Super Spotlight Tonya Anderson

TurfLifeSUPERSpotlight: Tonya Anderson

Golf Course Superintendent, Old Memorial Golf Club

Tony: Where were you born, Tonya?

Tonya: I was born in Brooklyn, Ohio, which is a little town right outside of Cleveland. I lived there my entire life up until I moved away to college at 18 to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Tony: What was your major in school and what was your motivation to go to Tennessee?

Tonya: I Majored in Plant Sciences with a concentration in Turfgrass Management. When growing up as a kid my family would always take vacations to Tennessee, and I had fallen in love with the Smokies and during my time visiting, I became a sports fan of the University of Tennessee, and I said to myself I’ve got to go down there. I’ve got to go be on that campus, immerse myself in the culture and be at all the sporting events. I was a huge, Pat Summitt and Lady Vols basketball fan.

Tony: Did you play any sports?

Tonya: Yes, growing up. I had the same group of girlfriends since elementary school, we grew up playing sports together, we played basketball, soccer and softball all through middle school and high school, we played a sport every season year-round.

Tony: What got you interested in turfgrass enough to go to university to study it, did you deal with any turfgrass where you were in Ohio?

Tonya: Growing up I was taught to have a job at a young age. So, I started with a paper route and then I went to mowing yards in the neighborhood, and I just enjoyed being outside, I didn’t even really know that you could major in turf grass. I thought that I was going to study business in college and during orientation I went to some business classes, and I said, I can’t do this, I was not comprehending the material all the way, or it wasn’t interesting to me. Therefore, I realized was that business wasn’t what I wanted to do. I went to our Career Services department on campus, and I was talking to one of the ladies there, did an aptitude test and just talking about my common interests, you know, sports, being outside, I enjoy physical labor, and she’s the one who brought to my attention that the agriculture campus had a degree of turfgrass science and management. And she gave me a brochure on it. I met with some of the professors, Dr. John Sorochan and Dr. Horvath, I thought that this sounds like something I’d enjoy doing and could make a career out of.

Tony: How did golf come into play?

Tonya: I did grow up playing a little bit of golf just casually, with my grandparents, golf was something we enjoyed doing together, they would take us to the driving ranges. We would get out and play golf here and there, golf was a big part of their life. And it was just something that kind of created that bond initially. I don’t watch golf every weekend, but I enjoy being out here and working on the golf course.

Tony: How did you get your first job on the golf course?

Tonya: Throughout college, I had gone home the first two summers and worked at Avon Oaks CC and Chagrin Valley CC. I completed my final internship at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania. During my senior year of college, I worked at Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville part time while attending classes. Then after I graduated in May 2014, I was pretty much open to working anywhere. I knew that moving down here to Florida growing grass was a 365 day year-round operation and I was okay with that. So, my first job after college I applied for a second assistant superintendent position at Vasari Country Club in Bonita Springs, Florida, with the current director of agronomy here, Sam Mueller. And Sam gave me a shot and I am very, very appreciative that he did, and we’ve had a long history working together since then.

Tony: What makes your course here at Old Memorial outstanding?

Tonya: Personally, I feel like you’d really have to see it in person, to really appreciate Old Memorial, as both the golf

and the landscaping here really makes it unique. All of our bunker designs, the contouring, the steep bunker faces, all of that. I love that when you’re out here, you’re just on a golf course. There are no homes, nobody’s pool in the backyard butting up against the fairway. I love that you’re out here, just in nature. You really do feel like you are kind of carved into the woods a little bit, you’ll see the oaks and pines, something besides Palm Trees. Also, we’re just a Golf Club, there’s no tennis courts or pool to maintain it’s kind of nice.

Tony: What do you enjoy most about your job here?

Tonya: What I enjoy maintaining most is the challenging greens here. And I feel like they are also challenging from a playability perspective, they do have movement. They’re not just flat circles out there, so I love the shapes of our greens. They are challenging maintenance wise too, but it’s nice to be challenged and it’s nice to find what works and what doesn’t work and just the feedback from the membership whenever we’ve got them dialed in, there’s just nothing better than getting compliments, you know, from the members, if they’re having fun that’s great and makes it all worthwhile.

