The 18 hole golf course at Machrins on the west coast of the island is reputedly over 200 years old, having first been played in 1775, and was well-known and recorded as a feature of island life in the late 19th century.

Situated on indigenous machair - shortish grass growing in sandy soil, typical of the finest Scottish links golf courses – the course is bounded on the west by two beautiful, sandy Hebridean bays, crossed by two burns and has magnificent panoramic views of the sea and the islands fringes.

The course was laid out by a professional in the 1930s and, save for some alteration to accommodate the airstrip a few years ago, remains much the same today. During the season, fairways are cut and greens mown and rolled, helped by sheep and hindered by rabbits… This wholly natural course has no bunkers, but does feature sheep scrapes (which many think were actually the origin of the modern day bunker). Fortunately, local rules allow preferred lies on all fairways and a free drop for balls disappearing into rabbit-holes or taken by the ravens.

The course measures 4,752 yards and comprises four par 5s, eight par 4s and six par 3s. Yardage-wise, the par 5s, measuring between 341 and 391 yards, should be par 4s; however, they have been accorded par 5 status by dint of the degree of difficulty involved. As an example, at the 391 yard seventh hole, The Fank, you need to avoid an out-of-bounds airstrip, a large area of potentially fatal rough, a ball-eating burn, a fank (sheepfold) and a tight out-of-bounds fence at the back of the green.

Via Visit Colonsay (with much more info on their site).