Your terms

“Slowing down isn’t a problem,” muses Matt Shaffer. “I have always been at peace with myself. People ask me about retirement. I say what I used to do in a day I do in about three days, and I am figuring out how to turn that into a week!”

Steve Cook responds in a similar way. “Lee, I don’t know. We got back by 10 o’clock from our morning hike” — with his gorgeous dog, Ilsa! “I had an espresso at the coffee house. I came home, showered and had lunch. I have been reading a book and I don’t really know where the time goes. I’m OK with that.”

“I’m playing more golf and getting into pickleball,” says Scott Dodson. “I’m riding my bike more. It’s a whole different lifestyle. With my wife, Brenda, still working, I do some of the shopping. I have always done laundry. I do some cooking and keep the house tidy and it keeps her happy. Lee, I have become a domestic engineer. I am the CEO of our domicile.”

Brenda Dodson is the CFO of a healthcare company. “I get up with her and have coffee and whatnot around 7 a.m.,” Dodson says. “That’s a perfect time.”

Many days started earlier as Dodson grew up in the turf industry. He lived at Maple Downs Golf & Country Club, in Maple, Ontario, where his father was the superintendent. He started caddying at age 10 and worked the grounds by 14.

In 1993, Dodson went to Park Country Club, in Williamsville, New York, retiring from his superintendent position in 2024. This private club, designed by Harry Colt and Charles Hugh Alison, hosted the 1934 PGA Championship and has been cared for to a high standard. The leadership has maintained high standards as well, with Jim Frey being promoted.

“Six years ago, I told the board of directors, ‘The next superintendent is on the staff,’” Dodson says. “We signed some agreements and everything worked out well.” With the right circumstances and communication, it’s possible to forecast your retirement and put a succession plan in place.

At Medinah Country Club, where Cook retired as the director of grounds operations in early July, they also placed a successor on staff, Ben McGargill. McGargill was hired nearly two years ago and worked alongside Cook throughout the renovation of Course No. 3. Establishing continuous leadership helps operations adapt quickly through change and ensures consistent quality.

“Medinah was a great employer,” Cook says. “They were very accommodating. I was open and said, ‘Let’s figure out the exit strategy.’ Ben and I shared duties and had fun completing a successful project.”

Because they worked together, no one was working excessively. “I count my blessings that I was able to finish on a high note and essentially on my own terms,” Cook says. “A lot of superintendents aren’t that fortunate.

“It was my time to walk away.”

Shaffer started his golf course maintenance career by working as a superintendent at a small facility. He then became Paul R. Latshaw’s assistant at Augusta National Golf Club, leaving there to eventually assume the lead agronomy role at Merion Golf Club.

“I retired as a superintendent in 2016 and started a company called Minimalistic Agronomic Techniques,” Shaffer says. “I became a spokesperson for companies and people bought our products. I did that until recently.

“At the ripe old age of 71, I closed my company. I’ve been working since I was 12.”

When is the right time to retire?

Good question. How will you know? “At Merion, we had an incredibly successful U.S. Open in 2013,” Shaffer says. “After that they wanted to change the golf course. They wanted it firm, fast and green and that was never my mantra. It was the perfect opening.”

There were signs. “There had been a consistent group of gray-haired guys in the board room. After the U.S. Open, I was the only one with gray hair. When you’re the oldest guy, it’s probably time to retire. I never worried about aesthetics. I always worried about playability, so I told them they have two problems. I said, ‘You have a golf course built in 1896 that was designed to hold water because there was no irrigation. The other thing is that you have a superintendent that studied under one of the greatest old-time superintendents that didn’t really care about appearance but more about playability.’ They said, ‘What are our options?’ I said, ‘You need to rebuild the course and get a new superintendent.’

“The next board meeting they said, ‘We want you to be the guy.’ I said, ‘I can’t be the guy!’ The next guy will want to do it differently than me and it is going to be his responsibility to give you firm, fast and green so he has to be the guy.’” Shaffer helped the club research candidates, and they hired Paul B. Latshaw.

