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PEOPLE

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Bob Hope

One of golf's greatest ambassadors supported the game on a variety of stages.

BY JOEL BEERSPublished: November, 2009

Hope once played with President Gerald Ford (left) at his namesake PGA Tour event (COURTESY: Bob Hope Classic).
Claim to fame: Hope was one of the most beloved comedians of the 20th century, but his legacy goes far beyond stage and screen. His tireless work performing for American military personnel across the world earned him a congressional citation in 1996 for being America’s first honorary veteran of the Armed Forces.
Golf expertise: Hope started playing the game in the 1930s during lulls in filming. He was a longtime member of Lakeside Golf Club and reportedly whittled his handicap to a 4. He also studied with Ben Hogan and played in the 1951 British Amateur.
What he meant to the game: Hope was golf’s greatest ambassador, working jokes about the game into his routines and nearly always performing with a golf club as a prop during his stand-up routines on USO tours. In 1965, Hope lent his name to the Palm Springs Golf Classic and his name and image continue to be associated with the event. In 1995, Hope rounded out a foursome at his tournament that included President Bill Clinton and former presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush. In 1983, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Quotable: “If you watch a game, it is fun. If you play it, it is recreation. If you work at it, it is golf.”
— Hope’s motto.


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