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Jeff_Lewis

  • Karma: +0/-0
Caesarea is a 40 year old club in Israel, just off the Mediterranean Sea near the ancient city of Caesarea. Last year the course re-opened after a total overhaul by Pete Dye (not sure how much of the work was done by Pete vs. his crew). I will try to post a few photos. I liked the course very much, when one takes into account where it is and for whom it was designed. When you are the only golf course in a country, I think that puts a check on the level of difficulty one would like to see. There will be many new or infrequent golfers playing this course.

The terrain has nice movement and is naturally sandy.  The waste areas probably didn't require much construction.  The smallish greens are interesting without any of them being over the top. The fairways are pretty wide as the location is generally very windy. The day I played it was about 3-4 clubs on the back nine. Hard to lose a ball, but the holes were thoughtfully laid out and did require sound decision-making, with a number of the holes having central hazards of some kind.

Not a bear, not thrilling, but highly competently done and very enjoyable, even in the kind of wind we experienced.

As an aside, I played with a Japanese-Israeli 11 year old boy who was fluent in Hebrew, Japanese, English and GOLF. This fellow was remarkable, having played for only two years.  He was driving the ball with a club probably built for an 8 year old, straight down the middle in some howling winds.  Good touch around the greens and a good putter...watch out Tiger's kids!

 

Mike_Young

  • Karma: +0/-0
I think Tim Liddy did the course for PD....
"just standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona"

astavrides

  • Karma: +0/-0
golf digest lists israel as having 2 courses.  Is the other 9 holes?

Ville Nurmi

  • Karma: +0/-0
The other one is called Gaash golf club. It is located near Tal Aviv and has 9 holes.
Not played there but did play at Cesarea before the makeover. It was quite low key and low maintenance at that time, but maybe they were already waiting for Pete to arrive.

Steve_ Shaffer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Here's the other club:

The Gaash Golf Club:
Gaash golg course, which was established in 1999 is a 9 hole course of 2700 meters in length.

Location: Next to “Hof Hasharon” natural reservoir, Gaash – approx. 30 minutes from Tel-Aviv and Haifa.

Prices:
9 holes, week days: 225 NIS
18 holes, week days: 325 NIS
9 holes, weekends: 300 NIS
18 holes, weekends: 400 NIS
DR basket of balls – 15 NIS
Practice area on week days – 40 NIS
Practice area on weekends – 60 NIS
Website (Hebrew only): http://www.gaashgolfclub.co.il/  


There was a big RTJ2 project announced a few years ago but it's on hold due to economic conditions.

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Jeff_Lewis

  • Karma: +0/-0
There is a TON of awesome looking linksland as one drives north from Tel Aviv to Caesarea. I have no idea what things cost or what environmental restrictions are...but there is a lot of vacant duneland with views of the sea and exposure to the wind to be had. And it was in the 80s every day last week. I think another challenge is probably access to water, not just development cost.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2009, 03:08:12 PM by Jeff_Lewis »