Arbuckle in the D 

Into each life, some rain must fall
Too much is falling in mine
Into each heart, some tears must fall
Someday the sun will shine

Thus sang Ella Fitzgerald and the Inkspots in 1944. The song’s lyrics were based on a 19th-century Wordsworth poem and have resonated through the years right up to July 19, 2024 when a crazy worldwide computer glitch shut down great swaths of the internet including Delta Airlines. So it was that the four Arbuckleans awoke that morning to learn that return trips for at least two players had been scrambled. Schedules were upended and chaos could have ensued; instead the sun did shine on what became a most memorable stretch of time henceforth to be known as the great Arbuckle in the D day.

Specifically, the Cat’s flight that day was canceled. After a bit of consternation; it was decided to spend the morning in Ann Arbor and then sojourn into the Motor City for a day of discovery and celebration. Highlights included:

• Breakfast at Ann Arbor’s venerable Fleetwood Diner
• A couple of hours at the Ann Arbor Art Fair
• A visit to the Detroit Institute of Arts including much time spent at the Rivera Court and gazing at DIA’s six Van Goghs.
• A musical side trip to the Detroit Historical Museum for a live musical act and movie at the Concert of Colors and a performance at Roosevelt Park. A brief tour of the newly reopened Michigan Central
• And last but not least, the celebratory dinner of Buddy’s pizza and Boston Coolers at the home of Walter Shapero and Kathleen Straus.

As seen at the DIA

As for the golf, Peter Straus repeated as champion. After a close front nine on Day 1 at Leslie Park, where Straus and Badman Ron Braun were tied at the turn, with Stanley Pesick and the aforementioned (Little) Cat, Rick Last lurking; Straus pulled away on the back nine (actually holes 1-9 as the course had been reversed for the day) and left with a commanding lead. Throughout each day of the tourney, the players all had their moments, but Straus was consistent throughout and a birdie at the signature fifth hole at the UM Stadium Course on the second day pretty much sealed the deal.

Franklin Hills

One last golf note: day one was a practice day at Franklin Hills Country Club. The course was in magnificent shape; Straus and Pesick got to share a caddie, which was great fun,  and all had a fine time. Great thanks go to Walter Shapero for hosting us.

But this year’s event was dominated by the unlikely foursome of Diego Rivera, Vincent Van Gogh, Bill Ford and Don Was. It was Arbuckle in the D; appreciating all that America’s comeback city has to offer

Under the infamous William Street Bridge

Hat swap

Washtenaw Dairy

Before & After at Michigan Central

Taking in the tunes at Michigan Central

Ford Motor Co. invested over $6 million
in the renovation of the station

 

 

 

 

At the Concert of Colors

Ode to Arbuckle 24

Ode to Arbuckle 24

by Walter Shapero

On the occasion of the annual Celebratory Dinner, July 19, 2024

Here's a great story of old Detroit School buddies four

Who have had for many years their own special golf tour

They long ago eschewed the tennis racket

For pursuit of their own special Green Jacket

The name of this ongoing event?

Is the annual Arbuckle Golf Tournament.

So today our hats to those four we should doff

Guys who, at least between themselves, don't get teed off

Though one can suppose you might hear one of them mutter

If he misses an easy 20 incher off the blade of his putter.

(Though that missed putt would not by him be considered a flub

As all the blame surely and purely was the fault of the club).

They play golf courses all over - some easier and some tough

And hopefully, land their shots in the fairway not the rough

Always thinking about whether they should

For the upcoming shot use an iron or a wood

And maybe thinking this or that hole is a snap

Until that next shot unfortunately lands in a trap.

The game of golf to be sure is the strong tether

For this continuing annual guys get together

And as long as they are able it seems quite clear

Together they will keep pursuing that little white sphere

As charter and the only members of  an enduring organization

Known as the PPGGA - the Past Prime Guys Golfing Association.

2023 Addenda

Editor's Note: Due to the Covid scare at the beginning of the week, the following was never delivered.

Arbuckle 2023 Celebratory Poem

September 8, 2023

by Walter Shapero

 

Never delivered

Put on that big smile and get rid of that frown

The Arbuckle Fearsome Foursome has come to town

Testing their skills on many a short and long fairway

To win the Green Jacket at the end of the day

As with their swings they sometimes might fiddle

In order to more often get that shot down the middle.

 

These four all-over-the-country sojourners are way past being golf learners

As they vie for the prize of the jacket and some Buddy’s Pizza and Vernors

So let us all forget the LIV and PGA on this celebratory night

As in the presence of the Arbucklers we take great delight

And all together enjoy another of their annual sights(sites?)

And for at least a year one of them ____?___ has bragging rights.