“They are really happy,” Shaffer says. “It all worked out. I retired because times were changing, and I didn’t want to change.” It helps to think of retiring as an active, positive decision instead of something to default. Retiring is a natural part of your career and retirement is a phase of your life to celebrate.

Set a goal to retire comfortably and prepare for it. Building a career that you are proud of makes it easier to walk away. Earning and saving helps you make that decision too, especially if you regularly invest in your retirement. A few special people you meet, bond and grow with will also transition with you from your career into life afterward.

Dodson lives in an over-55 residential community and is involved with different activity groups, including one for golf. “I have a friend in the neighborhood, John Gall, a former superintendent. We have known each other for 40 years. Can you imagine? He lives at the end of the street! It’s weird. We laugh and say isn’t it great that we don’t have to think about if the pumps came on last night?”

Previously needing a kidney transplant, Dodson is keenly aware of his health. “With that scare, I thought I better get to living and not work the rest of my life. I have heard of too many people not reaching retirement. That’s really sad. I was 67 so it was great timing.”

People say you’ll know. “I found myself getting a little short with people,” Dodson says. “It’s not just about growing grass. You have to be good at all the other stuff. Over the years those things weigh on you. You will know when it’s time to retire. You’ll feel it.”

The timing was clear for Cook too. “Retirement is a time to honor all the hard work, whatever that means, for each person,” he says. “For me it’s fishing, hiking, reading. Maybe a little nap in the afternoon. Being with friends and family. As a superintendent, you’re making sacrifices with that stuff. I really want to commit to strengthening my relationships, old and new.”

Maybe there is never a perfect moment to retire but there will be a time that is good for you.

“A lot of people can’t retire, and I am very fortunate,” Cook says. “I didn’t feel like there was much more for me to accomplish. It was also my age. Most of my good friends have retired. They are doing stuff, and I wasn’t going to be able to do it being a superintendent. My mom is getting older, and I want to spend time with her. I didn’t want to hang around just to collect a paycheck.”

Will you miss it?

Being a superintendent is wonderful but intense. Many people are dedicated to their careers, but different industries have different parameters to negotiate and superintendents are working with living turf, nature and a combination of elements unique to this industry. It’s understandable to wonder how easy it will be to walk away. The short answer? Don’t sweat it.

“I have been asked more than once about retirement,” Dodson says. “A lot of people are scared or apprehensive. They don’t know what they’re going to do.” People fear change, “but everything can change in a heartbeat. Life circumstances, your family, your health, all sorts of things. We all have an expiration date, we just don’t know it.”

“It’s funny, my wife said, ‘You just don’t even miss it,’” Shaffer says. “I gave it everything I had and I had tremendous success, not by myself, certainly. I had people work for me that were far superior agronomists. But who is to say that’s not a smart move, to surround yourself with people who are more knowledgeable than you? Guess what? Everybody wins!”

No one can argue with that. “I was good at building teams and I was good at creating an atmosphere where people wanted to work. I was good at leading up to my superiors — showing them a vision. It helps telling stories and interjecting levity into the message, not making it boring and too businesslike, but I don’t miss any of it.”

“I miss the same things that everyone misses,” Cook says. “I miss the sunrise in the morning, being on the course, being out in nature. I miss the staff, the camaraderie and the fraternity that comes with working in golf and being a superintendent. That was one of the highlights for me, the people. I miss the members. I miss all the good stuff, and 99 percent of it is good, but it’s a book I’ve read and it’s on my shelf. I don’t need to reread it.”

Lessons learned and facing forward …

If you’re not looking back, what is ahead? Dodson has been to Europe and is looking forward to traveling more. He enjoys working in the yard regularly, as opposed to fitting it into his schedule. He plays euchre and does some consulting, helping mentor a young superintendent. “I miss people,” he says. “I forged many great relationships over the years but we try to keep in touch.”

Dodson encourages everyone to pay attention to quality of life. “If you are in this business, you must care a lot,” he says. “It’s taxing, it’s rewarding. Carve out time for your family. I coached hockey and softball and went to presentations at school. Those things are important. Find a hobby. Take a break for three or four days. You have to get away from it.”

