The

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Club was established in January 1961 by the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...

Past and present

When

James Armand de Rothschild James Armand Edmond de Rothschild DCM DL (1 December 1878 – 7 May 1957), sometimes known as Jimmy de Rothschild, was a British Liberal politician and philanthropist, from the wealthy Rothschild international banking dynasty. Biography De Ro ...

visited the Roman ruins in Caesarea, they reminded him of the golf courses back in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and as a veteran golfer he decided to build a golf course in Caesarea. De Rothschild died before he could realize his vision, and after his death the James de Rothschild Foundation was established to fulfill his dream. The Foundation appointed the British representative of the family, Max Rowe, to turn the dream into reality. He organized a special committee whose members included, among others, the mayor of Jerusalem

Teddy Kollek Theodor "Teddy" Kollek ( he, טדי קולק; 27 May 1911 – 2 January 2007) was an Israeli politician who served as the mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, and founder of the Jerusalem Foundation. Kollek was re-elected five times, in 1969, 197 ...

, the Director General of the Ministry of Tourism, Meir de Shalit, and the Foreign Minister at the time,

Abba Eban Abba Solomon Meir Eban (; he, אבא אבן ; born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; 2 February 1915 – 17 November 2002) was an Israeli diplomat and politician, and a scholar of the Arabic and Hebrew languages. During his career, he served as Fo ...

, who headed the committee. The committee commissioned the architect Fred Smith. After design difficulties and efforts to find suitable grass that could withstand the Middle-Eastern climate, the course was built and an irrigation system that included an underground network of pipes was installed. The committee set out to draft golfers and to promote the sport in Israel and the golf course abroad. The opening ceremony, in January 1961, was attended by prominent politicians. The “Israel Golf Federation” was established in 1965, four years after the opening of the golf club. The Club was renovated and upgraded several times over the years, as systems were replaced and modernized, requiring huge financial resources. In 1980, after a new irrigation system was installed at a cost of millions of Israeli

shekel Shekel or sheqel ( akk, 𒅆𒅗𒇻 ''šiqlu'' or ''siqlu,'' he, שקל, plural he, שקלים or shekels, Phoenician: ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly —and became c ...

s, the members convened a general meeting to petition Edmond de Rothschild to increase the annual subsidy for the club. He rejected the demand and transferred management of the club to the Caesarea Development Corporation. Among the visitors to the club have been

Sean Connery Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

, and

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and ...

. Notable Israeli figures included

Chaim Herzog Major-General Chaim Herzog ( he, חיים הרצוג; 17 September 1918 – 17 April 1997) was an Irish-born Israeli politician, general, lawyer and author who served as the sixth President of Israel between 1983 and 1993. Born in Belfast and ...

, who were members.

Laetitia Beck Laetitia Beck ( he, לטיסיה בק; born February 5, 1992) is an Israeli professional golfer. She made her professional debut at the 2014 Women's British Open. Beck has won the Israeli Open Golf Championship five times, including for the firs ...

took her first steps as a golfer at the Caesarea Golf Course, and it was in Caesarea that her parents, avid golfers, made their home. In 2008 Laetitia was chosen as one of Israel’s “sportswomen of the decade” as part of the State of Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. גומה 7

The golf course was reopened in 2009, after it was completely redesigned and renovated by architect

Pete Dye Paul Dye Jr. (December 29, 1925 – January 9, 2020), known as Pete Dye, was an American golf course designer and a member of a family of course designers. He was married to fellow designer and amateur champion Alice Dye. Early life Dye was ...

. As a passionate supporter of environmentally-friendly golf courses, Dye planned the course based on environmental and landscape preservation values. In 2010 the Caesarea golf course joined the list of the

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

World's Top 1000 Golf Courses. The club now spans 6750 sq/m and has two golf courses: a professional 18-hole course, the only one in Israel that meets international standards, and another 9-hole course used mainly for practice and for learning the game. Since 1961 the Club hosts the

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sp ...

once every four years.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caesarea Golf and Country Club Golf clubs and courses in Israel Caesarea, Israel Golf clubs and courses designed by Pete Dye 1961 establishments in Israel Sports venues in Haifa District

Past and present

See also

References

External links