2009. See ya.

Interesting year it's been. There have been both wonderful times and some not so wonderful times. But looking, back on everything, I can only be grateful.

I never thought I'd visit Israel, but I did, and did many things I will remember for a long time. Floating in the Dead Sea, touring the Old City, visiting the Shuk in Jerusalem with Marc, the opening ceremony at Ramat Gan stadium I will always remember as great times in my life. Just the other day I noticed I have about 40 or 50 shekels that I brought back with me so I know I'll have to go back soon. I met some great people from all over the country and made some friends I hope I'll have for a long time.



It was too bad that I wasn't able to play a better game of golf while I was in Israel, but I did manage to win the MCC Club Championship which I am proud of.

In September, I moved to a new apartment in Murray Hill with two Tulane friends and two other guys who are very nice. Overall, it's a good living situation and I'm happy to be here.

I am enjoying working with my colleagues at my trading job, and expect a successful 2010.

There's more to say but it's probably not blogworthy.

one love

Skyscraper Bookshelf

By Paul T. Frankl

Boomerang

nyc

i took this pic on climb from la guardia in a regional jet

Club Championship

The past two weekends I played in the club championship at Metropolis CC up in White Plains. I was fortunate enough to win after qualifying two Saturdays ago, winning in the quarterfinals that Sunday, and then winning in the semifinals last Saturday and the finals on Sunday.

Qualifying is always frustrating because the round is very slow as most members are not used to the medal play format. This year there were 10 players going for 7 spots (the previous winner gets a bye and plays the 8th seed). I started the round off well with a birdie on 1, but then bogeyed six holes in a row (holes 2 through 7), parred the 8th hole and double bogeyed the easy 150 yard par 3 9th for a poor +7 42 on the front nine.

I knew I had to play solidly on the back nine or risk not qualifying. I bogeyed the difficult 440 yard dog-leg 10th hole but then finished the last 8 holes in +1 giving me a 42-38 80 (+9) securing the 4th seed. The most memorable shot of the round was my second shot on the 18th hole 400 yard dogleg right. I drove the ball too far right into a grass bunker with the ball at least a foot above me with the pin tucked on a tier on the right side of the green and a tree menacing if i hit my shot just a few yard too far right. I had about 135 yards and I took the 9 iron and aimed at the pin knowing the slope would push the ball to the left. Luckily, I pushed the shot just a little and it went right for the hole, landed and stopped on the green about 6 feet away. I just missed the putt for the birdie.

The next day was the quarterfinals and I was paired with Craig, a nice kid who plays squash for Princeton. Last year he beat me on the 15th hole after I was 3 up thru the first 4 holes. There was no way I was going to lose twice in a row, so I focused as much as I possibly could and was able to win on the 15th hole (4&3). I played very well, made a bunch of birdies and was pleased that my putter was working for me. Craig birdied the 13th and 14th holes to give me a scare, but I rolled in a 25 downhill slider on the short 15th hole par 3 to win the match. I think I was +1 for the 15 holes.

The following Saturday was the semifinals against last year's winner Mark. Mark is a solid player who thinks through every shot, and as a result is quite a slow player. It's difficult to establish a rhythm playing against him because there is so much down time, but that's part of the game. I lost the first hole after literally shanking a 60 yard wedge, but won both the 2nd and 3rd holes. Then I lost the 7th and 8th holes to brilliant birdies...Mark sunk a 40 yard pitch on 7 and then hit a stellar approach on 8 to tap in distance. I can't remember if I was even or one down going into the back nine.

We were even through 13 holes which makes it like a 5 hole tournament. Somehow I lost the 14th and 15th holes putting me in a tough spot at 2 down with three to play. The 14th hole I lost after I was unable to get up and down (i think...) and I three putted the 15th hole. Strangely, I never felt like it was an unsurmountable deficit and I headed to the 480 yard par 5 16th needing to win some holes fast.

I hit a perfect drive right where it needed to be down the left side and left myself about 220 yards against the wind to the middle pin. I hit a perfect one-iron that came to rest on fringe just above the hole. It very easily could have come off of the fringe and trickled very close to the hole. Mark had to lay up with his second shot and I watched his third almost go directly in the hole and back up to about 15 feet away - a pretty easy uphill putt. I studied my 20 footer and drilled it right in the middle for eagle.

The 17th hole Mark and I both hit our drive too far left and Mark was first to play and had to contend with a branch. He hit a great shot right on the green about 35 feet away. I had about 95 yards to the front pin and wound up hitting the shot about 80 yards. I was short of the green in the fairway with a ramp up to the pin. I used my 3 wood and was able to hit the shot to about 7 feet. I had to concede Mark's putt as he putt it to about a foot and a half. Then I walked up and sunk the putt to extend the match.

