With all the great customer service stories and blogs out there about Zappos.com, I haven't really seen anything about how people shop at Zappos.com - How do you Zappos?
From my parents, siblings, and friends, to random people I've met, I've watched them all shop on Zappos.com. Some of them are internet savvy, others are not. Some were eCommerce savvy, others have never bought anything online. The one thing I noticed is that each of them shopped on zappos.com differently. Some of them would search for a brand, others would immediately click on the brands list to see the full list of brands available at zappos.com, others would click on one of the links on the Homepage (i.e. Women's Dress), while others would click on one of the New Feature spots. The one thing that everyone did know were the service offerings from this great company, in particular, Free Shipping & Free 365 Day Returns.
I just wanted to throw this out there. I shop on Zappos a lot. I mean A LOT! As you have probably guessed, I work at Zappos, so I'm on there all the time. If you have ever worked for a retail store, you will understand what I mean when I say every employee shops their own store and they are really the experts at the store. They know what's coming in, they know where everything is, and they can help any customer match items or find a similar item. The same can be said about Zappos employees. The difference is that we have a much larger selection with tons of new things coming in everyday.
I have a routine when shopping on zappos.com. This routine has been "developed" over time "practicing" the site and talking to various fellow employees/experts. What I wanted to do was to let you know what I do every time I go to the site. Here is my routine:
1. Go to Zappos.com
2. From the header, I click on 'New Styles'
3. From here, you will see several links grouped by Women's, Men's, Girls, and Boy's
4. I always start with Men's 'Accessories'. Most people don't know that Zappos is more than just shoes. There are socks, clothes, electronics, backpacks, women's handbags, books, jewelry, watches, hats, laptops, cameras and more! From 'Accessories', I get to see what's new for all things besides clothes, watches, sunglasses, and shoes.
5. I'll browse through the first several pages until I start seeing things that are familiar to me (from the last time I looked)
6. Next, I go through and click on 'All New Men's Shoes', then 'Clothing', then 'All New Women's Shoes', then 'Handbags' for the wife. If time allows, I'll check out the watches and eyewear
Did you know that Zappos is constantly receiving new items throughout the day, almost every day? Since I know this, I'll check the site roughly every 4 hours and do my routine above. You will be surprised how many new things you will see every 4 hours. The other great thing about this routine is that I get to see lots of new stuff very quickly and not feel overwhelmed.
My other routine if I'm looking for something specific, is to use the Search box that is stretched across the top. Typing in a brand or a couple describing words usually does the trick. For stronger search capabilities (i.e. searching by personality - casual laptop bag), I like to go to the Zappos Zeta site. It works really well. :)
Anyway, this is how I Zappos. It works really well for me and I know others at Zappos who do have a similar routine. So... How do you Zappos? Let me know. :)
Note: As you can see, this blog is my own personal blog and is mostly about golf. This blog post is not "sponsored" by Zappos.com or meant to be a Zappos affiliate. I'm not make anything by writing this blog and having links to Zappos.com. This post is intended to be informative and helpful if you already shop with Zappos - which I'm sure everyone already does, right? I <3 Zappos!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Lesson 4 - Practice and a Round of Golf
WOW! That's all I have to say. The things that Tim has taught me and the practice I've been putting into the new changes (and killing the bad habits) are really starting to come together! It's almost frightening.
Lesson 4 was all about my backswing - drawing the club straight, keeping my left arm parallel with my shoulders, and keeping a firm left hand. This lesson really changed my game. Not that the other lessons weren't as powerful. But, without the backswing, the stability in my lower body and keeping my shoulders level wasn't a big of an impact... of course, it's also vice versa. Without a stable lower body and level shoulder turn, the backswing wouldn't be as strong. That being said, I saw huge improvement with all of it coming together.
After a crazy 4th of July weekend with lots of alcohol, swimming pools, and just getting beat down from throwing people in the pool (and getting tossed in several times), my body and mind were in pain. Fortunately, I made a conscious decision to take it easy on Saturday, only beer and chilling in the pool, because I knew I would be golfing on Sunday. Plus... I was still in pain! One thing I've learned the hard way, partying the night before golf really affects my golf game. No more of that. I'm not going through this whole golf diet and training only to mess it up with a night of heavy drinking.
Ok... so back to my game. I went to bed early last night so I could hit the range early this morning. I was at the Revere at Anthem golf course today at 9am practicing. Although this was really the first day hitting balls since last Wednesday, I have been practicing my backswing at home all the time everyday. As expected, it was a rough start. I was hitting balls fat to start with then slightly thin. After about 20mins, I was starting to relax and was hitting some decent shots. I kept practicing until we tee'd off on the Lexington course at 10:32am.
