Seven Lakes sits ten minutes west of Pinehurst village in a residential community wrapped around — what else — seven small lakes. Peter Tufts designed it in 1972; Tufts is a name worth knowing because his great-grandfather Leonard Tufts founded Pinehurst Resort itself in 1895. Peter grew up on the property and built this course in his fifties as a quieter alternative to the Donald Ross courses just down the road. The routing is honest and uncrowded. Wide fairways, real Sandhills bentgrass greens, water on six holes that you can mostly avoid if you respect the line. It's not on the same shelf as Pine Needles or No. 2, and it doesn't pretend to be — it's where local Pinehurst-area members play three or four times a week. For visitors, it's a half-the-price way to spend a morning on real Sandhills turf without booking a tee time three months out.