The 18th hole I hit my drive too far left and Mark did as well. He was faced with a difficult shot near a tree and was able to hit the shot towards the green about 25 yards short. I had about 175 yards to go and had to hit the ball high enough to go over a group of trees. On my practice swing I clipped a tree I didn't realize was in range of my swing and I waited an intense two seconds to see if a leaf would fall...if it did the match was over. Luckily, no leaf fell and I put the ball to 25 feet on the green. Mark then skulled his chip and was still outside of me having to go up and then down a tier to the hole. He hit his putt to about 12 feet. Then I of course blew my putt about 8 feet by the hole. Mark then was able to sink his 12 footer for bogey, forcing me to make my par putt to extend the match to extra holes. Luckily, I was able to make the putt and we went to the 1st hole.

We both played a solid 1st hole and each had birdie putts. Mark's was from about 15-18 feet and he just missed it. Mine was about 10 feet and I just left it on the edge. On the second playoff hole (the 2nd hole) I flared my drive out to the right just like I had in just about every other club championship round. Hitting the ball to the right is not a bad location because there is plenty of room and gives you a good angle at the wide but not very deep green. Mark saw me hit this shot and I guess he tensed up because he pull hooked his drive which hit some trees. He was very very lucky that his shot stayed in play because it very easily could have gone in the water.

From there, he had about 200 yards all over water from the rough. He elected to play to the right and put the ball in a good position just short of the green to the right, but he still had to contend with a 40 yard chip all the way across the green with the pin just on top of a steep tier...a very difficult shot, and under pressure on the 2nd playoff hole with a bunch of people watching made it even more difficult. I had about 155 yards to go with a good angle from the rough and made probably my best swing of the day. The ball hit just at the top of the tier right at the hole but slowly and sadly trickled back down the hill. Mark chunked his chip and was still away. Then he got the ball on the right tier with his next shot but still had about 20 feet. I hit a conservative putt and left myself with about 6 feet. Mark then missed his putt which I conceded and I was faced with being able to two putt and win the match. I just missed the putt but had an inch or two left and Mark conceded the putt and match.

The following day for the finals I was up against a very nice guy named Gordon who was the medalist in qualifying shooting a fine 77. I have never played with a faster golfer than Gordon and I found it very easy this time to find a good rhythm. I really played good golf in the morning 18 and found myself 8 up despite a three putt to tie the hole on 18. I hit a number of memorable shots including a 185 yard 6 iron on the difficult 7th hole for a gimme birdie.

The second 18 I knew that I was in great shape and just needed to continue to focus and make good swings. I birdied the 1st hole to go 9 up and got as much as 10 up before I lost the 25th and 26th holes with bogeys - the only holes I lost all match. Finally, I was 8 up with 9 to play on the 10th (28th) hole. Gordon and I both hit good drives. Gordon hit a great shot on the green and I was up next with 210 yards downhill with a pretty strong right to left slope and a backstop behind the hole which could funnel the ball right to the hole. I put a good swing on the ball with the 4-iron and it went right towards the middle of the green with a slight draw. It hit the front of the green and rolled towards the hole, coming to rest about 8 feet away right where I was earlier in the day when I had made the putt to win the hole. Gordon missed his putt and I made it for a birdie and to win the match and the tournament.

I was very pleased with how I played in the tournament. My strength was definitely my driver. I was able on most holes to knock the ball in the right spot with a good angle to the green. My irons were also on point for the most part. I did have some problems with putting but when I needed to make a putt, this year I was able to. I did have some problems with my chipping (as usual) but I was able to mostly circumvent the problem by putting with the 3-wood when possible.

Back to Reality

Israel Pictures Full - Picasa

So I'm back in New York now and back to EST and resuming my normal life which is kinda sad given how awesome the last month has been. Even though I spent almost a month in Israel, I still feel like I barely scratched the surface of the country. There's so much more to experience, and I can't wait to get back and it's looking like next summer will be the time...maybe even December?

There are plenty of English speakers in Israel, but it still was frustrating not to be able to communicate with some people. Each day in Israel I pretty much doubled my knowledge of Hebrew...I can now count to ten, say excuse me, say cool/nice/okay in a bunch of different ways, I can ask where something is but probably won't be able to decipher the answer, i definitely can say I don't understand you, and a bunch of phrases I picked up here and there. Point of the story is: I want to learn hebrew and I'm looking at a few options of how to do that. Next time in Israel, I'll be ready to converse.

