Our April 2008 event took place at the Arroyo at Red Rock Golf Club in Summerlin. We had a total of 40 players and was sponsored by Taylor Made Adidas Golf - a big THANK YOU to Mike of TMaG!

A LITTLE GOLF EDUCATION

For this blog post, I felt that it would be good to give a little information about golf scoring. This will help to understand our stories for this month.

Most golf courses around the world are par 72 courses. What this means is that to play a "perfect" round, a golfer will play the 18 holes only hitting 72 strokes or shots. Most professional PGA golfers will shoot at par or below. The average amateur golfer shoots 100. When you watch a PGA golf tournament, you will see scores such as -3 (i.e. Tiger Woods -3). What this means is that the golfer is shooting at 3 below par 72. If you see a +3, this means that the golfer has shot 3 over par.

For our Zappos events, we are all amateurs and I would say that collectively, we probably average about 100. We have some golfers that shoot 120 or more and some golfers who shoot 85 or below. Our events have a really great mix of skill levels.

If you read my last blog post about our March event, you will recall that I said we play in SCRAMBLE format and that this means "team play". What I mean by "team play" is that each team records 1 score. Team members all take turns hitting from the same spot for every shot (not alcohol... ). After everyone hits, the team will then determine who had the best shot based on the position of the ball. The other team members will then pick up their balls and put it next to the ball of the best shot. Each team member will then hit from that spot one-by-one and repeat until the ball goes into the hole. The team will then count the total number of best shots from the tee box to the hole and mark that score down on the scorecard for that hole.

APRIL 2008

Now that you understand the scoring, you would think that a score of -10 for a team would be incredible and be the winning score for an event. This happened to be the team that I was on. We were playing a great round, hitting great shots, and sinking putts. All keys to a great score. Our confidence of being the winners was high but short-lived. The team that was right behind us was comprised of Oakley ballers, Paul, Mark, Kirk, and our very own Steve H (Zappos_Steve on twitter). I could tell they were on fire when I would look back during play and watch them putt. They were sinking EVERY putt and putts are the most important shots. Deep down inside, I was hoping that they would keep drinking and eventually fall apart. No such luck...

That team ended up shooting an AMAZING -11! That -11 score is a new record for a Zappos event (previous record was a -10 at a different course last year). Congratulations to Paul, Mark, Kirk, and Steve to a job well done!

STORY #2

This is an awesome story... a story that you would typically hear about from a major PGA tournament by a professional golfer. This story was told by Josh and Jim from our Zappos Rideshop at the clubhouse over drinks/shots (yes, the alcoholic ones) immediately following the event.

On the 6th hole, one of our vendors, Dave from Ocean Minded, pulled out a 9-iron to take his shot for the green. As he was getting ready to hit, the beverage cart girl pulled up (aka Booze Girl). Jim went to buy some drinks for the team. So, Dave is about to hit his shot, Jim is walking over to buy drinks, and Josh and Garrett were giving half their attention to Dave and the other half to the Booze Girl - although I'd be willing to bet it was a little more than half on the Booze Girl . Dave takes his shot and the clean sound of the club hitting the golf ball prompted everyone to turn around to watch it. They followed the ball in the air until it hit the green about 10 feet from the pin/hole. They watched as the ball rolled closer and closer to the hole and then disappear - WOW! The team ended up with a score of -2 for the hole. This means it took them 2 shots to put the ball in the hole where par for the hole was 4. In golf, this is known as an Eagle. To paint a picture, Dave hit a 1.7" golf ball from a distance longer than a football field with the end zones and dropped it into a 4.25" hole in the ground. Absolutely amazing!

My $.02... His motivation may have been the drinks about to come his way, but I'm thinkin' that it was to impress Booze Girl.

Until our May event... hit 'em long and straight!

Sean K - the Self-Proclaimed Chief Golf Officer (http://twitter.com/skimshady)

Every month Zappos hosts a monthly golf event at various courses all around Vegas. We host these golf events in appreciation of our valued partners, employees and friends/family of Zappos. Each event is "sponsored" by one of our volunteering vendors. They supply the prizes, we do the rest! Over the last 2.5 years these have grown to an average of 32-40 players per month! We always play in scramble (team play) format so players of all skill levels can come out and have a great time. In fact, we personally encourage first timers to come out and join us - a few of them have even been on a winning team. I personally feel that golf is an amazing sport and that everyone should give it try. This is a great time for everyone as we get to hang out with each other (and have a few drinks), meet new people (and have a few drinks), bond on a more personal level (and have a few drinks), and tell stories afterwards (and have a few drinks ). Speaking of stories, here's one from March:

Our March 2008 event was sponsored Calvin Klein (thanks Lorraine!). It was a beautiful day out at the Badlands Golf Club in Summerlin. A perfect golf day - as I would call it. The event started with a catered lunch, compliments of CK, a few drinks, and some pre-game trash talking. We tee'd off at noon with 36 players in groups of 4. Ok, let's get to the good stuff...


(Pictured above are DC Shoes with special guest, Jay Bentley from Bad Religion, and 2 from our Rideshop team - Jim and Josh)

On about the 15th hole, our CK rep, Lorraine, got out of the cart (with her golf partner, Alana, still on the cart) to play her ball when all of a sudden a group of kids came tearing down the golf course on their bikes and hijacked the golf cart with Alana still on it. A struggle ensued between Alana and the kids. Alana had her foot slammed on the brake as the kids were hitting the gas. This resulted in golf cart donuts until Alana was tossed off the cart with the cooler (full of beer). While this was going on, Lorraine picked up one of the kids' bikes and threatened to toss the bike into the nearby water. The ordeal finally ended when the guys in the group behind them came up and pulled the kids off the cart. After regaining possession of the golf cart, Lorraine and Alana took off to safety.

To answer the questions in your head right now... yes, the beer was safe and the bike was wet.

More stories coming soon to a Zappos blog near you...

Sean K - the Self-Proclaimed Chief Golf Officer (http://twitter.com/skimshady)