CONTOURS PRESENTS

7 Mile Beach

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

After nearly 15 years in development, 7 Mile Beach is on the brink of opening. And when it does, it is going to be spectacular. Contours took a walk with founder Mathew Goggin out on course and recorded his insights and excitement about the project.

Words & Photography by William Watt, with quotes from Mathew Goggin.

"You're not going to believe this."

Tasmania’s newest golf destination emerged from an unlikely beginning – a dense thicket of pine trees so impenetrable that even its architect couldn’t imagine what lay beneath. But when the trees came down, they revealed something that would fundamentally change the trajectory of Australian destination golf.

“I got a phone call from Anthony [superintendent Anthony Toogood] after they cleared the trees and he just said, ‘You’re not going to believe this. You’re just not going to believe it,'” recalls Mat Goggin, the former PGA Tour player whose vision brought 7 Mile Beach to life. “He’d spent hours down here walking around getting lost in the pine trees as well. And yeah, we were stunned. I mean it was just such a bonus.”

That bonus? Water views on every single hole , something no one anticipated when the project began.

The Pine Forest Revelation

Before the transformation, the property was nearly incomprehensible. “That’s what it looked like all the way through here. I mean, it was just that thick. It was just a black forest,” Goggin recalls. The team had to make routing decisions with limited visibility, trusting topographical maps and imagination.

“When you’re down in one of these valleys, and then you add a ring of 30 metre high trees on top of those dunes, I mean, you’re basically just closed in everywhere, and it was so disorientating,” he says. The clearing changed everything – suddenly, the curvature of Seven Mile Beach became visible from nearly every point on the course.

“You see the water on every hole,” Goggin marvels. “Which is quite amazing as we had no concept of that before the trees came down.”

7 Mile Beach actually started as something entirely different. The original vision for the Mat Goggin Foundation was taking over the lease at Rosny Golf Club, a nine-holer just over the bridge from downtown Hobart. “We thought we had a good chance to get the lease and do a Sweetens Cove-like experience – great, affordable and accessible architecture, while promoting youth employment and skills training,” Goggin explains.

The concept was influenced by the Sweetens Cove philosophy before that template had fully crystallised in the golf world’s consciousness. “I wanted it to be sort of like a training ground or an area to give opportunity to young Tasmanian kids to work in golf across all parts of it.”

But when they missed out on the Rosny lease, Goggin wasn’t deterred. “I said to Mike Craw, who was working for me at the time with the foundation, ‘Well, stuff it, we’ll build our own course at 7 Mile Beach then.’ And then sure enough, here we are. So it was a spite project!”

Video – Discovering 7 Mile Beach

CDP Golf

What makes 7 Mile Beach particularly noteworthy in the modern minimalist era is the restraint shown by architects Mike Devries and Mike Clayton and their construction team, including friend of Contours, Lukas Michel. While many architects in the minimalist movement have pushed towards increasingly dramatic expressions, the team went the opposite direction.

“The minimalist movement sort of became almost maximalist in a lot of ways – creating the most extreme or the overbuilt version of what you’d see in nature,” Goggin observes. “When you really look at the old links courses, they’re actually quite low key. So I really feel by not getting sucked in with over-bunkering, just letting the landscape be the star and being quite understated, the result is something that’s different to what’s been appearing lately.”

The numbers tell the story: just 37 bunkers across the entire course, with 11 greens featuring no bunkers at all. “It takes skill to not take the candy, to show restraint,” Goggin notes. This restraint extends to how DeVries handled the natural features. “The topography is so crazy. You don’t have to bring any visual heroics, because they’re already here.” The result is a course that feels discovered rather than constructed, where the architecture serves the land rather than dominating it.

A Course for Everyone

One of CDP’s core principles is accessibility without sacrificing challenge for better players. “It’s the sort of golf course that, now I’ve played it a few times, demands a high level of execution for a really good player to get into the certain pockets on the green and set up the right next shot,” Goggin explains. “But it’s not punishing for the bogey golfer because there’s no forced carries, there’s no hellish bunkers.”

The wall-to-wall fescue was non-negotiable. “That was one of the most important points that Devries was always harping on – he wanted it to be engaging for everyone.” The result is a course where mishits are playable, but precision is rewarded. Still, this isn’t a course without teeth. “Tom Doak would say you always need a hole that separates a scratch player from a pro golfer. And we’ve got a couple of those out here as well,” Goggin notes. “So it’s not all just fun golf. It’s not all lollipops and sunshine. There are some sour sweets out here as well.”

