Customer Service

I don’t go shopping very often, but this year I have noticed when I have gone shopping that there has been a big decline in customer service. It seems that companies and stores are not caring as much about customer service as they have in the past. I am not sure if employees were required to take customer service classes, but it seems that companies and stores are not stressing enough to their employees how important customer satisfaction really is. My recent experience was when I went to one of my favorite stores, J. Crew and was kindly greeted by a sales person as I walked in. I walked towards the jeans section and was greeted by another sales person who was organizing the jeans and saw me sorting through them trying to find my size and yet didn’t help me. I finally found the size I wanted and walked to another section of the store and found two more girls folding sweaters and talking to each other and neither of them offered to help me even though they saw me looking for my size! I finally went to the dressing room to try on the clothes that I had found and the girl in there helped me find the right sizes. I finally found what I wanted and went to the register to pay and mentioned to the cashier that I passed three sales people and no one asked if I needed help finding anything except for the girl in the dressing room. He deeply apologized and said that he would talk to the manager and bring it up at their weekly meeting. I noticed at every register the employees were asking each customer if someone had helped them and I asked the guy who was helping me if they kept track of everyone’s answers and discussed the numbers at the end of the month? He sadly said that they do not, but that it was something they should do. In my opinion every store should care the most about customer service. That is how each store survives. Each store should make it a point to keep track of each customers experience in the store and try to improve upon them. They should have a few standard questions that they ask at the register and input the answers in a special program that keeps track of the answers and tallies the information so the store managers can track the progress of the store. Who knows, better customer service could drive more people to actually shop in stores instead of online.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hi everyone. This year has been full of highs and lows. Thankfully there have been more highs then lows. Every year for Thanksgiving my Dad asks everyone to say at least one thing that they are thankful for. We usually have our entire family from my mom’s side over at our house which makes for a warm house and great family memories. Last year was the best! My family from the east coast joined the rest of us for Thanksgiving dinner. My entire family was there which was very meaningful, especially since earlier this year my uncle passed away, and it was only after that did I realized how special pictures are. That Thanksgiving I took only a few pictures of my uncle with his sisters, sons, and wife, and because of those pictures my family has been able to remember my uncle when he was healthy and happy. So, the only thing I can say to all of you for this Thanksgiving is, remember who you are with and be thankful that you are with them and take at least one picture. That picture will help you remember that event for years to come, even though some of the people in it have moved on. Every Thanksgiving when it is my turn to say what I am thankful for I say, “I am thankful for having great parents and a supportive family.” This year will be no different, except that this year I will add, “I am thankful for great parents, a supportive family, and a happy and healthy family.” I wish all of you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. HAVE FUN EATING ALL OF THE GOOD FOOD!!!

Pat Hurst

The other day I was looking at my many feeds in My Yahoo page, and on one of them said “Random Thought of the day: More Proof that Golf is Not a Real Sport” and there was a pictures of Pat Hurst. I wanted to slap the girl that wrote that. It was on a tennis fan site, so I assume that she was comparing tennis to golf and in that case Professional Tennis players are more conditioned in terms of being able to run longer and at a faster pace then golfers. But, I must say that every sport is different, but they all have a few things in common. All sports have competition, every athlete strives to be the best in their sport, and all athletes have their own way of getting stronger and more fit for each of their sports. Pat Hurst may not look like the typical athlete, but she has been part of the LPGA since 1995 and has won 5 times including a win last year. She is one of the most famous people in the sport and is a great ambassador for women’s golf.

Poor Britney

Happy Halloween everyone! So many things have happened since my last post. Let’s start with Britney Spears. After all that has happened to her I truly feel bad! I think she is in a huge rut and she needs one good thing to happened to her to help her get her life back on track. Hopefully the release of her new album will do well and give her the boost she needs. I am truly considering buying her album on iTunes just to give her a little boost. I will let you know what I think.