On the first hole, I pulled out my driver and topped it. I took a first hole mulligan and tee'd up another ball. I relaxed myself and hit the ball. Correction, I crushed the ball straight down the left side of the fairway. That felt good. The rest of the day was same. Every shot I hit, regardless of what iron or wood, was solid. I was completely focused on my swing on every shot. I was hitting balls in the fairway or just off the fairway, hitting greens in regulation or on the fringe of the green, and every shot was solid. Solid contact and solid consistency. I had smiles all day after every shot.
For first time, I only screwed up a couple times and they were pretty much back to back on one hole. I'm going to say that the first one wasn't really my fault. :) My tee shot had rolled down the fairway and ended up in the rough - the deep rough. I tried to get underneath the ball but ended up hitting it fat, short but straight and in the fairway. The second shot was totally my fault. I pulled my 60 degree wedge out and was trying to hit it 80 yards into the wind. Once again, I hit it fat and I ended up having to hit my 60 degree again. This time only needing about 55 yards into the wind. Easy...
I ended the day with a 93 on a par 72. This score isn't very good... I know that. But, this was the first time in the past couple months that I have hit into the 90's. Plus, I had a few penalty shots because the wind on the back 9 was BRUTAL! I would hit these shots great but either overcompensated or undercompensated for side wind carry. In fact, on the 18 handicap (easiest hole), par 3, 17th hole, I lost 2 balls because of the wind - ridiculous. Also, I putted horribly today!
I took my new Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2 out for the first time. I literally peeled the plastic from the grip right before we tee'd off. For whatever reason, I missed putts... just barely, but still a miss. The 3-8 feet putts kicked my butt. I couldn't believe it. One the green for birdie, and 3-putting the hole. Multiply this by several holes and there are the extra strokes. In fact, I count that there were at least 10 putts from 3 feet that should have dropped but didn't. Assuming that I dropped these putts, I would have shot an 83. That's with my penalties! I'm going to keep practicing with that putter... if I don't get used to it... it's either going bye-bye or I'm going to send it to Scotty Cameron to get the weights in the head increased to 20 grams instead of the 15 grams that I currently have right now. It just doesn't seem as head heavy as my Odyssey Black Series. It may be the swing weight... i don't know.
Anyway, I dragging on and on now... Overall, I had a great day of golf. Great ball contact and consistency was exactly what I was looking for and Tim Sam with GolfTEC has helped me to achieve it. I'm looking forward to learning more (i.e. downswing and follow through).
Here have been my lessons so far:
Evaluation: Stance and Grip
Lesson 1: Lower body stability
Lesson 2: Shoulders level
Lesson 3: Shoulders level reinforcement (consistency)
Lesson 4: Backswing
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!
Lesson 4 was all about my backswing - drawing the club straight, keeping my left arm parallel with my shoulders, and keeping a firm left hand. This lesson really changed my game. Not that the other lessons weren't as powerful. But, without the backswing, the stability in my lower body and keeping my shoulders level wasn't a big of an impact... of course, it's also vice versa. Without a stable lower body and level shoulder turn, the backswing wouldn't be as strong. That being said, I saw huge improvement with all of it coming together.
After a crazy 4th of July weekend with lots of alcohol, swimming pools, and just getting beat down from throwing people in the pool (and getting tossed in several times), my body and mind were in pain. Fortunately, I made a conscious decision to take it easy on Saturday, only beer and chilling in the pool, because I knew I would be golfing on Sunday. Plus... I was still in pain! One thing I've learned the hard way, partying the night before golf really affects my golf game. No more of that. I'm not going through this whole golf diet and training only to mess it up with a night of heavy drinking.
Ok... so back to my game. I went to bed early last night so I could hit the range early this morning. I was at the Revere at Anthem golf course today at 9am practicing. Although this was really the first day hitting balls since last Wednesday, I have been practicing my backswing at home all the time everyday. As expected, it was a rough start. I was hitting balls fat to start with then slightly thin. After about 20mins, I was starting to relax and was hitting some decent shots. I kept practicing until we tee'd off on the Lexington course at 10:32am.
On the first hole, I pulled out my driver and topped it. I took a first hole mulligan and tee'd up another ball. I relaxed myself and hit the ball. Correction, I crushed the ball straight down the left side of the fairway. That felt good. The rest of the day was same. Every shot I hit, regardless of what iron or wood, was solid. I was completely focused on my swing on every shot. I was hitting balls in the fairway or just off the fairway, hitting greens in regulation or on the fringe of the green, and every shot was solid. Solid contact and solid consistency. I had smiles all day after every shot.
For first time, I only screwed up a couple times and they were pretty much back to back on one hole. I'm going to say that the first one wasn't really my fault. :) My tee shot had rolled down the fairway and ended up in the rough - the deep rough. I tried to get underneath the ball but ended up hitting it fat, short but straight and in the fairway. The second shot was totally my fault. I pulled my 60 degree wedge out and was trying to hit it 80 yards into the wind. Once again, I hit it fat and I ended up having to hit my 60 degree again. This time only needing about 55 yards into the wind. Easy...
