Anderson tied for 17th at U.S. Senior Women’s Open at the Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Connecticut on July 29 to Aug. 1. Her goal was to place in the top 100 out of the 120 other women who competed.

“It was a dream,” Anderson said. “The whole week was a dream.”

“I just really wanted to get there for some reason,” Anderson said. “It was in my hometown, I could stay with my parents, that was what was driving me.”

Andeson said she just wanted to qualify for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, which she did in July. Once she found out the tournament was in Connecticut it ignited her to work on her game again.

She grew up 10 minutes away from the Brooklawn Country Club, in a town called Trumbull. But Anderson had only golfed once or twice on the Brooklawn Country Club.

She said one of her friend’s parents had a membership to the country club, but she mostly hung out at the pool with her friend.

She eventually developed a passion for golf which has continued throughout her life.

Now Anderson, 52, works as an instructor at Mike Bender Golf Academy in Lake Mary, Florida.

She has worked as an instructor for over 30 years and has been ranked in Golf Digest’s America’s top 50 teachers and GOLF Magazine’s top 100 teachers.

Her passion for the game of golf originated in Lake Placid.

“I learned to play golf up there,” Anderson said. “My grandfather had a field in Keene and I would always hit golf balls growing up and then I started to play golf in Lake Placid on the golf courses there when I was in high school. That’s where I really fell in love with the game.”

Even though she grew up in Connecticut she visited Lake Placid every summer since she was born because her family owns property in Keene.

“There is no way I would have qualified or would have played well in this tournament if I didn’t practice at the Lake Placid Club because the hills at that golf course challenged me in many ways,” Anderson said. “I got in shape. I could barely walk the golf course when I first arrived in June and by the end of July, I was running up the hills. It allowed me to build my physical, stature up to compete because I had to play seven days in a row.”

Her experience at the Lake Placid Club helped ease the challenge of the golf course at the Brooklawn Country Club.

She said the Brooklawn Country Club course was extremely challenging and one of the hardest courses competitively, because it was hilly and the greens were treacherous and slick and the rough was thick.

After realizing that she was going to achieve her original goal of finishing in the top 100. She moved on to her next goal, which was to make the cut, by finishing in the top 51 golfers through two days of the tournament.

“I felt confident, I made the cut,” Anderson said. “Once I made the cut I felt free. I was playing well. Putts started to fall more. I had a new goal of finishing top 20.”

As she kept upping her goal, her confidence rose and she finished in the top 20. Finishing in the top 20 meant she did not have to qualify for the tournament next year.