by By Benning W. De La Mater, Berkshire Eagle Staff , The Berkshire Eagle

The EduKaytion Golf practice range opened last week at 33 Dunham Mall inside the former First Agricultural Bank, and dozens of anxious, angst-riddled golfers shook some rust off their swings.

With 180 degrees of windows wrapped around the space, golfers fire at nets that hang in front of glass panes that provide views of City Hall and the police station beyond.

The facility, owned by Ladies Professional Golf Association instructor Kay McMahon and Futures Tour founder Eloise Trainor, is the first indoor practice range in the county since Golf pro Chris Tremblay closed the Skydome Golf Center in the Clocktower Building in early 2007.

Tremblay left the area when he accepted a teaching position at Silver Creek Country Club in Pennsylvania.

McMahon and Trainor saw a void and an opportunity.

"We're branding this as Berkshire County's premiere Golf education company," said McMahon, a teaching pro in Palm Springs, Calif., for 25 years and owner of the Triple Nickel, a coffee shop and Golf center in New Lebanon, N.Y.

McMahon said she plans to sell the Triple Nickel this summer.

Golfers can practice on their own or take lessons at the Dunham Mall facility. Swings can be recorded on video and matched against a pro's on a computer screen. Another computer gives golfers the speed, angle and distance of their shots.

In addition to McMahon's teaching, both Trainor and David Bond, the owner of The Range in North Adams and head coach of the men's Golf team at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, will be giving lessons as well.

"We will give you more of a team teaching approach," McMahon said. "It's like a team of doctors looking at a patient. Wouldn't you rather have a few sets of eyes?"

McMahon said the space is rented through April, and the team is not sure if they will stay open through the summer.

But it's the winter months that are sometimes the most important ones. "That's when professionals groove their swing," she said.

To reach Benning W. De La Mater: bdelamater@berkshireeagle.com, (413) 496-6243.

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