Comedian Tom Dreesen: Golf's Global Ambassador

Raised in squalor in Harvey, Ill., Tom Dreesen's childhood including shining shoes in bars, setting pins in bowling alleys and thinking success in life was somehow related to alcohol.

"Both of my parents were alcoholics," said the veteran comedian. "Growing up in that environment my dad spent all of his money in a tavern. I always thought one day maybe I'd be the owner of a tavern. I thought that would be the epitome of success."

But when he was 11, Dreesen began his now more than 50-year relationship with golf when he became a caddie at Ravisloe Country Club in Homewood, Ill. His life changed forever.

"I started caddying for six years before I went into the service," said Dreesen, a member of the celebrity field at AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for more than a decade. "The members there all Jewish and the caddies were all gentiles. The members were businessmen and businesswomen and they treated us like men, not like servants.

"They respected us and they made sure all the kids (caddies) were fed everyday. They had a banquet at the end of every year for caddies and they had a yearly scholarship to send two kids to college."

A few years into his caddying tenure, Dreesen began to envision life beyond bartending and tavern ownership.

Fast forward a half century and Dreesen directly relates his enduring career as a nightclub, television and movie performer to the lasting impressions of being a caddie.

"I took awhile but finally I began to think maybe I could be more than just a bartender . . . just maybe," said Dreesen, 64. That's why I understand when I young black kid in the ghetto says, 'I want to be a pimp or a dope pusher.' That's the only kind of successful man he's seen in that environment. They've got cars and money and nice clothes. So as a boy, that (the country club setting) made sense to me. I could see past my environment."

In the ensuing decades, Dreesen has learned about life and entertainment and golf. And for him, it's all intertwined.

Dreesen first mixed business and golf in 1977. Bob Hope saw Dreesen perform one might in Wisconsin and asked the comedian to play in his celebrity event. Dreesen has been part of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic since. In addition to his long playing tenure, Dreesen's is also now the tournament's emcee.

In addition to playing in charity events (including his own yearly tournament) Dreesen is co-founder of the Celebrity Players Tour. He also maintains a busy performance schedule and is an in-demand corporate motivational speaker.

During his speeches, Dreesen often references his less-than-glorious Chicago childhood. And he also periodically returns to Ravisloe Country Club where more than a half-century ago his unsettled youth was changed via golf.

"They have pictures of me there and they treat me like a son coming home," Dreesen recalled. "When you caddied there and you go back and play, there's a feeling you get, you know?"

Dreesen has more than 500 television appearances in his long career. He was a guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson more than 60 times. As a regular guest on Late Night With David Letterman, Dreesen often talks about his more than a decade tenure as the opening act for Frank Sinatra.

With Letterman and band leader Paul Shaffer, Dreesen performed for U.S. soldiers in Iraq on Christmas Day, 2004. When he returned, Dreesen began wearing a camouflaged cap during celebrity golfing events. The hat was a gift from the soldiers he visited.

"It's an interesting thing being a poor boy and carrying two bags a day," said Dreesen, who carries a 5-handicap and has five times shot his career low of 70. "You might say, 'Oh, poor Tommy.' But golf has made my life today. Being a poor kid, whenever I give motivational speeches, I say I came from this poor environment and I say to kids that it's the greatest thing that ever happened to me because all of life is about perception."