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.