With the much-anticipated opening of Hobart’s 7 Mile Beach course on the horizon, it’s just one reason why Tasmania is the envy of golfers across the country.
One of the time-honoured yet more salacious descriptions of Tasmania suggests that our island state resembles a delicate part of the female anatomy. Look a little closer, however, and you see that it also looks a lot like a heart symbol. While Melbourne and Victoria might own the lion’s share of world-class courses in Australia, more and more the beating heart of golf in this country is found south of Bass Strait.
Think about it. Where in the country has the most golf activity occurred in the past 20 to 25 years? The four Tasmanian courses occupying lofty positions in our biennial Top 100 Golf Courses ranking didn’t exist at the turn of the century; now they are must-play destinations. For golfers, Tasmania has become the place to be. The list of repeat group bookings at Barnbougle grows ever longer, while more and more golfers are ‘doing the triangle’ by weaving in a visit to the King Island courses as part of their sojourn to northern Tasmania.
Now it’s time for the southern half of the state to get in on the act. One of the most anticipated golf-course openings in memory is nearly upon us with the unveiling – at least in part – of Hobart’s 7 Mile Beach happening this summer. It’s a golf course decades in the making. The brainchild of Tasmania’s favourite golf son, Mathew Goggin, who knew the potential of the site just east of the city’s airport ever since his childhood, 7 Mile Beach required the intertwined necessities of approval, funding and feasibility to reach fruition. Now, finally, the fruit is on the tree – and it’s growing in pairs. In early September, Goggin enthusiastically welcomed approval from Hobart’s Clarence City Council for a second course, known for now as 5 Mile Beach.
“Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who sent in letters of support for the 7 Mile Beach North DA – a.k.a. 5 Mile Beach,” Goggin penned in an e-mail to the two projects’ growing legion of followers, whom he’d asked to show support to the council in the lead-up to the vote. “Clarence Council approved the DA unanimously – [with] one abstention. A big reason has been the overwhelming community support from locals and people all around the world – 119 representations, 117 positive, two negative. Trust me when I say, this does not happen very often.”
All of Tasmania has finally caught the golf bug, which is a welcome happenstance because it’s the perfect place for world-class golf. As Mike Clayton, co-designer of 7 Mile Beach and Barnbougle Dunes, frequently espouses, Tasmania sits at that wonderful latitude where the weather is mild enough to allow desirable cool-climate grasses to flourish but isn’t so cold or dark that part of the golf season is lost. In fact, late autumn and early winter has long been regarded as providing some of the best golf conditions in Tasmania. Meanwhile, Hobart is the second-driest Australian capital city (behind Adelaide).
Beginning with his design work at Barnbougle, Clayton has been aboard the Tasmanian golf wave since it formed. And it was ‘Clayts’ that Goggin first turned to many moons ago to tell him about this ideal golf land sitting almost unused at 7 Mile Beach. Both men are rightfully proud of what has transpired since their innocuous conversation on the practice fairway of a tournament nearly 30 years ago. When both new courses open – and possibly beforehand – Tasmania will challenge the Melbourne Sandbelt as Australia’s leading golf destination.
“That would have been unimaginable 30 years ago,” Clayton says. “Now, Tasmania can be the centre of great golf tourism because it’s got the best climate and the best land for golf in the country.”
MANY COURSES IN ONE
The curved peninsula that 7 Mile Beach sits upon juts into the River Derwent across Tiger Head Bay. Goggin and his peers growing up knew the land as “The Spit”, and anyone flying into Hobart in a window seat on the correct side of the plane will see from the air how little of the peninsula was cleared for the first golf course. Underfoot, you lose some perspective of the scope of the land available for golf, but from the air it’s possible to see how there’s space for as many as four or five courses. Whether that eventuates remains to be seen, but it’s important to note that the 7 and 5 Mile Beach projects haven’t overtaken a pre-existing endeavour. The land sat unutilised – or at least under-utilised – as an old sand mine and pine plantation. As golf land, it will be decidedly more attractive even for those who don’t wield clubs, while the local trail riders will retain access to the space when the courses open. The whole site has the chance to become the next great uninterrupted landscape in golf.
The land was wonderfully natural for golf, but did require some massaging. Co-designer Mike DeVries “moved a lot of sand to make the course playable”, says Clayton, who first saw the site in 2010. Yet such is DeVries’ skill, first-time visitors will almost certainly view the land as entirely untouched save for the requisite greens-and-tees shaping, grassing and irrigation. It’s a truly breathtaking location, set flush against the water and giving few clues that a major city is only a few kilometres away. The views across the bay and river are nearly ever-present, blocked on occasion only by the chains of tall dunes.
The golf course features an array of captivating shapes and contours, especially on the greens. Clayton says he and DeVries wanted “wildly different” greens and certainly achieved it. A few putting surfaces are quite small but many are significant in size. Some feature heavy contours, others show only subtle movement, and it’s all down to the grass. “With fescue, you can build more interesting contours because the greens aren’t as fast,” Clayton says.
