Our mission
Croquet is for everyone.
The Birmingham Croquet Club started in a public park, and that’s still who we are. The goal is simple and stubborn: more lawns, more players, more clubs, and a real croquet culture in Alabama, open to anyone who wants to pick up a mallet.
What we believe
You don’t need an expensive lawn.
We’re not an exclusive club, and croquet doesn’t have to be played on an expensive lawn. The people who started this club played for over ten years in a public park in Birmingham. Anyone with a patch of grass about 50 by 40 feet and some equipment can enjoy this game.
If you get good and want to take your game to the next level, the United States Croquet Association is waiting, and you can join at any point in your life. Whatever you do with it, we’re here to spread the joy of the game.
It gets you outside.
Fresh air, green grass and an afternoon away from a screen.
It makes you think.
Croquet is a strategic game. Every shot is a choice, and the smart one isn’t always the obvious one.
You play with friends.
It’s a game you play side by side, with time to talk between shots.
All ages play together.
Grandkids can play their grandparents, and everyone’s on the same playing field.
About the club
Your local hub for the game.
We play golf croquet — the fast, social, six-hoop version that's easy to learn and hard to put down. The club is young and still building, and the door could not be more open.
Everyone's welcome, whatever your experience. Come to watch, come to learn, come to compete. There's a mallet here for you, and a friendly game waiting.
How we got here
It started in a public park.
The Crestline Park Lawn Sports Society
It began as a group of guys in a public park. A cheap backyard croquet set, some beer, and a competitive streak none of them expected to take so seriously. No club, no dues, no lawn of their own — just whoever turned up at Crestline Park. They played there for over ten years.
It grew past twenty regulars. Somewhere along the way the department-store hoops were quietly retired and replaced with tournament gear.
The Mountain Brook Croquet Club
Arthur P. Bagby III, the Alabama director of the U.S. Croquet Association, had spent years building a croquet lawn on the edge of Shades Mountain.
He heard about the group playing in the park and invited them up, and the Society became the Mountain Brook Croquet Club.
The Birmingham Croquet Club
Same club, expanded. The name changed because the ambition did — not one lawn for the people who happen to know about it, but croquet across Alabama, and a public court in Birmingham that anyone can walk onto and play.
Which puts us back where the whole thing started: in a park, open to whoever shows up.