 

 

  

Fraught Times at Old Haunts

Was it a debacle? A comedy? A tragedy? Or ultimately the same old fun participants have been having since 1997? You decide:

• First, Rick Last, the Little Cat, about 15 days prior to the opening bell, had to cancel his participation due to suffering a slipped disk.
• 

  
  Next, Wednesday morning dawned with the news that a wedding Ron “Badman” Braun had attended the prior Sunday had become a super-spreader. An early morning text from Laura announced she was testing positive. Holy mackerel; we didn’t even have tests.
• Fortunately, after a quick CVS run, we all tested negative (and continued to do so throughout the week)
• But the risk of exposure meant we had to cancel the celebratory dinner scheduled for Friday in Detroit at the home of Kathleen Straus and Arbuckle Guardian Angel, Walter Shapero.
• As golf is a game played best outside (pretty tough to do it indoors; with due apologies to TopGolf), we decided to mask up in the car and play.

• 

  The skies eventually parted

  The University of Michigan’s Stadium course was the first venue - practice only. It was raining (of course) when we arrived, but the skies eventually parted and we got in all 18. The highlight of the day was Stanley Pesick’s birdie on Number 1.
  
• Great meal that night at Zola Cafe in Ann Arbor. Which salved the wounds a bit.
• The next day, we journeyed to Franklin Hills, a venerable old club in Detroit with a Donald Ross course and a magnificent clubhouse designed by Albert Kahn. Highlight (lowlight?) of the day was Braun hitting what looked like a perfect shot to a pin tucked front left on a par three, but we couldn’t and never did find the ball. Though we looked in the hole more than once, it wasn’t there. A sorry six was the resulting score.

• 

  Franklin Hills

  And then disaster really struck. Braun’s eyes started hurting, tearing and reddening. He was in pain and couldn’t tolerate the sunlight. He gutted the round out - even parring the tough 18^th, but still.
• The meal that night? Best left unsaid, the dim light necessary for Braun’s sore eyes helped obscure the sight of an execrable meal.
• 
  
• Still, soldiering on, Leslie Park was Friday’s setting. A great muni; tremendous value and Braun’s eyes were marginally better.
• 
  Normally, the Arbuckle Blog doesn’t talk much about the food consumption, but space must be made to discuss Chef Stanley Pesick’s Fall Off the Bone Slow Baked Pork Ribs which we had for Shabbat dinner with Zingerman’s challah, cole slaw and salad. A magnificent eating experience and a tribute to the Chef.
  
• The tournament, mercifully, had ended that day. Straus won.
• Saturday was a fun day. Golf at a relatively new course in Ann Arbor - Lake Forest. Nice course; we’ll be back. Then lunch with Jerome Pesick at the Red Hawk Grill on State Street; and a trip to the Big House where we watched U-M annihilate UNLV.

So, that’s that. We all agreed we ended up having a good time and of course, look forward to the day when all four of us can play.

Photo Library

Yawning bunkers at Franklin Hills

Some things never change

The old haunt on Hoover Street

 

Monterey Trip March 2023

 

2022 -- Badman is Still a Bad Man

Free at last....Braun now has
broken free and is the leading winner
in tournament history with nine cups.

For the second year in a row, Ron Braun, the “Badman from Motown”, won a Catless Arbuckle Tournament; this time in Northern California on three East Bay courses: Corica North and South in Alameda and Metropolitan Golf Links in Oakland.

After a middling start, Braun finished Day One at Corica South with a commanding lead by firing a solid 44 on the back nine. He followed it up the next day on Metropolitan, after another rough start,  with a splendid 42 on the back that featured pars on the two most challenging holes - 14 and 17; each highlighted by superb approaches over water.  Observers agreed Braun’s shot on 17; a seven wood from 150 yards was one of the great shots in Arbuckle history. Under pressure; shunning the easy layup; Braun nailed it.

 “He’s a grinder” noted second-place finisher Stanley Pesick. “He kept his composure after a miserable front nine and really brought it coming home.” Indeed Pesick had closed within a single stroke after the ninth on his way to a score of 88 - which was the best gross score of all three (well, two and a half) days. But it wasn’t enough. By the end of the day, Braun had retained his lead and cruised to an easy win on the final nine. Pesick had some reason to feel good about the event though because he had the best gross score over the entire 45 holes.

Pyrrhic Victory

Peter Straus, finished a distant third owing mostly to a dreadful Day Two at Metro where nothing went right. Straus took little solace in that he had low gross on both the first day at Metro and the last half day at Corica North. The second-day horror show did him in and thus his first and third days were the very essence of a pyrrhic victory.

As always, a fine time was had by all. Here's hoping 2023 brings a return of everyone's favorite Cat to the proceedings.

Nine years before we ate at Brotzeit Lokal
in Oakland, this happened...