TOURISM
Bill Niver at his Fulton Driving Range on Route 48 in Fulton. He has owned and operated the business since 1960.
Bill Niver, 82, Still Has a Lot of Drive Owner of Fulton Driving Range has been on the job for over 62 years … and he’s still going By Stefan Yablonski
B
ill Niver may be retired, but he’s not one to just putter around. At 82 he still has a lot of drive. He owns the Fulton Driving Range, just south of Battle Island State Park Golf Course on Route 48. His name is actually Charles. At one point, the family started calling him Bill and it stuck, he said. Niver has owned his driving range for a while, a long while — more than 62 years to be exact; since 1960. He has remained active to this day. “I retired, but I’m not one to just sit around and do nothing. I am a retired school teacher, elementary, kindergarten mostly,” he said. “This has always been part-time, obviously. It’s a nice little thing to do — especially in the summer. Mid-April to mid-September is
really the biggie season. We do a pretty good business. It tends to slow down a bit in September.” The good weather has brought people out. For every good day, you usually get a bad day —“it all evens out by the end of the year. You shoot for like 140 days. You don’t always get there,” he said. “No matter, it’s all part-time; all for the fun of it and that really explains it, I think.”
Retired ‘not quite’ Niver retired from the North Rose Wolcott School District. His wife, Jean, retired from Hannibal Central School. “She was an elementary teacher, too. We retired in ’05. But as you can
64 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2023
tell, we don’t quite retire. You just switch gears,” he said. The couple celebrated its 50th wedding anniversary on June 23. There are baskets of golf balls on the counter. Large baskets, medium baskets and smaller ones for folks who only want to hit a dozen or so balls. “There are probably more than 6,000 balls,” he said. “There are several bins of balls in the other room. Never really took the time to count them all. Have added a lot over the years.” It’s just him that goes out and collects them all, he explained, adding, “Somebody’s got to do it.” “I get my exercise. Everybody runs off to the gyms and the Ys — which is a good thing to do — I get my exercise right here,” he laughed. “I spend an