I ended the day with a 93 on a par 72. This score isn't very good... I know that. But, this was the first time in the past couple months that I have hit into the 90's. Plus, I had a few penalty shots because the wind on the back 9 was BRUTAL! I would hit these shots great but either overcompensated or undercompensated for side wind carry. In fact, on the 18 handicap (easiest hole), par 3, 17th hole, I lost 2 balls because of the wind - ridiculous. Also, I putted horribly today!
I took my new Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2 out for the first time. I literally peeled the plastic from the grip right before we tee'd off. For whatever reason, I missed putts... just barely, but still a miss. The 3-8 feet putts kicked my butt. I couldn't believe it. One the green for birdie, and 3-putting the hole. Multiply this by several holes and there are the extra strokes. In fact, I count that there were at least 10 putts from 3 feet that should have dropped but didn't. Assuming that I dropped these putts, I would have shot an 83. That's with my penalties! I'm going to keep practicing with that putter... if I don't get used to it... it's either going bye-bye or I'm going to send it to Scotty Cameron to get the weights in the head increased to 20 grams instead of the 15 grams that I currently have right now. It just doesn't seem as head heavy as my Odyssey Black Series. It may be the swing weight... i don't know.
Anyway, I dragging on and on now... Overall, I had a great day of golf. Great ball contact and consistency was exactly what I was looking for and Tim Sam with GolfTEC has helped me to achieve it. I'm looking forward to learning more (i.e. downswing and follow through).
Here have been my lessons so far:
Evaluation: Stance and Grip
Lesson 1: Lower body stability
Lesson 2: Shoulders level
Lesson 3: Shoulders level reinforcement (consistency)
Lesson 4: Backswing
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Lesson 4 - Lessons Learned
NOTE: The information below is specific to my golf swing and is not intended to be a lesson plan for you. If you are working on your swing, I highly recommend signing up for private lessons with a golf pro. Yes, I would highly recommend GolfTEC.
How exciting! I got my shoulder turn level in the past couple weeks and I'm pretty consistent now. Tim was very impressed at how quickly I was able to progress with that. What he doesn't know is that I worked really hard to making that happen. Lots of practice.
Because I had made so much progress, Tim decided it was time to move onto my backswing. I was very ready for this. This has been on my mind for some time now. Look at this video of my swing before we worked on it. Notice at the top of my swing my clubhead is pointed to the right. In fact, my entire backswing up to the top of the swing is pretty sloppy:
Tim had me start with the takeaway. As you can see from this picture, my takeaway was way off from the get-go.
.jpg)
And at the peak of my swing, I was all over the place:
.jpg)
What Tim had me focus on was keeping my left arm and club shaft parallel to my toeline (checkpoint 1).
.jpg)
The next step was the peak of my swing. I tend to turn my shoulders a little too much and really wind up before the downswing. To work on this, Tim recommended that I keep the butt of the club pointed at the target line (checkpoint 2). My left arm should be parallel with my shoulders and my hands should be in front of the right shoulder (checkpoint 3). Finally, I need to work on keeping my wrist flat and not cocking it (checkpoint 4). All this may sound easy, but it really does require me watching myself on video to make sure I'm doing it correctly.
.jpg)
At the end of all these changes my backswing looked great! Check it out.
How exciting! I got my shoulder turn level in the past couple weeks and I'm pretty consistent now. Tim was very impressed at how quickly I was able to progress with that. What he doesn't know is that I worked really hard to making that happen. Lots of practice.
Because I had made so much progress, Tim decided it was time to move onto my backswing. I was very ready for this. This has been on my mind for some time now. Look at this video of my swing before we worked on it. Notice at the top of my swing my clubhead is pointed to the right. In fact, my entire backswing up to the top of the swing is pretty sloppy:
Tim had me start with the takeaway. As you can see from this picture, my takeaway was way off from the get-go.
.jpg)
And at the peak of my swing, I was all over the place:
.jpg)
What Tim had me focus on was keeping my left arm and club shaft parallel to my toeline (checkpoint 1).
.jpg)
The next step was the peak of my swing. I tend to turn my shoulders a little too much and really wind up before the downswing. To work on this, Tim recommended that I keep the butt of the club pointed at the target line (checkpoint 2). My left arm should be parallel with my shoulders and my hands should be in front of the right shoulder (checkpoint 3). Finally, I need to work on keeping my wrist flat and not cocking it (checkpoint 4). All this may sound easy, but it really does require me watching myself on video to make sure I'm doing it correctly.
.jpg)
At the end of all these changes my backswing looked great! Check it out.
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