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 from 1978-1985. He played in 3 Masters,
the United States Open, 2 British Opens, and on the 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 private golf clubs into an ultra-affluent golf membership program.
Crosby was born and raised in Hillsborough, California, the third and youngest child between Bing Crosby and actress Kathryn Grant. Although his father was a showbiz celebrity he was,
in Nathaniel’s words, “determined that we didn’t grow up to be Hollywood brats.” Nathaniel took an interest in golf as a way to connect with his dad (who was a golf fanatic). Crosby states, “I learned golf so that I could spend more time with him. Crosby won the club championship at the family’s country club, Burlingame Country Club, at the age of 15. His father stated after the victory, “Today is the happiest day of my life.”
Through his experiences working for ultra-high end fractional projects, Nathaniel is refining what was a highly successful category in the early 2000’s. His experience working with David Wasserman at St Andrews Grand (now Hamilton Grand) and launching the Chileno Bay Resort project with David Wilhelm allowed him to see the common sense of sharing residential
properties for the ultra-elite. His comment is that “Exclusivity is about Math” and earlier Residential Membership plans had significant attrition during the economic downturn due to never ending membership caps. His approach is forensic and has detailed strategies for the target market to enjoy networks of properties with a built-in concierge and personal reservation agents to take away the job, expense, and headaches of owning multiple properties.
Highlights
Crosby grew all three of the companies he was involved with in the Golf Manufacturing space as the lead executive who had made the network of retailers his lifelong friends. These networks allowed him to grow all the companies he was involved with at a substantial rate with significant profits. Crosby was the key executive in developing these companies with partners and board members such as Jack Nicklaus, Nelson Doubleday, Howard Lester, and others who have run Fortune 500 Companies.
’98-’02 Orlimar Golf & Direct Response Marketing
’92-’98 Jack Nicklaus Golf
Through his experiences working for ultra-high end fractional projects, Crosby has attempted to refine what was a highly successful category in the early 2000’s. His experience working with David Wasserman at St Andrews Grand (now Hamilton Grand) and launching the Chileno Bay Resort project with David Wilhelm allowed him to see the beauty of sharing residential properties for the ultra-elite. These small, invitation-only societies with finite membership caps, epitomize exclusivity .
Current Appletree Golf Societies
’05-’09 St Andrews Hamilton Grand
’04-’05 Chileno Bay Golf Resort
’05-’06 Private Quarters
Accomplishments
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Crosby has spoken at multitudes of private clubs across the country, including the Masters Amateur dinner at Augusta National, the U.S. Amateurs at Oakland Hills, and Olympic Club, and has been the guest speaker at close to 50 well known private clubs. He has promoted, his best-selling book, his experiences as a Walker Cup Captain, playing in major championships as an amateur and growing up as the son of a famous father.