Side note: In online chat in the US, we say lol when something is funny...in Spanish speaking countries, the corresponding word is jaja...in Israel, the letter ח or chet is used (ח makes that distinctive throat clearing sound that we don't use in the US) which I thought was kinda funny in itself...its normal to see a string of the letters חחחחחחחחחחח which would be pronounced chhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh or a long throat clearing sound. Maybe you find that funny too...

Anyway, here's a list of the most memorable moments of the trip (10 is just about as cool as 1:

1) experiencing the top of Masada, looking at the amazing view down towards the Dead Sea, learning about its history.

2) opening ceremonies at Ramat Gan Stadium, walking in the stadium to 50,000 fans and a potential audience of a million or so around the world

3) the group B'Nai Mitzvah at Hebrew University in Jerusalem with breathtaking views of the desert

4) The sunsets at Caesarea...just breathtaking. can't tell you how much i wish you could have been there to watch it too.

5) wading through Hezekiah's Water Tunnel, a 2,000 year old water tunnel that provided Jerusalem with fresh water.

6) wrapping Tefillin at the Kotel, saying a prayer at the Wall while thinking about my family and loved ones, placing a prayer note in the wall

7) renting a car, driving to Jerusalem, spending the afternoon with Marc, walking around the city, especially the Shuk where I took great pictures and had a great meal, conversations with Marc about his path and the search for significance and meaning in our lives

8)The Golf Closing Ceremonies at Caesarea, receiving the bronze medal with the team, drinking champagne on stage, the after party mingling with great people (and golfers) from 12 countries (Australia, Scotland, Finland, France, US, Israel, Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Great Britain, South Africa, and Argentina).

9) Relaxing and playing at the Sea of Galilee, waterslides, barbecue, last night with the tour group, Izzy our tour guide, stubbing my toe.

10) Floating in the Dead Sea, getting all muddy, (with Masada in the middle) the Bedouin feast, camels, eastern music, belly dancing.

11) US Golf Team camaraderie, on the busses, at Shefayim, at the Dan, at the port, the hotel, the room, laughing at movie quotes (Zohan, Caddyshack, Dumb and Dumber), making great friends.

12) the flight home - the King David Lounge, taking a great shower right before boarding, unlimited Coke's, upgrading to business class for $250, the seats, mingling with the flight attendants.

I definitely missed a few moments that were also very memorable: Yad Vashem, Sidonian Caves, our last day in Tel Aviv...and plenty of others.

El Al

Last Day in Israel (for a little while)

Right now I'm relaxing in the King David Lounge at Ben Gurion airport - we board LY01 in about 90 minutes or so and a bunch of us golfers upgraded to business class for a small fee. Firstly, apologies for being so lazy not posting anything in the past few days.
A quick wrapup before I get around to a full post when I have time in the coming days. My golf was pretty poor, but got steadily better as the week progressed. The Men's open team took bronze, finishing behind South Africa and Israel respectively. Mike Feuerstein and Mike Myers took 2nd and 3rd respectively in the individual medals, a very solid achievement, shooting 77-69-73-70 (+1) and 72-73-78-71 (+6). The overall winner was Dean Sundelson of South Africa who shot 71-70-73-69 (-5) to capture the gold.

All through the week I was having difficulty with my chipping and putting and that part of the game really cost me strokes all over the place. Again and again I was having trouble keeping chips on the green and countless holes I had two chips and one putt or one chip and two putts or sometimes three putts that inflated my score. My drives were adequate but got better over the days, and was finding it difficult to gauge the distance of my irons with the steady 20-30 mph winds off the Mediterranean. On the bright side, in the final round, after starting out with four consecutive bogeys, I finished the round +2 for the final 14 holes and -2 for the final 6...holes 15 thru 18 are definitely the toughest holes on the course and 18 was a par 4 playing 490 uphill so that definitely was a moral victory for me.

Later in the evening was the awards ceremony which was really nice, classy, enjoyable - everyone had a great time. Today, we decided to not go to the Maccabiah closing ceremonies and instead head to Tel Aviv and be tourists for a final day. We dropped our bags at Mike's cousin's house on Sprinzak before walking around. We walked I'd say two miles or so along Sderot Rothschild and then a street going towards the Sea with all kinds of shops that we stopped in. We reached the beach and found a very nice restaurant just on the other side of HaYarkon from the Sea. We ordered well, ate even better, and then decided not to cab back but walk instead to burn some of the calories off. An hour later we hit back on Sprinzak to Mike's cousin's bachelor bad. We rested for two hours and very luckily found Don't Mess with the Zohan on TV and watched it before calling cabs needed 3 to bring the four of us and bags to the airport. So here we are now in the KDL enjoying free drinks and food before we board in an hour back to the states. :)

To look at a selection of pics, some of which you've probably already seen, click here. Thanks for visiting.

