Graveyard/Windmill at Bent Brook Golf Club

Bent Brook Golf Club sits in the Birmingham area of Alabama and features two eighteen-hole courses designed by Ward Northrup, a regional architect active in the Southeast during the latter decades of the twentieth century. The Graveyard and Windmill nines form one of the club's two regulation layouts, combining distinct routing characteristics that reflect the rolling terrain common to this part of the state.

The Graveyard nine takes its name from a historic cemetery that remains part of the property, a feature that adds both cultural context and routing interest to the layout. The presence of such landmarks often shapes hole corridors and strategic options in ways that distinguish these holes from more conventional designs. The Windmill nine likely derives its name from another property feature, though specific details about its character follow the wooded, elevation-varied terrain typical of Birmingham-area courses.

Northrup's work in Alabama generally emphasizes playability for a range of skill levels while incorporating natural land movement and native vegetation. Bent Brook serves a local membership and reflects the traditions of Sunbelt golf clubs that emerged or expanded during the region's growth in the 1970s and 1980s. The club provides a familiar setting for recreational and competitive play within the Birmingham golf community, where multiple daily-fee and private facilities coexist across the metropolitan area's varied topography.