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 Golf isn’t quite that high on his priority list, but it holds a significant spot for Boone, who has been a member at Bel-Air Country Club since 1958. He’s enthusiastic about the sport and has hosted a number of charity tournaments. When the 71-year-old entertainer traveled to Ireland in July for a two-week concert tour, his schedule was planned around playing some of the country’s top courses. “We played at Portmarnock, Ballybunion, Waterville, the European Club, Slieve Russell,” Boone said from his Sunset Boulevard office, where the walls are covered with framed Gold Records from his nearly 50 years of singing. “It’s hilly and the tall grass is just everywhere,” Boone said of Bally-bunion. “You don’t know what to expect.” Boone’s most meaningful golf highlight this summer, however, was when he hosted a tournament for the Ryan’s Reach Foundation, an organization named for his grandson, Ryan Corbin, that raises money to help people with brain injuries. Corbin, 28, a former basketball standout at Irvine High School, sustained a brain injury four years ago when he fell through a skylight at the top of his three-story apartment building in Brentwood. The Pat Boone Celebrity Golf Classic at Coto de Caza Country Club drew about 200 participants and netted about $80,000. “It was a great event,” said Boone of the tournament that was first held in May 2004 at Strawberry Farms Golf Club in Irvine. Corbin’s stepfather, Mike Michaelis, said the family is lucky to have the financial means to deal with the high medical costs that accompany treatment for head injuries but that many families don’t have adequate resources. Money raised at the tournament goes toward helping these families pay their medical bills. A prime beneficiary is the High Hopes Head Injury Program in Tustin. Boone talks joyfully about how his grandson — who was not expected to live after his 40-foot fall — is displaying basic movements and showing signs of his old playfulness and sense of humor. “He’s coming back to us,” Boone said. Corbin is living with his mother, Lindy — one of Pat and Shirley Boone’s four daughters — his stepfather and his brother, Tyler, at the family’s home in Coto de Caza. A longtime host of the National Easter Seals telethon, Boone said he enjoys using golf as an avenue for his fund-raising efforts. After hosting up to five annual tournaments a year, Boone has cut back to about three a year, including an event in Tennessee that raises money for an orphanage in Chattanooga and one that benefits a foster parent program in Sacramento. The one-time teen idol said hosting so many golf events over the years has helped him shave his handicap from an 18 to a 15. He’d like to get it even lower through practice and more charity work. “My goal in life as a golfer is to be a legitimate 10,” Boone said, “and I know I can do it if I can play regularly.” n For more information about Ryan’s Reach, call (949) 733-0046 or visit www.ryansreach.com. |
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