Because it sometimes seems as if Tournament Players Club golf courses are popping up on a monthly basis, it would be understandable to pass off Sugarloaf Country Club and its TPC course as just another link in the PGA Tour's fast-growing network of courses. Yet the Duluth, Ga., development has quietly become one of the jewels of the TPC family, and its Greg Norman design is one of the finest examples of golf architecture to come along in years.

Simply put, the PGA Tour's best have showed up for the first two BellSouth Classics at Sugarloaf and have had nothing but enthusiastic comments for Norman's design. And even though long ball hitters Scott McCarron and Tiger Woods won those first two events, the leaderboards included players with a variety of styles.

"When we began planning the course we designed it as a purely residential club with no hint of a tournament coming there," Norman says. "Once we knew it was going to be a TPC, we had to go and fine-tune it for the pros, although the changes were very minor. Basically, there were some adjustments to bunker placement and the addition of some pin placements."

What makes the Sugarloaf development such a remarkable achievement is how rapidly the entire project evolved, and yet, how everything from the master plan of the community to the subtleties of the golf course design convey the feel of decades of planning and refining. Sugarloaf's 1,500 acres, located just northeast of Atlanta, originally belonged to southern businessman Wayne Rollins, who used the land for his country estate and breeding grounds for Tennessee Walking Horses. A combination of rolling terrain, towering pine and oak trees and a chain of natural lakes, the property was later owned by the Eastern Airlines employee retirement fund until Crescent Resources, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, purchased it in 1994 for the purpose of creating a private residential community.

Norman was hired to create his first solo design in North America, and work began immediately on a routing for the golf course. Early attention to master planning is not necessarily noticeable at first sight, but the comfortable and spacious nature of Sugarloaf is seductive. Not only were the needs of the golf course given first priority, the homesites were kept just far enough away from play to preserve the natural beauty of the site while still giving residents attractive views of the layout.

Norman and his Australian design partner, Bob Harrison, worked for three weeks on the routing alone, with Harrison working in conjunction with Crescent Resources' team. The resulting sequence of holes gives the golfer a variety of looks, while the memorability of each hole may be the most outstanding feature with which any golfer leaves Sugarloaf.

Once construction commenced, the Sugarloaf community joined forces with the network of TPC courses. The BellSouth Classic had simply outgrown Atlanta Country Club and the PGA Tour needed a course of comparable quality with larger facilities to handle the event's needs. Any critics of the move were quieted by Norman's classic design style and his attention to detail.

To say Norman took the work at Sugarloaf seriously is an understatement. He has designed courses overseas for years, and had lent his input to several projects in conjunction with other architects. But Norman had not been a part of any work in America other than at his home club, The Medalist, a co-design with Pete Dye in Florida. Sugarloaf would be his chance to shine in the U.S., and he took full advantage of the opportunity. During the early stages of Sugarloaf, Norman joined forces with former Dye assistant Jason McCoy. Now, with the success of the TPC at Sugarloaf and several other projects, Norman has quickly established himself as one of the top golf course architects in the world.

It is the architecture and detail work by Greg Norman Golf Course Design that places the TPC into the upper realm of American golf clubs. Norman made 22 site visits during construction of Sugarloaf, and these weren't merely arm-waving photograph sessions. He and McCoy clearly devoted much of their time to creating strategically sound holes that present numerous playing options. The result is a thinking man's golf course that incorporates traits of the world's great courses as well as several original design ideas.

"I'm a believer in the classic style and feel," Norman says of his design philosophy. "I love links style golf."

It was that love for layouts like the Old Course at St. Andrews and Royal Melbourne that led to a new look in American golf architecture: sod wall bunkers with the irregularity and flowing style of Alister MacKenzie or Robert Trent Jones' old hazards. Sure, the flowing sod-wall look can be found on the Old Course with the famed "Hell" bunker, but no one has really taken the idea and applied it to an entire golf course.

