This article originally appeared in the September issue of NCGA Golf Magazine
By Erin Blaettler
At 90 years old and after nearly 50 years as an NCGA member, Ed Anderson has shot his age 1,000 times, reaching the milestone on Aug. 21 at Butte Creek Country Club in Chico.
The journey to 1,000 has been accompanied by plenty of other achievements along the way.
Still playing to a 10 Handicap Index, Anderson has also recorded 10 holes-in-one, competed in several NCGA tournaments, qualified for a USGA championship and traveled the world through golf. He has served as president of both Butte Creek Country Club and the Senior Golf Association of Northern California (SGANC) and spent 23 years chronicling the game for his hometown newspaper.
Yet his accomplishments are only one measure of the mark he has made on golf.
“You have to give back more than you take in life,” Anderson noted.
For Anderson, that belief has taken many forms. A Butte Creek member since 1979, he eventually served as club president. He spent 25 years with the SGANC, including a term as president in 2020, and three years representing the United States on the Board of Directors for the International Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians.
His dedication to the game also found its way onto the page. For 23 years, Anderson has written a weekly golf column for the Chico Enterprise-Record. He wrote about the history of the Bidwell Women’s Golf Club and is now preserving the history of Bidwell Park Golf Course.
Raised in nearby Paradise, Anderson has lived in Chico since 1958. Not surprisingly, he knows many faces, and they know him.
“I know just about everybody in Chico,” he said.
Golf only expanded that circle.
Long before becoming a familiar figure in Chico golf, Anderson was looking for another place to compete. After 35 years pitching fast-pitch softball and baseball, he turned seriously to golf in his early 50s.
“I just need to be competing,” Anderson said. “Even today.”
Working with retired golf professional John Zontek, Anderson went from a 10 handicap to scratch within a few years. By 55, he was competing in NCGA Senior tournaments. In 1994, he shot 74 at Blackhawk Country Club’s Falls Course, survived a playoff and qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship.
Competition brought Anderson to golf. Camaraderie kept him coming back.
The game carried him around the world and introduced him to friends throughout the United States, Canada and beyond. At home, it connected him with generations of golfers at Butte Creek and Bidwell Park.
“Golf has given me a purpose,” Anderson said. “The camaraderie is so important.”
That purpose was on display Aug. 21.
When Anderson reached the 18th green after shooting his age for the 1,000th time, friends and fellow golfers were waiting to celebrate. So were appetizers and the local television crew.
For decades, Anderson has given his time to golf as a competitor, leader, writer, historian and friend. In return, the game has given him places to go, stories to tell and people with whom to share them.
“What goes around, comes around,” Anderson said of his belief in giving back more than you take.
For Anderson, the same could be said of the game to which he has given so much.