Tony: When did you start working here?

Tonya: I worked for Sam in Bonita Springs for about four years, and I moved back to Knoxville and worked at Cherokee Country Club for a little over two years. And when Sam got the job here, he asked me to come back and work with him. So, I have been here since October 2019.

Tony: How’s the experience here helped develop your career compared to the other courses?

Tonya: I’ve been fortunate to work at private Country Clubs, what I considered high end private Country Clubs but after coming here, kind of gives high end a different meaning. I’d like to use the word premiere. This is a premier club and everything we do from start to finish, I feel like is meant to exemplify that and provide the highest level of member experience, it’s top notch, nothing less and that’s what we’re out here to give the members. So whatever standards that I thought were high standards, Tony: Who are your mentors? Why would you consider them to be a mentor?

Tonya: Well, I guess I’ve got two, first and foremost the biggest role models in my life have been my parents. I was very fortunate to grow up and have two parents who love each other and have been together for over 30 years. And they’re the hardest working people that I know. From my mom, she exemplifies perseverance. She decided to go out and get a bachelor’s degree during her adult life and it took her 10 years to do so, working full time and going to school part time in the evenings, but she did it and didn’t stop and it was really cool to witness that. You know, being young and in school myself it was also motivation for me but she’s amazing. And then my dad is just without a doubt the hardest working person I know. Hands down. He’s somebody who just he teaches you right from wrong, and he is extremely dedicated to his family. He works every day all day, doesn’t complain. And he’s just taught us that if you want something, you go out and you get it. You work for it. I couldn’t ask for better parents and that’s why they are role models in my life. I could probably do a whole interview just rambling on about how appreciative and supportive they’ve been in my life and how thankful I am for them. I’m the only one of their kids who went away to college and while I’m sure that maybe made them sad, they were nothing but supportive. And even if it caused them a little hardship, they never they never let me know it, which I’m just thankful for. In a professional manner, I’d be foolish if I didn’t say my mentor was now the Director of Agronomy here at Old Memorial, Sam Mueller. We worked together at Vasari Country Club, took a little break, and we’re back together here and I just feel like we’re a dynamic duo, he and I complement each other very well. Sam sometimes isn’t a man of many words, but he lets his work speak for himself. I’ve worked for a lot of great Superintendents, all whom I have great admiration for, and no disrespect to any of them, but the product that Sam can produce and maintain, and as a team we are able to produce and maintain it’s just the best. I think he has a bit of a reputation for grinding and working hard all the time and it’s true, we do, but I feel like our work, time and effort all that we put in is worthwhile, as you can see it when you’re out here on the course. We’re out here hustling, and I don’t know whether people know or not he’s a smart guy. Really smart when it comes to turfgrass and the science behind it and I consider myself very, very fortunate to be able to call Sam a mentor and lucky to have spent most of my career with him.

Tony: If you were to give advice to someone starting out in this field, both men and women what advice would that be?

Tonya: I think that in this profession, whether it’s turf, golf, or the green industry as a whole, there’s something for everybody. And it’ll be what you make of it, as successful as you want to be in this industry you can be, if you go out there and work for it. I also think the phrase “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is extremely prevalent in this industry. So, I would encourage networking, putting yourself out there and just getting yourself and your work ethic known because you’re going to meet somebody, someday, somewhere who is going to help you.

Tony: So how do you plan to pay it forward with other people that you come into contact with that work for you in the golf course maintenance industry?

Tonya: That’s a good question. I have an opportunity right now being recently promoted to Superintendent here, as we do have one individual who is a student on staff that keeps me on my toes. He’s in that learning mode, that textbook mode, he’s very turf involved, and he wants to talk about it all the time. And so as far as paying it forward goes, I hope to just be able to engage in those meaningful conversations with him not only about turf, but about leadership, because the people part of the job is almost more important than the turf part of the job. And the relationships you build with people is what they’re going to remember during their lifetime, you know, the relationships and the conversations and stuff like that. The grass, well that’s what we’re getting paid to maintain, but the grass is going to grow. So hopefully, the people that I encounter, I can just leave a lasting impression with my work ethic and my leadership abilities.