy, angry, sparse and raucous rocker with just Bruce on guitar, Max Weinberg on drums and Tallent on bass leaves no question that “Born in the USA” is a quintessential protest song. The fan-fueled myth of Electric Nebraska became more real with the release of E Street Band versions of some of those songs, and none was more dead-on perfect than the one he reworked and saved two years later for his 1984 blockbuster.

So how does the Electric Nebraska “Born in the USA” compare to the 12^th hole?

Simple: The 12th is a no-nonsense par 4 with no unnecessary frills. You know exactly what it’s asking of you.

And what it demands of you.

This version of “Born in the USA” is just that.

13^th Hole, Par 4, 375 yards – “The Rising”

The short 13^th, with a true elevated green and the feel of being back near the clubhouse, just feels like the crescendo of what really was Bruce and the E Street Band’s comeback anthem.

14^th Hole, Par 4, 433 yards – “Badlands”

The final in a stretch of four pure par 4s. Standing on the elevated tee in an area with the most exposed sandscape and wiregrass of anywhere on No. 2 can be awe-inspiring, especially with the breeze at your back.

But it’s also your descent into the twists and turns of No. 2’s demanding closing holes.

To talk about a dream, try to make it real
You wake up in the night
With a fear so real
You spend your life waiting
For a moment that just don’t come
Well don’t waste your time waiting

Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you’ve gotta pay
Keep pushin’ ’til it’s understood
These badlands start treating us good

Look, mister, it’s time to close strong. Go ahead and take on Pinehurst No. 2. Take your shot. This is your chance. Play well and it will be the most satisfied feeling in the world.

Keep pushing.

15^th Hole, Par 3, 183 yards – “State Trooper”

This par-3 doesn’t really look like much.

But holding the green has been compared to landing a ball on top of a Volkswagen Beetle.

You hit a nice mid-iron up and then…“WHOOO!” – the ball repels and shakes you to your core like Bruce’s terrifying scream out of nowhere.

16^th Hole, Par 5, 513 yards – “Jungleland”

The 16^th has a little bit of everything. A tee shot that needs to carry. The only water on the course with the small pond that’s not really in play – unless embarrassingly it is. Sandscape to the right and left, both well in play with each shot. The ghost bunker that gobbles ill-advised layups and leaves you with a 100-yard bunker shot. A green protected on all sides by sand. My friend Mike C.’s deep history with it. Michelle Wie West’s almost lost ball – and almost lost U.S. Women’s Open. It’s such a smart hole.

There’s always a story to the 16^th in how you play it. And that brings us to Bruce’s best story song – “Jungleland.”

17^th Hole, Par 3, 185 yards – “Thunder Road”

Payne made birdie here in 1999. Phil did not. And so Payne led by one heading to 18. That mattered.

Michael Campbell made birdie here in 2005 to hold off a charging Tiger Woods.

Michelle Wie West buried a slick double-breaker down the hill for birdie to recover from 16 and ensure glory on 18.

It’s a town full of losers
I’m pulling out of here to win

(OK, obviously, Pinehurst is not a town full of losers. Not saying that. Let’s be clear. What I am saying is there is only one champion at the end of every U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open – and then there’s everyone else.)

(Also, Mary’s dress WAVES.)

18^th Hole, Par 4, 415 yards – “The Promised Land”

The clubhouse is ahead. The veranda is packed. You’ve reached the end of your round.

Well there’s a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I’m heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain’t got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted

Mister I ain’t a boy, no I’m a man
And I believe in a promised land

Friend, you took on Pinehurst No. 2, and you’re still standing. It’s OK to be proud. You took it on, and now as you shake hands with your playing partners and doff your cap, the sun shines on you as it retreats behind the clubhouse and the pines. Now you have all of your memories. They are yours.

It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive.

And it’s my favorite Bruce Springsteen song.

Alex Podlogar is the Senior Media Relations Manager for Pinehurst Resort – extra emphasis on “Senior” now. And he thanks you for indulging this, but especially thanks his dad for buying “Born in the USA” on cassette in 1984 when he was 8 years old.