”So it's not all just fun golf. It's not all lollipops and sunshine. There are some sour sweets out here as well.

The Walk

For a course built across such dramatic dunes, the walking experience is surprisingly gentle. “The transitions are the most important thing to DeVries around here,” Goggin emphasises. “You go off every green straight onto the next tee. There’s always a grass path. You’re never hiking up a steep little hill or anything.” This wasn’t accidental – it required discipline in routing. “You could easily put every tee up on top of a little pimple here to get the better view or to see the water more,” Goggin explains. “But if you did that, you’d constantly feel like you’re in a bit of a billy goat track. So they didn’t get caught out doing that, which is pretty disciplined, and it’s made the walk fantastic.”

The result is a course that reveals itself gradually, never lingering too long in any one aesthetic. “They did a really good job of not staying too long in one particular area, so it didn’t feel too much the same.”

7MB Hits Different

While comparisons to Barnbougle are inevitable – both are Tasmanian coastal courses of the highest calibre – Goggin sees something distinct emerging at 7 Mile Beach. “I was just at Barnbougle and Lost Farm on the weekend and they’re brilliant golf courses. But you don’t have this connection to the seaside, to the beach,” he notes. “I don’t feel like you get this feel at many golf courses in Australia, where you’re right on the beach.”

The comparison to Tara Iti is equally revealing. “Tara Iti is sort of like the combination of Sand Hills, Bandon, and Ballyneal, and then you have that as the end game. Like, this is the most amazing possible version of that style of golf course. And where do you go from there? Well, maybe you go to something like this, which is totally different.” And as the fescue matures, the distinction becomes clearer. “Now that it’s growing in, it’s actually a very different golf course to Tara Iti. Tara Iti has a lot more of that Pinehurst No. 2 feel, where there’s a lot of off-area stuff that is re-vegetated and maintained, while ours is really just a little bit more classic links.”

The DeVries Commitment

What made this project exceptional wasn’t just the land or the routing – it was the architect’s commitment. “Mike was basically living here for 18 months over a two year period,” Goggin reveals. “I got the feeling Mike really felt like he wanted to build the whole thing himself. He wanted to touch all the holes, all the tees, all the micro contours and all the greens.” This level of involvement from the principal architect is increasingly rare in modern golf course construction. “It is unusual is to get the main guy to spend this much time on site, so we were really lucky.”

A Vision Expanding

The current course is just the beginning. To the north, where more pines still stand, classic links land awaits. “This area is still partially covered in pine trees, but this is where the North course will be. You can just see how classic that land is. It’ll require almost nothing.”

The North Course will offer a different character – the quiet bay feel with boats anchored offshore, as opposed to the more exposed ocean views of the current layout. Accommodation is planned between the two courses, with the main facility perched atop the dune. Goggin’s original vision – the training ground for young Tasmanians – hasn’t been entirely lost. “The dream is having kids do their apprenticeship here because of the reputation of the resort, and then be able to go anywhere in the world. That would be pretty cool.”

The Hobart Advantage

Unlike many destination golf projects, 7 Mile Beach benefits from genuine proximity to a vibrant city. “It’s not really remote destination golf when you have a city like Hobart nearby,” Goggin points out. The location offers the best of both worlds – world-class golf in a stunning coastal setting, paired with the cultural richness and culinary excellence that has made Hobart one of Australia’s most compelling destinations. “So even though you’d classify Hobart itself as a remote destination, once you get here, there’s so much to do,” Goggin adds. “It gives us the opportunity to lean into Hobart as an additive feature, and the airport too.”

 

As the fescue continues to mature and the course settles into its character, and the marram covers up the dunes, that distinctiveness will only become more pronounced. 7 Mile Beach showcases one of Tasmania’s most spectacular settings in a way that feels both dramatic and understated.

The pine forest is gone. The revelation remains.

7 Mile Beach is scheduled to open in late 2025.

Visit the 7 Mile Beach Website

One Comment

  • Jim Fannin says:
    October 21, 2025 at 1:22 pm

    There’s nothing better than manifesting a recurring vision. One that tucks you in bed at night and wakes you up in the morning. Both with a smile. Well done, Mat. Great website. Amazing course. Amazing vision come true.

    Reply

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