Bob Hope

"Golf is so popular," Bob Hope once said, "simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad." Not that Hope had any reason to worry. The funnyman played so often that he improved his game to a 4-handicap and even carried a driver on stage when performing.

You can see one of those drivers, along with more than 300 other personal items from Hope's life, at a new exhibit opening Nov. 8 at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida, about 40 miles from Jacksonville. The exhibit will showcase the largest collection of Bob Hope memorabilia ever displayed in public, including the 1997 Congressional Resolution naming Hope an honorary veteran—the first time Congress ever granted the award—and the honorary Oscar that Hope received at the 25th annual Academy Awards. Visitors will also get to see some of Hope's golf-themed skits in a special theater designed to feel like a comedy club. The bits will feature introductions from Arnold Palmer and other top golfers who knew the comedian, along with Hope's own thoughts on the sport: "If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."

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Listen to Hope croon "Don't Fence Me In"—a duet with a talking horse—in this video, filmed when the funnyman hosted The Muppet Show in the '70s.

Bob Hope died in July 2003, less than two months after celebrating his 100th birthday. Click here to read the USA Today article commemorating the funnyman or here to read Slate 's take on his comedic style.

Hope's not the only entertainer lucky enough to celebrate a 100 th birthday. He joins the ranks of comedian George Burns, actor Charles Lane, and seven other celebrities, according to this 2007 article.