Another Reason Why I Love Golf

On Saturday after we came back from the city, I played golf with my family and I had the most pars (3) on the back nine than I have ever had. In addition, I got a birdie on the first hole! After the four good scores, I still managed to get 101! I pretty much laughed at that. But, that is the game of golf. You can start out with a birdie and get three over on the next hole. At least that is how my game goes and that is what I am trying to fix. Consistency is one of the hardest things to achieve in golf and is one of the reasons why I keep going back to the golf course and it pushes me to work hard at my game.

PRADA

Before golf on Saturday I went to San Francisco with my dad to run some errands. One of those errands was to get my Prada purse fixed. I went to the store and I told the guy that the strap on my purse broke and asked if they could fix it. He responded by asking for a proof of purchase! I could not believe it. I have had this bag for four years. I told him I bought the purse in Italy and I no longer had the receipt. He sad that he could not fix the bag without it and if the bag were bought at a store other than a Prada boutique, the company would not fix it! My dad and I looked at each other and laughed. My dad and I argued back and the guy just said, “Sir, just listen to me. This is company policy.” This guy was no help at all. My dad finally said to me, “Don’t ever buy anything from Prada again!” As we walked out the sales guy said, “Well that is your choice Sir!.” It was so ridiculous. The guy had no customer service skills and was never told to keep his cool even if a customer gets angry. I will never buy a product from Prada ever again. I never really liked their clothes because they are so unpractical for everyday use, not to mention their ridiculous prices.

USA! ALL THE WAY!

Last week was the Solheim Cup, which took place at Halmstad Golf Club in Halmstad, Sweden. The Solheim up was created in 1990 by Karsten and Louise Solheim with the goal of creating an international competition for women. The Solheim cup is only a biennial event, which features three days of competition between European-born players from the Ladies European Tour and the top U.S.-born players from the LPGA. To find out more about the event click here. This is an amazing tournament to watch and I watched and recorded every moment. The U.S. team won against the Europeans despite their disadvantage of playing on foreign soil and playing in front of a predominantly European crowd. The U.S. team has never won on European soil, so this win is extra special.

I HEART NEW YORK!!

My trip to New York was amazing. My Aunt and Uncle live in Manhattan and I have been visiting them ever since I was a little girl, and every time my family goes there to visit New York never fails me. For me Manhattan has a buzz of its own which I love. It could be that I have grown up in the quiet bay area and the chaos of New York intrigues me, but I enjoy every moment. We arrived Aug. 30 late in the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day with my aunt and uncle catching up and talking about random things. My cousin Julia, who now lives in California, flew in later that night. We were suppose to pick her up from the airport at around midnight, but it turned out that my aunt had read the arrival time incorrectly and my cousin arrived at the airport and we were not there to meet her so she took a taxi from the airport to Manhattan. The next day we took our time to get ready and around noon we got out of the apartment and walked around the city, which is always one of my favorite things to do. On Saturday, the rest of my cousins drove in from Maryland with Pebble! My cousin Mark's dog. She is very cute and provided a lot of entertainment for us throughout the weekend. Sunday was the night of the anniversary dinner,so during the day we just relaxed and went for a walk in Central Park. I we usually don't walk through Central Park to get to where we want to go, but when we do I love it. I like to sit on a bench and watch people and Central Park is a great place to do it. There were a bunch of snow cone carts which looked so yummy and it reminded me of when I was a little kid, as we as a guy walking around with a huge yellow snake. Similar to the one that Britney Spears had around her neck during her performance of "I'm a Slave" at the VMA's five or so years ago. To me that so was not cool! I am not a fan of snakes let alone giant yellow ones.

That night was they Anniversary dinner and we drove two separate cars because not all of us could fit in one car. So my cousins drove in one car while my aunt, uncle, my dad, my mom and I drove in another. My aunt just got a new Lexus with a navigation systems in it so she wanted to try it out. First the navigation system could not find the restaurant that we wanted to go to, and the one we though was the correct restaurant turned out to be the wrong one in the opposite direction. My aunt asked me to wright out directions on note cards, so luckily we had those to get us to the right place. After driving and getting a little lost we arrived at the restaurant 30 min. late. My uncle and I sat down at the table while my mom, dad, and aunt went to call my cousins to find out where they were since they should have arrived before us, but did not. It turned out that they got lost and were still stuck in Manhattan and it would take them 30 min to get to the restaurant. Finally, every one got to the restaurant we enjoyed our meal and forgot about all getting lost and the navigation system not working.

