American billionaire golfer Tiger Woods set to design $40 million Northern Ireland course

American billionaire golfer Tiger Woods has been signed up to design a £30 million ($40 million) championship links course on Northern Ireland's north coast, according to a local councillor briefed on the project.

The course at Bellarena, near Magilligan in County Londonderry, is being developed by Galgorm Collection, a Northern Ireland hotel and golf group. It would be Woods' first course design in Ireland and the first new championship links built in Northern Ireland in more than 100 years.

"We received a briefing and it was confirmed to us that Tiger Woods has been signed up to design the course at Bellarena," said the councillor, a member of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.

Galgorm has not named a designer. "We are progressing plans for a proposed championship course at Bellarena, on Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast," a company spokesperson said. "We look forward to confirming a design appointment in due course."

What is planned at Bellarena

Galgorm unveiled the project in July 2025 and filed a proposal of application notice, the formal first step in Northern Ireland's planning process for major developments, in August this year. The notice describes a "new championship standard, 18-hole, links golf course" on farmland and woodland west of Bellarena House, running north of the River Roe toward the shores of Lough Foyle. The site straddles the railway line between Coleraine and Derry.

The plans include a clubhouse with a bar and restaurant, a driving range, a short course, practice areas, putting greens and eight golf lodges for overnight guests. Galgorm also wants to restore military buildings from Camp Bellarena, where a US Army field artillery battalion was stationed during World War II. Drawings filed with the notice give the project the working name "Last Man's Club," after a pact among the camp's veterans.

When it announced the project, Galgorm said construction would start in 2026, subject to planning approval, with the course due to open in 2029. The company said its total investment in Northern Ireland's north-west would reach about £65 million ($87 million) and create 300 jobs. The group, which employs more than 1,400 people, bought Roe Park Resort in Limavady and Galgorm Castle in Ballymena in a £50 million ($67 million) deal in 2024 and owns Galgorm Resort near Ballymena.

Bellarena lies along the coast west of Royal Portrush, which hosted the Open Championship in 2019 and 2025. Golf tourism earned Northern Ireland a record £86 million ($115 million) in 2024, according to the region's Economy Minister, Caoimhe Archibald.

Woods' design business

Woods founded TGR Design in 2006. Its courses include Payne's Valley at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri, Bluejack National in Texas and El Cardonal at Diamante in Mexico. In June, the firm announced a second championship course at Tributer, a private resort on Lake Anna in Virginia, It also designed The Loop, a short course at the Patch, the public course in Augusta, Georgia, in a partnership with Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters.

Woods, 50, has won 15 major championships and a record-tying 82 PGA Tour events. He became a billionaire in 2022, the second active athlete to pass that mark after basketball star LeBron James. Most of his fortune comes from endorsements, led by a 27-year deal with Nike that ended in January 2024. He also earned a PGA Tour record of more than $120 million in prize money.

His business interests extend beyond course design. He co-founded TMRW Sports with Rory McIlroy, the company behind TGL, a tech-driven indoor golf league played in Florida, and he is a partner in PopStroke, a chain of putting courses and restaurants.

Woods has not played competitively this year. He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after a rollover crash on Jupiter Island, Florida, in March. He pleaded not guilty and said he would step away from golf to seek treatment.