McKINNEY, Texas -- The Dallas Stars, who put their names on the Stanley Cup four years ago, will plant their logo on a country club in what officials tout as the first such marketing venture between a pro sports team and a private golf course.

The Clubs at Stonebridge Ranch, a notoriously difficult layout by renowned course designer Pete Dye, will be rechristened The Dallas Stars Country Club. A renovated clubhouse will be decked in hockey memorabilia.

Stars captain Mike Modano, looking tanned and rested for the upcoming season, unveiled the golf resort's new logo -- a tilted star superimposed over a crest, all in team colors of green, gold and black.

The Stars hope to sell a few more season tickets by dangling free rounds of golf and reduced-price club memberships in front of their best customers. The Stars -- NHL champions in 1999 -- sold more than 10,000 season tickets last year, down from 13,000 the year before, when they moved into a new arena.

Stars officials said the team won't pay anything in the country club deal.

The team announced the agreement Wednesday on a balcony overlooking the putting green and a huge pond at the suburban country club, about 30 miles from the Stars arena in downtown Dallas.

It won't be the first course with a pro sports theme, however.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and a partner opened a Cowboys-themed public fee course in Grapevine in 2001. It offers discounts for football ticket holders.

Stars President Jim Lites said the hockey team approached ClubCorp, the owner of the McKinney club and about 100 other courses, about offering hockey fans free rounds or discounted trips to golf resorts. They wound up with the idea of renaming the country club.

"We look for unique ways that set us off from not only other hockey teams but other professional sports teams," Lites said. "When you look at things to make your product deeper and broader, we looked at things that season-ticket holders would enjoy."

For the owner of Stonebridge Ranch, Dallas-based ClubCorp, the deal is one more attempt to sell out the last 100 golfing memberships. The club has about 400 members, officials said.

The two-course club, which opened in 1988, hasn't had a full membership since ClubCorp bought it in 1999. The downturn in the local economy -- especially severe in Dallas' northern suburbs like McKinney -- and competition from many other courses haven't helped.

Stonebridge Ranch is cutting initiation fees from the $18,000-$20,000 range to $12,500. It will also spend about $500,000 to renovate the clubhouse, said Doug Howe, executive vice president of ClubCorp.

Howe said ClubCorp hopes the affiliation with the popular team -- the Stars have sold out 237 straight home games -- will help Stonebridge Ranch build a waiting list to join. The company also expects to earn revenue from sales of food and drinks and Stars' merchandise, he said.

"We would like to take this model and use it as a springboard to do similar things in other cities around the country," Howe said. He said ClubCorp was talking to the Texas Rangers baseball team, which -- like the Stars -- is controlled by Dallas investor Tom Hicks.