US OPEN 2007
On Monday, Labor Day, my dad got tickets to go see the US Open. It was so amazing. My dad and I love to watch sports together and when I was younger we use to watch tennis, but now we mostly watch golf. In my last year at college my best friend played tennis and she taught me how to play and I made a bunch of friends, which I miss very much, so now my dad and I follow tennis again. We were trying to find ticket before Monday, but we could never find ones that we liked. Pretty much all of the tickets were sold out so we had to resort to stubhub to get some. I watched the US Open on TV last year and I never thought that I would be going to Flushing Meadows to actually watch these world class athletes play. We had ticket for Arthur Ashe Stadium and the first match we saw Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Victoria Azarenka. Svetlana won 6-2 6-3, the next match was the one I really wanted to get tickets for. It was Andy Roddick vs Tomas Berdych. It was such a great game and it was so amazing to watch these to players have at it. You could tell they both really wanted to win and even though in the first match Tomas asked for the doctor to come out to the court he was still playing really well. Tomas retired in the second set so Andy won 7-6(6) 2-0 ret. I have seen Andy play twice now and both times the matches only lasted an hour. But, he is amazing to watch so it is worth it. Since his match ended early we went over to Armstrong Stadium to watch Shahar Peer(ISR) vs Agnieszka Radwanska (POL). I watched Agnieszka defeat Maria Sharapova on tv and I definitely had to see her against Shahar Peer. We got to the stadium towards the end of the match, but it was still great to see nonetheless. The crowd once again really got into it. There was a section full of Polish flags and there was a section full of Israeli flags and they chanted and cheered throughout the match. Shahar won the match 6-4 6-1 so it was pretty one sided, but it was amazing to see a 18 year old who I think it fairly new to the tour play against some of the big names in women's tennis. After that match we went back to Arthur Ashe stadium to watch the Tommy Haas vs. James Blake match. I have never fully watched James or Tommy play, but this match was one of the highlights of the US Open. The match was over two hours and the crowd really got into it. The match went to four sets and unfortunately Tommay Haas won 4-6 6-4 3-6 6-0 7-7 (4). To watch two men's tennis matches at the US Open was amazing. You could definitely see the difference in pace of the game and speed of the ball between both matches. This was a moment that will last a life time in my memory and I am so glad that I got to go with my dad. I will never forget it.

We just relaxed and lounged around the apartment and walked through the streets or New York for the next few days until we went home. It was a great relaxing trip and so far it hasn't affected my golf game too much. But, even if it did it was well worth it.

This is why I love golf!

After what I thought to be a disastrous tournament overall for my game; I did get to see some improvement in my short game which I think is the most important part of anyone’s game. You may mess up in the fairway, but your short game can definitely save you.

Monday was my day off only because our course and facilities were closed for maintenance. I am always anxious to get back on the course to figure out how to improve my swing ands improve my overall confidence. Lately I have not been feeling comfortable when I am addressing the ball, the feel at contact, and just my swing in general. For some odd reason, one day my swing can feel great and if I take a few days off or am on vacation, I loose everything that I have worked hard on and in a way feel like I am at square one. With that said, I am taking a week off and going to New York to visit my family for this labor day weekend. I played on Tuesday and I finally got my swing back, I was getting great contact with the ball, and just feeling comfortable again. I hope that my vacation will not hinder my game again, since I might be playing in a tournament a day after I get back. At times, the vicissitudes of my game are frustrating. I dedicate my free time to practicing and to becoming the best I can be, so mentally it takes a toll on me. Golf is mentally challenging, which many people who do not play golf do not understand. If you always second-guess yourself, you will never get the results you want which makes you more frustrated and make the game harder to play. However, this is why I love the game as much as I do. Everyday you can say to yourself, “today feels like a good day and I am going to have my best round.” Once you get on the course that might not always be the case. The key to a great round is staying positive, which I am struggling with, but patience is a hard thing to learn.

