18 Holes with Bing: Golf, Life, and Lessons from Dad

by Nathaniel Crosby, John Strege

Overview

In this love letter to his father, former professional golfer Nathaniel Crosby shares memories of Bing Crosby on the golf course, and the lessons he taught him about the game and about life. With a Foreword by Jack Nicklaus.

“Bing Crosby was a great ambassador for our game, as well as a great man,” hails longtime friend and golf partner, Jack Nicklaus. The beloved singer and star was also an extraordinary teacher who instilled an abiding passion and mastery of the game in his youngest son, Nathaniel. Winning the US Amateur at nineteen, Nathaniel went on to compete in high-level professional tournaments for his entire life.

In 18 Holes with Bing, Nathaniel introduces us to the Bing Crosby he and his family knew—not the beloved singer who played golf, but a golfer who sang to pay his country club dues. Nathaniel shares exclusive stories about this American icon golfing, working, and playing with some of the most famous people in history—royalty, titans of industry, stars of stage and screen, and champions of the green, including Bob Hope, Dwight Eisenhower, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Louis Armstrong. At the book’s heart is an intimate account of a father and a son—how a mutual love of golf formed an exceptional emotional bond.

Full of anecdotes, vignettes, and recollections of Bing’s time on the course, the tournaments he created and later sponsored, and the constant encouragement he showed his son, 18 Holes with Bing honors this celebrated golfer, entertainer, and father, and illuminates his life as never before.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062414298
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/02/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Nathaniel Crosby won the United States Amateur Championship in 1981, is a former European Tour player, and was host of the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am for eight years. He played in three Masters, the United States Open, two British Opens, and on winning World Amateur and Walker Cup teams. He is the former president of Toney Penna Golf and grew two major golf manufacturing companies, Nicklaus Golf Equipment Company and Orlimar Golf, to substantial levels. He is currently the founder and president of AppleTree Management Group, the managing company of AppleTree Golf Society that is coordinating thirty private golf clubs into an ultra-affluent golf membership program. He lives in Jupiter, Florida with his wife, Sheila, and their six children.

John Strege is the author of five books, including When War Played Through, which won the United States Golf Association's Herbert Warren Wind Book Award in 2005, and the bestselling Tiger: A Biography of Tiger Woods. He has covered golf for more than thirty years, and now writers for Golf Digest. He lives in San Diego with his wife, Marlene, and daughter, Hannah, in San Diego, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword Jack Nicklaus ix

Chapter 1 As Famous as Famous Gets 1

Chapter 2 Grass Roots 7

Chapter 3 The Jazz Singer 19

Chapter 4 The War Years 27

Chapter 5 A British Bond 35

Chapter 6 Caddies or Kings 47

Chapter 7 Hogan and the Incredible Match 57

Chapter 8 Family Friends 73

Chapter 9 Crosby and Hope: Road to the Golf Course 89

Chapter 10 The Crosby Clambake 103

Chapter 11 Pirates, Pugilists, Horses, and Hunting 117

Chapter 12 On Parenting 133

Chapter 13 Our Time Together 145

Chapter 14 The World Mourns 159

Chapter 15 Growing Up Fast 169

Chapter 16 Winning for Dad 179

Chapter 17 Aftermath 189

Chapter 18 Dad's Legacy 203

Acknowledgments 211

About the Authors 212

Editorial Reviews

03/28/2016
This heartfelt tribute to much-loved crooner Bing Crosby by his son, a former pro golfer, paints a portrait of a mellow man who loved life on the links. Supported by a foreword by golf great Jack Nicklaus, Crosby calls his Oscar-winning actor-singer father “the most popular entertainer of his day”; Bing Crosby sold over a half a billion albums, sang the hit single “White Christmas,” and still filled venues until his death in 1977. The musical icon, who started the Bing Crosby Pro-Am golf tournament in 1937, said the sport was “kind of passport to relaxation and happiness,” catching the golf bug as a young caddie at a course in Spokane, Wash. His son writes of the singer’s long friendships with Bob Hope and Louis Armstrong, and sometimes he overplays Bing’s influence on black singers in the 1930s and ’40s. Bing turned down the lead role on the TV show Columbo because of a scheduling conflict with his golf. Crosby detours briefly to defend his image-conscious father, blasting his half-brother Gary Crosby’s 1983 tell-all, Going My Own Way, which claimed that the singer physically abused his children. For the most part, this compelling remembrance focuses on the enduring star and his overwhelming yen for golf. (May)

Publishers Weekly