King Rail Reserve Golf Course, previously an 18-hole course named Colonial Golf Course, is now a 9-hole public golf course located in Lynnfield, MA.

King Rail Reserve Golf Course first opened for play in 1966. The course was designed by William F. Mitchell.

The 9-hole King Rail Reserve Golf Course plays to a par-36 and a 9-hole distance of 3,257 yards.

Blue tees: par-36, 3,357 yards

White tees: par-36, 3,172 yards

Green tees: par-36, 2,653 yards

National Development had closed the 18-hole Sheraton Colonial Resort Golf Course in the late fall, 2007 in order to start construction in 2008 on Meadow Walk of Lynnfield, a mix of retail stores, offices, and housing on 68 acres of the golf course site.

Thanks in part to some endangered birds and creative thinking, the front nine holes of the Sheraton Colonial Resort Golf Course in Lynnfield stayed open.

Under a previous deal, the firm had pledged to deed the remaining 102 acres of the site to Lynnfield, on part of which the town would develop a nine-hole municipal golf course. The town planed to create the golf course in 2009, reconfiguring holes 2 through 8 of the current course into a new nine-hole course that will open in 2010.

Rather than have the property sit idle in 2008, a licensing agreement allowed Lynnfield to operate the front nine holes for the 2008 season, giving it an unexpected head start in generating golf revenue from the site.

The agreement called for Lynnfield to pay National Development a nominal $10 for use of the nine holes, which include the seven holes that were incorporated into the future course, and holes 1 and 9, which were not.

Unexpected permitting delays relating to the need to protect endangered birds that inhabit Reedy Meadows, an abutting freshwater marsh, and National Development's own construction schedule, allowed for the nine holes to be used for golfing for an additional year, according to town and company officials.

In honor of one of the endangered bird species, the King Rail, the course has been named King Rail Reserve Golf Course.