Forty-five teams participated Sunday in the sixth annual Trotter-Brame Memorial golf scramble at Bringhurst Park.
The event celebrates the course, brings in loyal supporters and recent converts, and newcomers, while paying tribute to families who polished an all-but-dormant gem in the 1960s and revived it so that generations could continue to enjoy the sport – at no charge.
The nine-hole, par-3 Bringhurst Park course is an Alexandria treasure and is nationally noteworthy.
“Could flat ground in central Louisiana inside the state’s 10th-largest city be among the most significant seven acres in American participatory golf?,” was the start of a 2022 story on the Golf Course Industry website.
“Established in the late 1920s, Bringhurst Golf Course provided a faster-to-play, easier-to-maintain option before golf innovators and developers realized the appeal of shorter courses. The country supported 659 par 3 courses in 2021, according to the National Golf Foundation. None are believed to be older than Bringhurst, a 9-hole, 793-yard facility owned by the City of Alexandria, overseen by the non-profit Friends of Bringhurst, and maintained by the group responsible for managing the crosstown 18-hole Links on the Bayou….
“Playgrounds, athletic fields, houses, a zoo, a funeral home, and a gas station surround the course. Affectionately referred to as ‘The Brink’ by denizens, Bringhurst’s footprint is just seven urban acres. Numerous sights and sounds are uniquely Bringhurst. The Alexandria Zoological Park is behind the second green and noises from squeaking monkeys reverberate. Kramer Funeral Home sits across the street from the sixth tee and mourners watch tee shots fly as they wait for viewing hours. A fence encloses the course, but Bringhurst meshes with its surroundings,” the article said.
Sunday’s championship flight was won by Jay Bankston of Natchitoches and Grady Brame Jr. from Baton Rouge, a Hammond native with obvious Alexandria roots. Both have played “the Brink” since their childhood many years ago.
First flight winners were Carl and Randy Carstens, members of another cornerstone family in the course’s resurgence.
Martin Ramirez and Jacob Brown took the second flight championship.