PETE MOLLICA | Golf Avalon Lakes has dream package

Golf doesn't get much better than it does on the country club circuit.
Right here in the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys, we are blessed by having some of the finest country club golf courses in the country.
But speaking from experience, country club golf can be expensive and that's probably the main reason that clubs all over the country are battling yearly with budgets to keep the club above water.
Ron Klingle, the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board at Avalon Holdings Corporation and the owner of the newly redesigned Avalon Lakes Golf Course, has come up with an idea that would be beneficial to area golfers from both valleys.
Major redesign: Klingle, who spent $8 million to redesign Avalon Lakes into one of the finest layouts in the world just a year ago with the assistance of one of the world's top golf course designers, Pete Dye, has decided to make Avalon Lakes into a semi-private golf club.
Presently the in-season golf rates at Avalon Lakes are $150 per round, pretty steep for local golfers in this area. But if you ever have played the new layout, it is well worth the money even if you can only afford it once.
Now Klingle is offering a deal that should be appealing to a lot of area golfers and affordable to a lot of them.
With a one-time initiation fee of $1,000 [$500 if you sign up with four or more], Klingle has two annual dues setups for the season.
The first is $1,000 annual dues and then the member pays $50 plus cart fees [$15] each time he plays.
The second plan is an annual dues of $3,000 and the members plays nothing for green fees and just the $15 cart fee.
Klingle said that the early response to this offer has been overwhelming and that once the initial membership goals have been reached, the initiation fee will be increased to more appropriate levels.
Ultimate practice facility: In addition the $8 million spent on the redesign of the golf course, Klingle is presently spending another $1 million to renovate the club's practice range and teaching facility which he says will be second to none when completed.
But Klingle isn't through yet. He wants to make the package even more unbelievable.
He is trying to buy Oak Tree Country Club in West Middlesex, Pa., one of the finest course layouts of all the area country clubs.
If he is successful, and he'll need considerable help from the club's membership to do it, he can build a two-club package that would be second to none in the entire country.
Klingle is offering Oak Tree members free initiation fees and the same Plan 1 and Plan 2 offers he has for Avalon Lakes, but the package would now include two outstanding golf courses for the price of one.
I was a member at Oak Tree for over five years, five of the best years I've ever had in golf. I've always loved that course and still do, but like I said earlier country club golf is expensive.
I know for a fact that I paid more than $3,000 each year I was a member in just dues alone. Klingle's offer would be less money and include membership to both golf courses.
He also is offering free bag storage and free lockers and there would be no minimum spending in the club's restaurant and lounge.
Deal of lifetime: Since I was a former member at Oak Tree, I received one of the letters that Klingle sent out to all the members. I read that through several times and I couldn't come up with one reason why anyone would pass up such an offer.
Basically you would have everything that you have right now, plus Avalon Lakes, for less [considerable less] money than you pay now and no annual assessments.
Klingle also guarantees that current dues would not increase by more than 5% per year over the next five years. Most annual assessments are two and three times that figure.
It's the deal of a lifetime, especially for current Oak Tree members. I can't see how you can turn it down.