Jupiter’s Nathaniel Crosby Jr., Bing Crosby’s youngest son, returns as U.S. Walker Cup team captain
Craig Dolch
Special to The Post
JUNO BEACH — History will be made this weekend when Seminole Golf Club hosts the Walker Cup matches.
It’s the first time reclusive Seminole, situated hard on the Atlantic Ocean, will open its gates to an outside championship. It’s also the initial time in the Walker Cup’s 99-year history the matches will be held on U.S. soil prior to its traditional September date.
More golf:Walker Cup coming to Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach for first time in almost 100-year history of biennial competition
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Then again, history and Seminole go together in golf like the interlocking grip. Few people know this better than U.S. captain Nathaniel Crosby. Jr.
“It’s such a storied place,” Crosby said. “Seminole has been unbelievable to me.”
It’s easy to see why.
Crosby is the youngest son of legendary crooner Bing Crosby. He got to play Seminole the first time in 1976 – when he was 14 – alongside his famous father, future Seminole president George Coleman and Palm Beach resident Mickey Van Gerbig.
Chance of a lifetime: A few days with golf legend Ben Hogan
That paled in comparison to an invitation Nathaniel received two years later: A chance to spend four days with legend Ben Hogan at Seminole. Imagine what people would pay for that opportunity these days.
Millions?
“Ben was in his late-60s at the time,” Crosby said. “As so many great golfers who are well past their competitive situation, they take on a much softer tone.”
Meaning, Hogan actually said more than a few words a day to anyone around him. Seminole was Hogan’s winter home, a place where he honed his incredible ball striking that helped him win nine major championships and become one of five men to win all four majors.
Well past his prime, Hogan could still hit a shag bag where the balls would land on the same blanket.
“Ben would go to the left side of the range and, with the wind generally blowing off the ocean, he loved sawing off irons into the wind,” Crosby said. “The wind wouldn’t touch his shots.”
During the trip, Crosby attended a cocktail party at Coleman’s house one night. He watched how Hogan, with a filtered cigarette holder at his lips, commanded everyone’s attention without barely saying a word.
The 16-year-old Crosby got the nerve to ask Hogan about one of biggest disappointments in golf, at the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. Hogan was tied for the lead with Arnold Palmer when he inexplicably hit his third shot at the par-5 17th into the water.
Hogan bogeyed the hole, tripled the 18th and finished ninth to Palmer. It was the closest Hogan ever came to winning his 10th major.
Crosby cleared his throat that night and asked Hogan what happened at the 17th. Hogan’s wife, Valerie, immediately interrupted.
“You can’t ask him about that!” she snapped. “He still has nightmares about it.”
Hogan shook his head. “No, I want to tell Nathaniel about it,” he said. “It must have hit a pitch mark and bounced into the water.”
Nathaniel Crosby hopes to use his knowledge as a Seminole member
Crosby got to enjoy plenty of other memorable moments at Seminole over the next four decades. He won the first Member-Guest he played in, in 1979. Two years later, Crosby enjoyed his finest moment as a golfer when he won the 1981 U.S. Amateur while he attended the University of Miami.
His membership at Seminole ended in 1992 when the club disbanded its junior membership. The 59-year-old Jupiter resident rejoined in 2002 and will be using his local knowledge to try and help the Americans win the Walker Cup at home for the fifth consecutive time.
Crosby was the U.S. captain in the 2019 matches at Royal Portrush in the United King when the Americans rallied for a 15½-10½ victory over Great Britain-Ireland. Asked what Crosby did so well to warrant another captaincy, returning team member Stewart Hagestad smiled.
“We won,” he said. “We won.”
A victory usually gets a captain another opportunity, especially someone with local roots at Seminole as Crosby. He doesn’t have to worry about getting his players’ attention.
“He’s Bing Crosby’s son, so he has a lot of charisma,” said U.S. star Cole Hammer. “He’s really fun to be around and he cares about each of his players. He’ll be like a professional caddie for the week. His experience will be invaluable.”
Crosby admitted he wouldn’t have returned as captain if the Walker Cup wasn’t being held at Seminole. How could he say no?
He wants to be part of more history at Seminole.
Walker Cup
Saturday-Sunday
Seminole Golf Club, Juno Beach
TV: Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m.-1 p.m., 5:30-7:30 p.m., Golf Channel
Bing Crosby and Bob Hope Had a ‘Close’ Friendship: Details
Bing Crosby and Bob Hope worked together in Hollywood for a number of years, establishing status as one of showbiz’s most beloved duos. Though the two stars were “different” in some ways, Bing and Bob were extremely “close” and “loved each other” very much, author Richard Zoglin exclusively tells Closer Weekly.
In a scene from 1942’s Road to Morocco, Bing confesses his affection for his buddy Orville, played by Bob. “I guess in my own way, I sorta love you,” the crooner said just seconds before an amorous camel stretches through the shrubbery to plant a wet kiss on Bob’s cheek. “All right, but you don’t have to slobber all over me!” quipped Bob.
Wally Fong/AP/Shutterstock
Before the word bromance or the rise of cinematic sequels, Bing and Bob starred in seven sweetly funny Road to … movies that made them two of Hollywood’s biggest stars. The films followed a formula: The pair would get into trouble, wisecracks would fly, Bing would sing, and Bob would talk directly to the audience. “They were the most lucrative franchise in movie history,” Gary Giddins, author of Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams and Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star, shares with Closer.
The pair met in New York when Bob, a then up-and-coming comedian, was invited to emcee one of Bing’s shows in 1933. “They hit it off and used to take breaks together where they’d trade jokes,” says Giddins. “They tried the best bits out on stage and became a big hit with the audiences.”