Lorena Ochoa

Lorena Ochoa is the best female golf player right now in my opinion. She won her first Major (Women's British Open) under though weather conditions, the week after she won the Canadian Women's Open, and just this past week she won the Safeway Classic. She is an amazing women who is one of the players I look up to and I think should get more recognition then she is getting. She is on this months cover for Golf for Women Magazine and it is amazing to read about her life story.

After her three wins she is going to take a month off to rest and visit her family in Mexico. I definitely think professional players need to take time off, but at the same time I think it might hurt the LPGA in terms of number of viewers for upcoming tournaments. On the other hand, her vacation gives some other players a chance to get a win or two under their belt. I hope Paula Creamer ( my favorite American player) makes the most out of this opportunity and gets another win under her belt. She has played well this year and has one win and a few top ten finishes already on tour. I saw her play at the Long Drugs Challenge, which takes place at Blackhawk Country Club near Danville, Ca last year. To see these women up close is amazing. It really puts it in perspective just how good these players are and that their games are based on precision and consistency more than anything else. I plan to attend the tournament again this year and hopefully Lorena will be playing in that tournament because I would love to watch the world’s number one player up close.

Playing golf with four men

This week the club I play at has been closed because of a major tournament for MEN. They call it the Tall Trees Invitational and each participant in the tournament has a partner, which must be from a different club and for three days they compete against other teams and are treated like kings! The entire course, practice facilities, and the restaurant are closed because of these MEN, which means that for those three days I do not get to practice. One member even told me that he does not like to play in the tournament because all of the men who participate "think they are playing in the British Open."

On Saturday they club was so kind as to let the other member come and play after the tournament, but we would have to walk. I usually walk with a push-cart, but I did not bring my push-cart that day because I thought we could use a cart and attempt to play 18 holes. So they gave me a small bag to put my clubs in, which was broken and kept falling over every time I set my bag down, and my dad and I set off to play with a friend of ours. I started off well and we were having fun until we got to the fourth hole, which was a disaster for me, but I am getting better at letting those holes go and I can recover from them pretty well. On the fifth hole two other friends decided to join us, so I was playing in a group of four men and three of them already think they are hotshots and two of them love to tell me what they think I am doing wrong. Of course, listening to tips from anyone else but my coach really ticks me off, and after that my game went down the drain. I tried everything I could to get my swing back and to not let them phase me, but nothing worked. Even not trying to think about my swing and just ignoring them didn't help. When I take 10 steps back when I have taken three steps forwards in my game really gets me since I practice so much and isn't what I wanted see from my game the day before a tournament. I could even hear two of the men as I was on the tee box discussing my stance and my swing as I was addressing the ball! How annoying is that!

The Beginning

It was the summer of 2005 and every day after work I came home to an empty house. My parents were at the golf course and I was alone, left to sit with the dog and watch TV. Finally, I got fed up and begged my dad to teach me how to play golf.He was hesitant at first, but the next day both of my parents took me to the driving range at the club, and showed me the basics. I was so excited to hit my first ball and of course, I missed the ball and we all began to laugh. But, after 30 minutes I began to get the ball in the air and that was the exact moment I fell in love with golf and joined the exclusive club for golf nerds. Ever since then I have been obsessed with practicing, buying fantastic golf clothes, and watching the look on the faces of men when they watch me drive the ball.
I love watching the LPGA and reading Golf for Women Magazine, as well as playing in as many tournaments as I can. Even though I have only been playing for two years and a few months, I have fallen in love with the game and playing in tournaments. I played at UC Santa Cruz for a year, but I was mostly a back-up player since the others girls had more years of experience under their belts then I did. Nonetheless, I learned a lot about myself and from the girls I played with about golf. Now that I graduated I have been participating in a few tournaments in my area in order to learn how to play golf in a tournament setting and to meet new people. I started this blog to bring more attention to women’s golf and the LPGA. I will talk about my tournaments and my favorite players in the LPGA and some random golf things that I find. I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I love writing it!