Video

Video

Practicing

The heat is tough out here. To get to the golf course we have to take a 10 minute hike through the desert. Walking through the deep sand takes some extra energy and by the time you get to the course you're pretty sweaty. So today I hit a few buckets on the range and was pretty though not overly pleased with the way I was hitting the ball. After the range, I hit some putts and then spent an hour on the chipping green where I hit chip after chip to get dialed in on the distances. With the wind the way it is and the pins tucked tight on every hole, chips are probably the most important element to keep scores down.

After practicing, I was pretty tired, but decided to play holes one and two and then head back here to the hotel. Hole one is a 400 yard par 4 dogleg right with a tree in the right center of the fairway and a stiff right to left crosswind. (you can see the 1st hole all the way on the right of the first pic) I hit a drive right down the middle but not quite far enough to the left as my second shot clipped the top left of the tree and dropped straight down. I hit the sand wedge on the green and two putted for bogey.

The next hole is a 320 hard slight dog leg left with bunkers left and right. My standard play here is to hit a hard hook with the 1-iron and I've yet to really hit a bad one here. My tee shot hooked right into the center of the fairway 105 meters (116 yards) away from the pin right in the middle of the green. The wind here was a strong left to right hurting crosswind and I elected to hit a knock down 9 iron instead of a full pitching wedge to control the distance. I hit it crisply, and it flew straight as an arrow starting just left of the pin. Karen, who I was playing with, said "wow that looks perfect" as it was in the air. It landed right in front of the hole, took a bounce and went in for a satisfying eagle. Nice! Since I had my camera, I had to take the shameless photo op...

Caesarea Sunset

Went out to the port at Caesarea this evening with the Adams', Jake, Mike, and Jon. We ate at a nice restaurant right on the water and saw another gorgeous sunset. This time I remembered my camera. After dinner we walked around the port area where there was a little street fair with all kinds of little stands selling food - falafel, crepes, asian noodles to knick-knacks - rings, bracelets, doo-dads, tchotchkes, dresses, air-tattoos, creams, lotions, and oils, etc. etc. etc. I got a few gifts here and there. There was also a pretty big projector screen showing an old American movie with Hebrew subtitles that was pretty popular with some people bringing chairs and others just sitting on the lawn. It's such a beautiful place and such a nice community of people here.

Jerusalem Road Trip

I rented a car today, a beautiful Suzuki, and drove to Har Nof, Jerusalem to visit my friend Marc who's studying to be a rabbi. Surprisingly, I only took one wrong turn on the way to Har Nof...I took a right too early and wound up at the base of the Jerusalem Forest at a construction site. I got some very strange looks. I drove back up the terraced hillside and asked a friendly Jewish face how to get to Har Nof...pretty soon I passed a power station, a gas station, and a few roundabouts and Marc was waiting for me around the bend.

Although we hadn't met up for probably 5 years, we caught right up. He introduced me to his roommate and we headed by car to the city center. We parked the car in an indoor lot but not before some uzi carrying soldiers checked my empty trunk. First stop was the shuk, the outdoor market between Yafo and Aggripas. This was exactly what I wanted to experience that I missed during the tour of Jerusalem during precamp. The sights and smells were delicious and I think the pictures does it a decent amount of justice:







We stopped for lunch at a little stand with just three tiny tables...despite the roach crawling on the wall directly next to my face, the food was delicious:

After lunch we headed outside where Marc introduced me to Marzipan Bakery...all I can say is WOW and this picture definitely does not do it justice:

After that, we went around Ben Yehuda street and then walked to the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim community and went to some bookstores and shops before heading to an Arab shuk and then the Western Wall. can I ever get my hat straight?

Opening Ceremonies + Road Trip

The opening ceremonies was an amazing experience. We took a tour bus from the Dan to Ramat Gan Stadium in the mid afternoon where we entered a caged off athlete staging area where all the athletes mixed and mingled before the parade into the stadium. There were sandwiches, popsicles, and water to keep us all fed, hydrated, and comfortable.

