Teed off on Benson Road

The opening of the Bald Eagle Golf Club provided a place on the Point to play golf, but it wasn’t the first golf business in Point Roberts. That honor arguably goes to a mini-golf course that the Whalen family operated at Maple Beach from 1928 to 1938 on the corner of Bay View Drive and Roosevelt Way, where the townhouses are today.

Benson Road was home to another golf business in the 1970s and 1980s. This is the 45th anniversary of the groundbreaking on the Gulf-Aire Golf Driving Range. Jack Graham, who owned the adjacent Gulf-Aire Mobile Villa, and later the Chevron gas station, began construction in the autumn of 1977 and the business opened in June 1978.

Golfers teed off over an empty field gently sloping to the south, ringed by tall nets. Two sand traps tested players’ skill. Twenty tees were placed atop a long, narrow concrete slab. Graham constructed a long, open-sided wooden structure of covered tee boxes behind the teeing platform.

Golfers paid $1.50 to whack a bucket of balls and improve their game, dawn until dusk.

Over time, golfing at the driving range slowly petered out. After it was no longer operated as a business, the driving range remained accessible and golfers continued to practice their swings from the tees until gates were eventually put up.

Today, cars drive along Gulf Road, many unaware of the golfing history they’re passing, though those with a sharp eye can still spot the large sloping field, and the concrete tee platform, which is still visible from the road.

Did you practice your golf swing at the Gulf-Aire Golf Driving Range back in the day? Stop by the Point Roberts History Center on Gulf Road, open Saturdays, to share your memories. The Point Roberts Historical Society is seeking a photograph of the driving range from the time it was operated as a business.