The concept of the sod-wall bunker look was initiated during Norman's tenure with Pete Dye at Medalist. There, McCoy and Dye developed a sturdier sod base that would last longer and require less maintenance. The look was then taken a step further with the flowing walls, and though the Sugarloaf bunkers could be allowed to look a little less maintained and green-faced, the visual appeal is undeniable..

"I feel like it creates a very effective and dramatic look," Norman says. Not only are the bunkers unique in appearance, Norman did not make the mistake many architects often do by going overboard and forcing this new look on the golfer with an overkill of hazards. There are just 63 bunkers on the TPC at Sugarloaf, enough to create interesting design elements without interfering with the natural beauty and diversity of the site. The result is a playable design with plenty of trouble for the visiting Tour pro not at his best, and just enough room for a player who is on his game to excel.

After the sound but difficult par-4 opener through a wide clearing of towering pines, the second is a 144-yard par-3 to a green fronted by a deep, flowing edged sod-wall bunker. The next three holes are routed beautifully over hilly terrain where an attractive but annoying creek comes into play. The sixth is a straightforward three-shot par-5, while the long two-shot seventh presents all sorts of interesting tee shot options and a bunkerless, crowned green. .

Although the front nine is more scenic, Norman's best design ideas were left for the back nine, where thinking is paramount for getting into the clubhouse with a decent score. The long 10th and forced-carry par-3 11th play in a wide-open valley, which to some is unattractive, but the lack of trees provides a nice change of pace from the tree-lined front nine. The par-4 12th plays along a large lake to a tightly bunkered green. After a walk uphill, the player arrives on the tee of the 310-yard 13th. With trees lining the left and bunkers closely guarding the right, it looks like a fairly generic drive and pitch par-4. But on closer inspection the 13th is one of the most interesting short holes to come along in years.

For the Sugarloaf member, the best play is a lay-up shot barely avoiding fairway bunkers on the right, leaving a view to a medium-sized green that slopes gently away from the fairway. The bold player feels secure in trying to nestle a drive up through a small opening to the green, because short and left of the putting surface is a collection area where an overdrawn ball will find a lie on the tight bermuda fairway. But the collection area is well below the green and requires an awkward pitch over the deep bunker to an unreceptive putting surface.

Norman admits to driving the green once during the inaugural 1997 BellSouth Classic, but advises the player to check the pin placement before deciding how to best attack this hole. If the pin is cut close to the front of the green or near the bunker, the lay-up shot is best, while the pins in the back and right allow for a little more freedom from the tee. The 13th tempts all golfers to pull off their very best, and the nature of the green and options allowed by the architect make it a most original short par-4.

After two long par-4s that require accuracy as much as they do strength, the home stretch begins with the 179-yard, par-3 16th. At first glimpse the golfer will wonder why Norman and McCoy didn't create a more dramatic par-3. But on closer inspection, the apparently large green is actually frighteningly small and is surrounded by a large, tightly mown chipping area in the rear. This low-cut chipping area may be the best example of where Norman took what would have been a nice par-3 for the Sugarloaf membership and injected an extra touch that would play with the minds of the PGA Tour pros visiting once a year.

Another change made in the final design stage with the BellSouth Classic in mind came on the home hole. Originally slated as a difficult par-4, with a fun pitch-shot 19th hole planned for the current greensite, Norman opted to create a do-or-die par-5 with a forced-carry second shot over water. The tee shot landing area is 75 feet above the green, leaving a terrifying second shot for those opting to go for the green in two. Extensive blasting was also done to eliminate a large rock outcropping in the fairway so that the difficult lay-up shot would be visible from the fairway.

Despite the construction required to create such an exciting finish, the 18th has a perfect balance of risk and reward, and it looks remarkably natural. Actually, everything about the TPC at Sugarloaf was created to fit the existing terrain, giving it the feel of a club that has been, and will continue to be, an important landmark in American golf.