Laetitia Beck on growing golf in Israel, where there’s only one 18-hole course

Laetitia Beck, the first Israeli golfer to qualify for a PGA or LPGA Tour, will be in Montreal this August for a B'nai Brith charity tournament. (Photo supplied by Laetitia Beck)

Israel isn’t exactly known for golf. And with just one 18-hole course in the whole country, neither is it a destination for many pro golfers or passionate fans. That may be why it took until 2014 for the country to produce a player who qualified to join an LPGA Tour: Laetitia Beck.

Since then, she’s competed at the highest levels for her home country: at the Olympics, the Women’s British Open, the LPGA and, of course, the Maccabiah, where she’s won numerous gold medals. In all that time, she’s proudly represented Israel, even displaying the Magen David on her golf shoes.

This year, on Aug. 15, she’ll be teeing up at Montreal’s Beaconsfield club as part of B’nai Brith Canada’s second annual Chip Away at Hate Classic. We caught up with her while she was on the road in Michigan to hear about golf culture in the Holy Land and her thoughts about Montreal’s abundance of Jewish greens.

Also in this episode, Gabe and Jamie give a quick Maccabiah 2022 recap, play a clip from Zach Hyman’s recent fundraiser tournament and give props to the greatest Jewishly named pro MLB player to ever grace a baseball diamond: Bubby Rossman.

Credits

Menschwarmers is hosted by James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver, and produced and edited by Michael Fraiman. Our intro music is by Coby Lipovitch, and our outro music is “Organ Grinder Swing” by chēēZ π. This show is a member of The CJN Podcast Network. Follow the Menschwarmers on Twitter @menschwarmers or TikTok @menschwarmers. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.