"In the early thirties ... I joined a golf club called Lakeside. A very good course indeed, located out in North Hollywood. The membership was composed almost entirely of fellas in the entertainment business.... I was struck by the idea of putting together a pro-am competition where the Lakeside members ... could partner fifty or sixty invited professionals in a best ball event.... At that time I had a home and a small ranch down in San Diego County, near a nice golf course called Rancho Santa Fe, in the same region where I was involved in building and maintaining a race track known as Del Mar." (Bing Crosby, Foreword to The Crosby: Greatest Show in Golf by Dwayne Netland, p9)

The final Crosby "clambake" at Rancho Santa Fe was played in 1942. The tournament was cancelled for the duration of World War II. It resumed in 1947 on the scenic Monterey Peninsula ("Pebble Beach"), where it remained through the remainder of Bing's life.

Through the years Bing's tournaments raised millions of dollars for various charities. Beginning in 1958 the tournament was broadcast nationally and frequently ranked as the most viewed golfing event of the year. One exception was 1974, when the tournament fell to fourth in the golf rankings, no doubt because Bing was seriously ill in the hospital for the duration.

After Bing's death his widow came under considerable pressure to change the name of the tournament to the AT&T Bing Crosby golf tournament. She refused, withdrew the Crosby name from the tournament, and set up a celebrity tournament for charities in Bing's name in 1986 in North Carolina. In 2000 the tournament's general sponsor, Sara Lee, announced it could no longer afford to support the tournament. The final Crosby clambake was played at Bermuda Run, North Carolina, in June 2001. Nevertheless, two of Bing's sons, Harry and Nathaniel, continue to serve on the board of directors of the Pebble Beach tournament.

Bing was an avid hunter, fisher and conservationist. He appeared frequently on ABC-TV's "American Sportsman" series hosted by Curt Gowdy. In 1939 Bing helped develop a horse racing track with Pat O'Brien at Del Mar near San Diego. Bing had to sell his interest in the track in 1947 when he purchased a baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. On the day of Bing's death, Major League Baseball paused for a moment of silence at the start of the World Series game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees in remembrance of Bing.

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