Go to any golf course and you might recognize a face in the crowd.

Go to Birdsfoot Golf Course in Freeport and you might recognize a face in the trees.

The 18-hole course features a face carved into nine different trees, mainly in the front of the woods along the cart path.

The carvings were done by Paul Shutters, 64, of Kittanning, who used to work on the farm where the Birdsfoot course now sits.

"He's an old friend of the family,"said Travis Lindsey, a member of the Lindsey family that owns the golf course. "We knew Paul was into carving and thought it'd be a neat feature if he'd carve a face into a tree along the course."

Shutters was hesitant to try it at first.

"I've been carving for 10 years or so,"he said. "But all I'd done was walking canes, bird houses, things like that. I sell my work at craft shows.

"I had never carved a face out of a tree before. I wasn't very confident I could do it."

Shutters used a chain-saw to cut the bark off the tree and to outline the face. He finished the job off with a chisel and knives.

After six or seven hours, the first tree was finished.

"He did a face on a tree off the No. 9 hole and it was teriffic,"Lindsey said. "We told him to keep on going."

The first tree was done three years ago. Now eight others also sport face and each is within sight of the golfers.

"You can play the whole course once and may not notice them all at first,"Lindsey said.

The faces range in size from three to six feet. Each face is of an old man with a beard, but detailed features are different on each one.

Shutters doesn't go into each carving with a sketch or a plan in mind.

"I see what's there, how it's taking shape and go from there," he said.

Shutters' tree carvings have been featured on the covers of various publications, including Golf Magazine, Pa. Golfer and Pittsburgh Magazine.

The faces have been described as wizard-like in appearance.

"The favorite name I've heard describing them is the Bogey Man of Birdsfoot,"Lindsey said.

Shutters didn't learn how to carve until after he turned 50. He had to teach himself because "I couldn't find anywhere in Pittsburgh to get lessons.

"I bought three chisels and a hammer and went to work."

But he didn't find success right away.

"I made 100 walking sticks before I could sell one for $5," he said.

Shutters treated carving trees at Birdsfoot as a challenge. He enjoyed the thought of returning to the land where he helped herd cattle.

"That was back in the 1960s," he said. "I worked for Travis's grandfather. They told me it's OKto carve trees at other golf courses, but I'm not going to.

"I want these to be unique."

There is talk that Shutters might carve one more tree at Birdsfoot this year. In the meantime he is enjoying a free lifetime membership at the golf course.

"I'm not very good," he said, laughing. "I shoot in the low 50s for nine holes. I only took up golf three years ago.

No matter. As Shutters has proven with his carvings, a late start doesn't mean a lack of success.

"He's a pretty amazing guy,"Lindsey said.