That chemistry was still intact when Paramount Pictures teamed them up for Road to Singapore, which became one of the biggest hits of 1940. But success didn’t make them immediate best friends. “They were very different men. Bing wasn’t gregarious and didn’t like the trappings of stardom, while Bob loved them,” says Richard, author of Hope: Entertainer of the Century. “I think, privately, Bob felt that Bing was a little aloof. He said, ‘Bing and his wife never even invited me and Dolores to dinner.'” On the set, there was also a friendly competition to come up with the best zingers. “They each had their own writers,” says Giddins, although “they never had a fight.”
Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
It wasn’t until the filming of their last road comedy, 1962’s The Road to Hong Kong, that their friendship really blossomed. “They went to London to do the film and lived in the same house with their wives,” says Giddins. The costars began playing golf together. “Bob’s wife, Dolores, said that was when they first realized how much they really loved each other,” says Zoglin. “From that time on, they were very, very close.”
Bing and Bob had been discussing another movie, The Road to the Fountain of Youth, when Bing died of a sudden heart attack in 1977. “Bob was really broken up about it,” Zoglin says to Closer. Too emotional to appear on stage, he canceled his live performance that night for the first time in his career. “If friends could have been made for each other, I would have asked for one just like Bing,” Bob said. “I miss him.”
New mom Meghan Trainor lists Bing Crosby’s old LA carriage house for $6M
New mom Meghan Trainor is “all about that space” — and is dumping her 7,000-square-foot LA farmhouse as she settles into her almost 10,000-square-foot Encino mansion.
The 27-year-old “Lips Are Movin” singer listed her modern LA farmhouse for a hair under $6 million yesterday. Her five-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bathroom home spans 7,174 square feet and once served as legendary crooner Bing Crosby’s carriage house.
Trainor, who covered Crosby’s signature “White Christmas” melody in 2020, purchased the farmhouse from Megan Fox in July 2016 before Trainor and her husband Daryl Sabara married in December 2018.
In preparation for her now 3-month-old baby boy Riley, the “Dear Future Husband” singer upgraded from the gated estate in Toluca Lake to a $6.6 million Encino compound with a plunge pool and a giant games arcade, Page Six reported in December.
Trainor purchased the farmhouse from Megan Fox in July 2016 before she and her husband Daryl Sabara married in December 2018. Realtor.com
Past grey gates and knobbly oak trees, a motor court reveals a white farmhouse-style compound with a grey roof. Realtor.com
Tall hedges around the large windowed front door add privacy. Realtor.com
Back in Toluca Lake, her storied grey farmhouse up for sale sits back from the street. Past grey gates and knobbly oak trees, a motor court reveals a white farmhouse-style compound with a grey roof. Tall hedges around the large windowed front door add privacy.
The original wing of the house, built in 1936 to accompany Bing Crosby’s home next door, is an open floor plan living and dining room with an arched, exposed-beam roof.
The room has two huge windows, two woven globe chandeliers and grey-ish hardwood floors. A floor-to-ceiling fireplace divides the space into a dining room and living room.
The original wing of the house, built in 1936 to accompany Bing Crosby’s home next door, is an open floor plan living and dining room with an arched, exposed-beam roof. Realtor.com
The home’s newer wing, built in 2008, is an open floor plan kitchen and living room with a multi-tiered round chandelier and barn ceilings. Realtor.com
On one side, the kitchen has a large seated marble island and bar. Pocket doors open to a patio that is sheltered by a trellis with vines and twinkly lights. Realtor.com
The home’s newer wing, built in 2008, is an open floor plan kitchen and living room with a multi-tiered round chandelier and barn ceilings.
On one side, the kitchen has a large seated marble island and bar. Pocket doors open to a patio that is sheltered by a trellis with vines and twinkly lights.
On the other side of the room, a blue velvet couch faces a media center. To the right of the media center is a casual movie room.
On the other side of the room, a blue velvet couch faces a media center. Realtor.com
To the right of the media center is a casual movie room. Realtor.com
A set of stairs by the media center lead up to a treehouse-like loft office. Realtor.com
A set of stairs by the media center lead up to a treehouse-like loft office where floor-to-ceiling windows provide dreamy views of the forest.
On the main floor, the primary bedroom suite flows seamlessly into the trellised patio dining area lined with trees that separates the stone patio from the yard.
The nearly one-acre lot is immaculately landscaped. Across a small grass plot, a lit raised pool has stone steps leading past an in-pool jacuzzi to a lounging patio area.
On the main floor, the primary bedroom suite flows seamlessly into the trellised patio dining area. Realtor.com
Across a small grass plot, a lit raised pool has stone steps leading past an in-pool jacuzzi to a lounging patio area. Realtor.com
Not pictured: The house has two guest houses, a three-car garage and a small grove of citrus trees. One guest house has a recording studio and a dance space, and the other has a gym. The house also has a wine cellar, according to the listing.
Bing Crosby’s next-door mansion burned down in a Christmas tree fire in 1943, and the carriage house was converted into a guest house in 1949 after developers rebuilt Crosby’s old house. It was at that time the plots appear to have been legally separated into two properties, according to LA property records.
Property records show that the new carriage house owners began expanding the property in 1979 and several times thereafter with the help of architect George Vernon Russell, who designed much of the University of California’s Riverside campus and the extension of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
A second floor and a guest house were added in 2008. Trainor completed work on the spa, the patio trellis and the guest houses, according to LA property records.
Justin Paul Huchel of Hilton & Hyland has the listing.