We relaxed in lawn chairs and took pictures with different countries - the athletes from India wore very cool (hot) suits:

The Great Brits surprisingly were quite the trash talkers singing all sorts of songs aimed at the US delegation which we for the most part ignored, but some of the ladies had cute eye-makeup:

As you can see, the US team was all wearing these kind of old fashioned hats that looked kind of silly and was difficult to get looking just right.

better like this?

orrr like this?

i thought stacey wore hers very nicely...

by the time I was in the stadium, it was getting pretty crooked:

The Turks definitely had a nice color scheme going:

desperate much?

me with some israelis:

scary looking commies:

quite a view:

gdddeht scaught!

oui oui oui?

viva mexico!

the south africans:

once inside the stadium, and after the parade of nations, after the speeches (in ivrit) of the mayor of Ramat Gan and Prime Minister Netanyahu, there was a beautiful dance performance with hundreds of performers:

and the beautiful conclusion:

torch lighting:

Opening Ceremonies PrePost

Boker Tov! Opening ceremonies last night was absolutely incredible. Walking into Ramat Gan stadium with over 50,000 fans was an incredible feeling, one that I won't soon forget. With about 15 million Jews in the world, and 50,000 fans / athletes/ staff in the stadium, that means that 1 of every 300 Jews in the world were at the event last night...pretty amazing stuff. We met athletes from so many countries...a partial list: Estonia, India, Turkey, Scotland, Great Britain, Russia, France, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, Columbia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Belgium etc etc.

I'll be writing a full recap of the event, including more pictures and video, but for now I'm busy planning my day. Take a deep breath and try not to worry as you read this, but I'm renting a car and driving to Jerusalem to meet up with my good friend from Horace Mann, Marc Friedman. Marc is attending Yeshiva and studying to become a rabbi! I"ll definitely be asking him a lot of questions as we roam around the city eating falafel and chatting.

I'll have my cell phone if you'd like to reach me, but the best way I believe would be to email me which'll come straight to my blackberry. I also may stop in Tel Aviv on the way back to Caesarea. By the way, renting a car seemed like a better plan ($40 per day) than a 2.5 hour $17 round trip train ride which involved a change in Lod, and a $100 per way cab ride. Maybe you'd agree with me.

Thanks for Visiting

Went out to Crusaders restaurant on the pier at Caesarea tonight. Forgot my camera and missed taking pictures of literally the most breathtaking sunset I've ever witnessed. It was incredible. Food was good too.

Opening ceremonies tomorrow, look forward to pics and a recap. Until then.

Dan Caesarea

The Israeli Water Hazard:

My future third home:

The Dan Lobby:

We're checked in to the Dan Caesarea now, and different teams have been showing up over the past few days. So far I've seen teams from Canada, South Africa, Israel, Finland, Australia, and Great Britain. Others have seen the Scottish team but I've yet to see them. Overall, there's 11 countries in the golf tournament.

Since we've checked in we've been relaxing around the hotel and playing and practicing. Today, I played the back nine in the morning with Jake and Ron. The back nine is 2 or 3 strokes tougher than the front. I sunk a 20 yard chip for birdie on 18 to shoot 39 which isn't great but still respectable I guess. We headed up to the restaurant and had a delicious lunch and I picked up a few gifts at the pro shop. Then it was back to the hotel where I napped for hours. The heat really zaps the energy out of me although I have yet to feel really fatigued on the golf course.

At 5, I headed back to the course to play the front nine with Jake. We really tore the course up both shooting one under with lots of birdies all over. I hit the 3rd hole par five in two with driver driver two putt, then hit one of the best shots I've hit recently, a 185 yard six iron to a foot. We kept waiting for a single playing in front of us who was playing two balls (a single should never hold up a twosome). Finally on the 8th hole we joined the single, an Asian man in his 50's with New York Yankees socks. We introduced ourselves, and asked the obvious question...so what are you doing here? Turns out Sam is the South Korean ambassador to Israel in his second term. Very cool! He hits a nice ball and I was happy that I made a nice birdie on 8 after a really solidly struck 6 iron to 8 feet and a 360° all around good putt.

On 9, the 210 yard par 3 I selected the 3 iron, and aimed about 30 yards right for a long sweeping draw that I've been playing lately with a fair amount of success. Well this time was not so successful, I hit it thin, pushed it, and it didn't really draw and wound up in the 10th fairway. I zapped the distance and I had 59 yards in. I hit a solid approach and just missed the par putt to finish -1 for the nine. The other golfers had a kick out of the "just missed the shot and wound up in 10 fairway 60 yards right."

I'm kind of in a somber mood and a little headachy, so after dinner I decided to stay in so here I am in the room thinking about stuff. Life takes some interesting twists and turns and although it doesn't always turn out the way you plan or hope, the future isw long and uncertain and anything can happen. All anyone can hope for is happiness, loving family, close friends, and passions that keep you moving forward. Tomorrow is another day.