When you are in it, you are in it. When you retire, relax. “I am living a different life and really enjoying it,” Cook says. He still wakes up between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m. “I would say that 5:30 is a little late for me,” he says with a laugh.

Cook is re-reading books that were meaningful to him, from childhood to the present. He belongs to several church groups that help him connect with his faith and other people. He splits time between his home in Colorado and visiting the Midwest, where significant friends and family live.

His ideas about retirement have changed through the years. “If someone has a great relationship with their employer and they are finding satisfaction and gratification, keep doing it. There is no reason to quit work if it’s not work.”

Cook also believes — and I love this — that “the adventure is in the mystery.” Cook explains: “I had no bucket list, no definitive plans. I am open to the future. That’s what I would tell someone who is retiring: be open and embrace it. Spend time with loved ones and don’t take life too seriously. I let the day come to me, one day at a time.”

Every day is new and we can learn from our shortcomings. “It’s strange what people recall,” he says. “If you knew what someone else would remember from what you said to them, you would choose your words more carefully. That’s the only thing I wish I had done differently. I wish I was a little more self-aware to recognize the impact of the words I used.”

Shaffer can relate. “When I was working, I was painfully myopic. I didn’t really pay attention. All I was concerned about was my wife and my job and I didn’t worry about other people’s scenarios, which isn’t great.” Shaffer cared in other ways. “I did make a concerted effort to promote the profession because I knew I had a big job. I had ears so I tried desperately to do as many interviews as I could, and I would expound about the talents of superintendents.”

We all want to be wonderful humans, all the time. In retirement, there is more time for reflection coupled with greater life experience. “If you are really lucky, you are going to have a handful of people that want to spend time with you,” Cook says. “People that want you in their lives. People that are going to go out of their way to spend time with you. That circle is really small. Pay attention to those people. We all have lots of friends and acquaintances. Ten percent will say, ‘Hey, we are missing you.’ That’s what I am enjoying about retirement, the recognition by those people are getting fewer, but they are far more important. They are really meaningful and they are really special.”

Shaffer keeps in touch with friends and family and some people he has mentored, estimating those numbers to be at around 50 superintendents and more than 150 assistants. He maintains a blog called “Let’s Talk Turf and Life” full of useful information and stories, and he helps care for 48 acres of grounds at the Boal Estate when in Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Renna, are known to pick a direction and head out in their camper. They spend time at their home in Florida and enjoy bass fishing. Shaffer tinkers in his shop and garden and he reads voraciously.

“The blog will end too, and I will ease into the horizon,” Shaffer says. “It’s funny, it feels like we are going back to where we started. Our life was painfully simple when we got married and lived in the mountains, and we camped and we fished and we didn’t have any money. That’s the only difference. When you have time you have no money, and when you have money, you have no time.”

When you retire you can, hopefully, have both.

Shaffer has generational wisdom.

“Don’t expect a generation to change for you. You have to change your style for the generation you are managing,” he says. “This current generation, which I really like, has been changing my thought process on life. My generation, what a bunch of dumbasses. We were all about earning money, saving it all, and seeing how we could live when we are all busted down and we can’t do the things we thought we would do. This generation wants to do things as they are living. That’s brilliant. They don’t have much money but if they can pull it off, kudos to them.”

This generation is also going to face adversity.

“There are going to be lots of days, particularly when you start a new job, that only one person in the room thinks that you can pull it off,” Shaffer says. “It’s not the person who hired you, it’s you. There will be tremendous criticism and this generation has a hard time with that.

“They try to make everything work and sometimes it just doesn’t.”

Shaffer takes it further as we wrap up our conversation. “This is never a job that entertains complacency, ever. You have to be proactive every day and if you don’t love it, it’s easier to get going on a second career when you are young. For me, I am sitting here with deer in my backyard. I have had a good life and a lot of good support. And I’m going to water my flowers.”

Shaffer, Dodson, and Cook are making the most of retirement, enjoying activities and time with the people they love. Give it your best so when you are ready to retire you have a hobby, financial stability, friends and family who care for you, and a career that can end the way it should — on your terms.

Lee Carr is a northeast Ohio-based writer and senior Golf Course Industry contributor.