The nature of the greens will mean the different pin positions will change the way you play many holes – or the way the holes feel to approach. The ninth hole is a good example, something of a turned L-shaped green where there’s a distinct high right side that’s narrow and deep set against a lower left section that’s wide but shallow, with the two sections separated by a large mound. It’s a green that will play like two in one.
A hole earlier, there are two greens. The separate targets at the eighth came about for no other reason than two obvious green sites revealed themselves during the construction process. Day to day, only one green will have a flag, and which green that is will depend on which of the two vastly different teeing grounds are in play at the next hole.
“The left green was always the obvious one,” Clayton says, “but when we cleared the trees, the right one was just sitting there perfectly. Play to the right green and you play the back-right tee for nine. Left green, you play either the tee left of the green or forward and right.”
Yes, there’s plenty of built-in variety to the layout, partly thanks to the collection of holes with multiple tees. It’s a feature most evident on the par 3s, where the approach angle (and elevation in some instances) is significantly different depending on where you begin. The par-4 first hole can be played from two completely different teeing grounds, one high up beside the site of the future clubhouse and the other low and tucked against the side of a dune.
It’s a genius feature of Clayton and DeVries’ design, as golfers will take entirely different lines from each tee. On some holes, there’s as much as 60 metres of width between tees, drastically altering the angle. It’s a trait illustrated brilliantly at the 17th hole, which Clayton calls the “Lee Trevino par 3” for the way it accepts a right-hander’s fade. The green is 50 metres long but awkwardly narrow, meaning it will play about 120 metres to a front flag but nearly 170 to a rear pin and is sure to spark scorecard friction late in the round. Which tee you play from, however, will determine whether you’re firing straight up the length of the green or coming at it from an angle that calls for Trevino’s famous left-to-right shot.
The layout changes direction frequently, with never more than two holes played in the same direction before the routing switches. Play heads east from the first before turning for the second. It turns back on itself multiple times, so you’re not heading in the same direction for long. It also takes play to the beach for a hole or two then back away before touching the beach again. If there’s a criticism of some of the grand old links courses, it’s the lack of directional change forced by their narrow strips of land along the sea. The routing at 7 Mile Beach is a more modern interpretation of links and expertly utilises the land’s much squarer space to add directional variety.
Much like Barnbougle owner Richard Sattler says of his original course, it’s a layout that doesn’t hand you the entire ‘bag of lollies’ from the start. The opening holes are good but are certainly not the most spectacular. Soon, though, the layout throws you some of the juicier lollies as there’s a genuine ebb and flow to proceedings – partly because of the changes of direction, partly because of design nous. The two nines even intermingle as the site is not split into nine holes on one side and nine on the other.
One of the more striking design features is the under-reliance on bunkers. Eleven of the 18 greens at 7 Mile Beach are unbunkered. In contrast is a phalanx of sandy waste areas lining the sides of most fairways. When the marram grass in these areas takes hold, those sandy waste areas won’t be quite so prevalent, but initially there’ll be plenty of sand, just not in the form of many bunkers.
What ‘the two Mikes’ have devised is a test for good golfers and an enjoyable experience for lesser players. It’ll be the kind of golf course you can play over and over, as between the different wind directions, pin positions and seasons, it will be loads of fun to play repeatedly.
The question on every golfer’s mind is: when will it open? Much depends on late-spring rainfall and growing conditions as the weather warms. The most likely scenario is that 11 holes (the first, second and entire back nine) will open for limited preview play either side of Christmas with the remaining holes to open sometime in 2025.
The 5 Mile Beach site is directly opposite, occupying the northern side of the peninsula. There’s a little less dramatic movement in the land for the second course, but still ample undulation that will make for an excellent, complementary layout. Whether there’s eventually three, four, five or however many courses, it’s a project set to inject even more life into Tasmanian golf.
A WIN FOR KING
Before the spotlight turned to Hobart, the most recent activity in the island state was on its periphery. The 2015 opening of Cape Wickham – now ranked for the first time as Australia’s No.1 golf course – and the addition a year later of Ocean Dunes added considerable meat to the original (and excellent) nine-hole course on King Island.
Wild and exposed, capricious and full of charm, King Island has long been a haven for brave surfers but now cavalier golfers are venturing to the island in the middle of Bass Strait. With 45 holes of pure coastal golf on offer, it’s an excursion like few else this side of the equator.
Golfers who’ve ventured to King Island in the past might have encountered one of the island’s shortcomings: a shortage of accommodation. That problem is being eased with the addition of 64 hotel rooms (and reception, restaurant and bar facilities) at Ocean Dunes, which is the more central of the two 18-hole layouts, sitting just outside the main township of Currie. Aided by a $10 million loan from the Tasmanian Government, the $35.5 million expansion is set to be completed in 2025. The accommodation lines the hillside left of the first hole and maximises the outstanding views of the opener and Bass Strait beyond.
