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West Valley City Journal

Golf tournament at The Ridge benefits police officers and organization

Sep 10, 2024 04:00PM ● By Tom Haraldsen

Brad Allen, managing partner of the Texas Roadhouse in Taylorsville, with Sgt. Kresdon Bennett from the Fraternal Order of the Police-Lodge 52 in Taylorsville. (Tom Haraldsen/City Journals)

Over 100 golfers took to the links at The Ridge golf course in West Valley City on Aug. 10 in a benefit scramble for the Fraternal Order of the Police. For the seventh year, the four-person team event was sponsored by the Texas Roadhouse in Taylorsville.

The event raised several thousand dollars for the FOP, a foundation that supports projects and activities to honor law enforcement, foster community involvement and aid officers and their families.

“It’s our annual golf tournament we've been doing since 2018,” said Brad Allen, managing partner for the Taylorsville Texas Roadhouse. “It’s a chance for us to get together with community members and give to different charities. The community takes such good care of us at the restaurant that we feel like it’s a good chance for us to give back.”

In the past, the Texas Roadhouse event has raised money for Fisher House at the VA Hospital, the Ronald McDonald House and other local charities. Sponsors this year included Wheeler Construction, General Distributing, all the Texas Roadhouses in the area, as well as The Ridge golf course.

“We had a lot of help from a lot of people,” Allen said. “We do stuff with police departments already. We do a weekly dinner where they can come and pick up a dinner from the restaurant to take to a family in need. That helps them form better relationships with families around town. So choosing to work with them today was an easy step for us.”

This year there were 29 teams made up of 116 golfers. Allen said the tourney grows each year in numbers. He had just 12 teams the first year.

Kresdon Bennett, a sergeant with the Taylorsville Police Department and Sergeant in Arms for the Taylorsville FOP Lodge 52, expressed his gratitude for the event.

“It’s phenomenal to have that community response,” he said. “To generate money for an organization like ourselves helps fund some of the critical wellness programs for our officers—mental health and physical wellness. It helps support our officers outside of their normal duties.”

He said about 14 of the lodge’s 62 members are golfers.

“We had a great time…good camaraderie,” Bennett said. “We didn’t play all that great but we still had a good time. I’ve been around and worked for Taylorsville City for the past 10 years. We’ve always had a great relationship with Texas Roadhouse. Brad and his staff have been phenomenal for our city, for our lodge, and the police department as a whole. They are super supportive. It’s a great community relationship.”

Golfers prepare to scramble to their tee boxes as the tournament begins. (Tom Haraldsen/City Journals)