Ben Feld of Green Valley Country Club took home a gold medal in the men’s open division at the European Maccabi Games.

Feld takes gold medal, sets European Maccabi Games record

By Jan L. Apple

  Ben Feld has come a long way since first swinging a golf club at age 10 at Green Valley Country Club. It was there that he joined his grandparents – longtime golfers Phyllis and Larry Goldsborough – in what would fast become a shared passion.

  The 24-year-old Plymouth Meeting, Pa. resident, who has made a name for himself with two recent semifinal appearances in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship (2012, 2014), took home a gold medal in the men’s open division at the European Maccabi Games, July 28-Aug. 4, in Berlin, Germany. Feld posted a 65 on the first day of the three-day tournament – his personal best in competitive play – and proceeded to shoot a 68 in each of the following two rounds.

  Feld, a graduate assistant golf coach at Drexel University where he’s pursuing a master’s in communication, didn’t know it at the time, but discovered that night that his 65 broke Berliner Golfclub Stolper Heide course record.

  “Finding that out was incredible,” recalled Feld, describing the track as different than any in the Philadelphia region. “There were no trees on the golf course and the greens were very undulating.”

  Wind gusts during the competition were 25 to 30 miles per hour.

  “I drew my focus in hole-by-hole. I was pleased and proud that I’d been playing my A-game. It’s a different feeling when you’re wearing your country’s name on your chest.”

  Feld’s brother, Max, 21, was at his side caddying, a custom for the twosome. His mom, Jill, and her boyfriend, Chip Kurtzman, were on the sidelines cheering him on.

  “My entire family is incredibly supportive,” said Feld, adding that this was his first time out of the country.

  When he learned about the 2015 European Maccabi Games – an international Jewish sporting competition that promotes pride and camaraderie – he knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

  “Representing the United States and the Jewish people was something I really wanted to be part of,” said Feld of the event that drew 2,300 athletes from 36 countries. “It’s really amazing to see so many great athletes from all over the world coming together. It’s very powerful.

  “I learned a lot about the Jewish history in Berlin. I took away from the trip an appreciation of what had happened there (referring to the Holocaust).”

  At the medal ceremony, Feld was also presented with a framed plaque from the host club, complete with his record-setting scorecard.

  And his grandparents’ reaction to learning of Feld’s winning ways in Berlin?

  “They were ecstatic,” said Feld who has his sites set on competing in the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Jan L. Apple has been a freelance journalist for nearly two decades. Her feature articles and photographs appear in numerous area publications, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, JerseyMan/PhillyMan Magazine, Attitudes Magazine, Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and the Jewish Exponent.