“Tasmania is home to some of Australia’s top golf courses, making our state a stand-out premier golfing destination that draws visitors from around the world,” Tasmanian Premier and Minister for Tourism and Hospitality Jeremy Rockliff told Australian Golf Digest. “Tasmanian golf courses are set among our rugged coastlines, and showcase our world-class quality and welcoming atmosphere. Golf tourism continues to be a focus for the state.”
Meanwhile, the course at Ocean Dunes continues to go from strength to strength. Touching Bass Strait in numerous instances, the Graeme Grant design ducks in and away from the coastline as it meanders along King Island’s west coast. A revealing arrangement of green complexes is a feature of a layout where the location alone guarantees attention. Yet not content to merely place a good course on a great site, Grant set about giving golfers a cerebral examination amid potentially volatile surroundings. Several greens make for vastly different playing strategies based on pin position alone; throw in the varying Roaring Forties winds and the plan might change all together.
Six months ago, Cape Wickham ascended to top spot on Australian Golf Digest’s biennial ranking of our Top 100 Golf Courses, turning a few heads and raising several eyebrows within the game. It was not an overnight elevation, however. Wickham had repeatedly threatened top spot, occupying a top-three position ever since opening. The layout successfully melds its many stunning coastal holes with a collection of inland ones that lose no momentum within the routing despite the non-oceanside setting. Indeed, it might be Wickham’s finest asset: the way the crescendo of the 18 holes continues to build away from the shoreline.
A MILESTONE MOMENT
There’s a birthday on the cards at Bridport, as the original course at Barnbougle Dunes turns 20 in December. There’s also a changing of the guard taking place about the same time as course superintendent Phil Hill retires after nurturing the layout through 18 of its first 20 years. Replacing Hill is another industry veteran, Rod Hinwood, who will relocate from the private and exclusive Ellerston course at the Packer family’s rural Hunter Valley property to the coastline of north-eastern Tasmania.
“I’ve always loved links golf and the idea of one day being a superintendent at a small course in a coastal township,” Hinwood told the Australian Sports Turf Managers Association’s e-newsletter. “That’s come true now, although in this instance the golf course is a little bigger than I had anticipated!
“I certainly have some big shoes to fill after Phil’s incredible work there. I’m really looking forward to spending some time with him and understanding the nuances of Barnbougle. It will be great to be able to walk the courses with him, pick his brain on the management of the site and meet the crew. I certainly don’t think the wheel has to be reinvented down there… but it will be all about getting my feet under the desk initially, enjoying the change and gearing up to the challenge of looking after a much busier operation, which I’m looking forward to embracing head-on.”
Rumours occasionally surface of a fourth course joining the Barnbougle stable. With a new superintendent and on the 20th anniversary of the first course opening, now might seem like an ideal time for the property to spread its wings and further emulate Oregon’s Bandon Dunes – which Barnbougle was partially based on – by growing in course volume. Yet as Lost Farm (2010) and Bougle Run (2021) have shown, it takes time to expand properly. There’s ample space to grow and the adjoining coastal land would surely yield more amazing golf courses, but for now golfers will have to be content with the 52 tremendous holes Barnbougle already has.
A STEP BACK IN TIME
Of course, the place that started it all in Australia is Ratho, our nation’s oldest golf course, situated on the edge of the town of Bothwell, an hour’s drive north of Hobart. Restored and expanded by architects Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford during the middle of last decade, the earliest elements of the layout beside the Clyde River remain.
If 7 Mile Beach, Ocean Dunes, Cape Wickham, Barnbougle and co. represent the ‘new’ in Tasmanian golf, then Ratho offers visitors a fantastic contrast as the ‘old’. Or perhaps that should be ‘old and new-ish’, seeing as the Crafter+Mogford firm took Ratho to 18 holes – but in such a fashion that it looks like all holes have been there since the 1800s. Crafter and Mogford turned to old aerial photographs, scorecards, video footage and club members to glean their memories of the layout and bring the ‘lost’ holes back, while the ‘new’ holes are gems.
“Our new 15th hole plays across the river with the approach to the par-5 green, while the 16th, a risk and reward, driveable, short par 4, features the river as a diagonal hazard with fairway both sides of the river and a green set immediately on the far bank,” Crafter told the Golf Course Architecture journal. “A myriad of options exist in terms of how to play the hole, from a driver to a 7-iron off the tee, with lots of choices for lines to take – from the conservative, to the bold and even to the reckless.”
As you open, pass through then close a gate in the wooden fence you’ve just struck a ball over, it hits you that this isn’t your conventional golf course – but in a wonderous way. It’s an experience heightened if you play using one of Ratho’s hickory sets for that added drop of history.
Elsewhere in Tasmania, the Country Club course in Launceston is two-thirds of the way through a three-year redesign and redevelopment that is transforming the golf course and driving range, while adding mini-golf and more. The state-of-the-art range is scheduled to open in March, while the renovation of the golf course is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, capping what’s shaping as a memorable and exciting year for golf in Tasmania.
