Four decades in the same industry provides quite an opportunity for a lifetime of learning. For John Anderson, four decades is not enough.
"I have a bachelor's degree in forestry and ornamental horticulture, and a master's in agronomy," Anderson said. "All those years ago, I decided what I wanted to do, and I'm still learning today. That's what makes it fun."
At age 58, Anderson is reinventing himself, and he's having a ball doing it.
A former superintendent with nearly 30 years of industry sales experience, Anderson, started in March at historic Chicago Golf Club as a laborer, but not just any laborer.
Since Day 1, he has been in charge of all logistics for the three dozen or so volunteers on hand to help superintendent Scott Bordner and his team prep the Charles Blair Macdonald classic for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women's Open.
That job has included securing housing, transportation and meals for a group comprised in large part by former employees who have since moved on to other courses to further their respective careers.
Whether it's mowing fairways one day or making last-minute lodging arrangements the next because the hotel he has worked with for months suddenly is overbooked the week of the tournament, Anderson jumps in without question wherever Bordner needs him, even if it means making an ice cream run for volunteers and crew.
"I am relearning everything," he said. "I call it the re-education of a seasoned veteran.
"I've stopped thinking about anything I used to do, and now I concentrate on watching, listening and seeing how Scott wants it done."
Anderson has thought long and hard about this stage of his career, and has broken it down into three phases: deprogramming everything previously learned, retraining and learning new information and implementing what he's learned.
"Everything has changed since I first go into the business," he said. "Scott said I needed a title, so I'm calling myself a laborer in training."
A native of Joliet and a graduate of the University of Illinois, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees under Al Turgeon, Ph.D., Anderson was a superintendent for eight years in the 1980s before spending 28 years in sales for companies such as Scotts, Clesen Pro Turf and multiple iterations of what is now J.R. Simplot.
He thought his days on the golf course were over until the operator of nine-hole Frankfort Commons begged him last year to be their superintendent.
"It was fun getting my hands dirty," Anderson said. "It was me and two laborers. I had a ball managing the whole thing, but it was two hours of drive time down and back. I didn't want to do that."
Anderson knew he still had a lot to offer the business. He had the experience and the desire, two things even Al Turgeon can't teach. After years in sales, he also had contacts; lots and lots of contacts.
As the 2017 playing season in Chicago began to wind down, he called on many of those contacts, but this time the product he was selling was not a pesticide or fungicide, it was his experience.
"I sent out an email to 100 to 120 or so supe's in Chicago I know and asked if anyone near Naperville was looking for a laborer only to let me know," he said.
He had a reply less than an hour later.
"I asked him if he wanted to do something fun," Bordner said. "We have this tournament coming up. Do you want to be part of it?
"We were building a pole barn and working on a wetlands project, and I was spending a lot of time with the county. It was all taking a lot more time than I thought it would, and I needed someone to handle the logistics when you are hosting a golf tournament."
I am relearning everything. I call it the re-education of a seasoned veteran."
That included setting up lodging accommodations, meals and transportation and getting color-coordinated shirts for volunteers and crew for tournament week. It also meant calling upon industry partners to help cover the cost of all of that.
"John stepped right in and took over," Bordner said. "He knows all the vendors you need to make this happen, and he knows all the proper recognition to give them. We couldn't have hosted this many people without his help."
With that much industry experience under Anderson's belt, it would be understandable, if not expected, for him to come aboard at Chicago GC with a certain level of ego.
"I envisioned him coming in and mentoring the assistants and the interns," Bordner said.
Instead, Anderson sees himself as just another spoke in the wheel. After all, the job is much different now than when he was superintendent in the 1980s at Woodmar Country Club in Hammond, Indiana.
"Everything's changed. We never walk-mowed greens then. We used a triplex," he said. "Now, everyone is topdressing with straight sand. Then, we used an 80-20 mix and only did it after aerification. Then, we turned water on every night. Now, we do it only when needed and most of it is by hand.
"The whole mindset of how to manage a golf course has changed. I had the background by I had to start over."
That meant using his ears a lot more than his mouth.
"When I started here, I said to myself 'don't say you know how to do anything.' " he said. "If someone asks me if I can mow greens, my answer is 'I'm sure I can, but why don't you walk me through how you want them done.'
"I can run any piece of equipment here. That's not the issue. What I don't want is to just go out and do things the way I know how. I'm trying to learn how they want it done."