PETE MOLLICA | Golf Course will capture your attention

It's less than an hour's drive away, but area golfers will be well rewarded for the short trip when they visit Olde Stonewall Golf Club in Ellwood City, Pa.
I had the pleasure of playing there last week, and believe me it is almost impossible to describe this fantastic layout. You have to see it to believe it.
Even if you don't play golf, it would be worth the drive just to go through the mammoth clubhouse, which was built to look like a 16th-century castle.
Jesse Horner is the PGA professional at Olde Stonewall and has been there since the course was opened in June 1999.
Impressive sight
Before you ever get a look at the beautiful golf course, your first sight is that of a huge stone wall (I guess that's where the name came from) and this huge stone castle.
The stone walls, which surround the outline of the course and are used throughout the layout, are unbelievable.
The stones were hauled from the nearby Medusa Aggregates in Wampum, Pa., and were brought in two at a time by truck. Each stone weighs 2 to 7 tons and there are 20,000 of them or 600 million pounds of rock on the premises.
"It was really unbelievable to watch them build the walls," Horner said. "They cut down the first trees for the course in 1996 and they seeded the final fairway in October 1998. The course opened in June 1999."
It took 13 months to build the castle clubhouse, which was designed by owner Richard Hvizdak and architect Joe Balobeck. The course was built on 269 acres of land.
"We were in a trailer for the first six months until the clubhouse was completed," Horner said.
Dining in?
The castle also includes an outstanding restaurant, open to the public, Shakespeare's Restaurant and Pub.
Hvizdak found a pair of Gargoyle lights for each side of the entrance doors, which are 12 feet high and weigh 800 pounds. The two lights were purchased at an auction for $40,000.
Inside and outside the castle are replica suits of armor brought over from Spain, and there is a 13-foot mahogany buffet table in the castle lobby that was handcrafted from parts originating from the 1600s.
The par-70 6,934-yard layout features 400 feet of elevation change, 86 bunkers, waterfalls, ravines, ponds, protected wetlands, a cart path over a suspension bridge and breathtaking views.
The golf course is perfectly manicured, and with 88 sand traps and water coming into play on eight holes, not to mention the rolling fairways, the golf course is a challenge to all levels.
Old Stonewall has five sets of tees for every level of golfer and the course stretches from 5,051 yards from the front to 6,944 yards from the tips. It will definitely seem longer no matter what tees you play from.
The greens are beautiful to look at, but treacherous to putt on. They are extremely fast and every one is undulated. You won't find a flat green on the course, including the putting green.
Top-10 rating
The course, which was rated by Golf Magazine as one of the Top 10 public courses in the U.S., is not exactly inexpensive to play, but it is definitely worth the price.
For $135, you get 18 of the finest golf holes you will ever play, use of a riding cart, use of the driving range and putting green and they also throw in a course yardage book, which comes in handy for your first trip around the course.
"We get a lot of play from the Youngstown area," Horner added.
One of the first players we ran into there was East Palestine's Jerry McGee, who had the week off from the Champions (Seniors) Tour.
"Today's my birthday, just turned 60 and a couple of friends grabbed me and said we're going to play golf," McGee said. "This place is unbelievable, like playing on the Aspen ski slopes."
Olde Stonewall is easy to get to -- take the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Beaver Falls, Route 18 exit. Go north to Route 361 until you hit Route 65 and follow that to the course. Call for tee times because, despite the price, the place is packed all the time. Call Horner at (724) 752-4653.