BEHIND THE TECH
21%
They’re a forgotten piece of gear, yet they have the same design focus as your clubs n a busy day, your average green can expect over 15,000 footsteps. With that in mind, it’s little wonder that green friendliness is a big focus for golf shoe designers. But golfers, understandably, want to wear shoes that offer the maximum comfort and performance. To tackle this problem – and offer the holy grail of performance combined with green friendliness – Softspikes has developed the Stealth cleat, which is the standard spike on two of this year’s flagship shoes, FootJoy’s D.N.A. and adidas’
n What makes the Stealth cleat more green friendly? It’s a lower profile cleat, so the distance between the base and the leg of the cleat is smaller. The legs are soft and flexible, which traps grass for traction, but makes it more green friendly. This was something that both adidas and FootJoy were looking for in a cleat for their 2014 models. Another key aspect is the PINS insert system. We were able to take
ats cle
O
adizero one. But there’s still a battle brewing between golf shoes with spikes, and those without. New research shows that golfers still prefer cleated shoes to spikeless models – in the UK last year, 80% of golf shoes sold had spikes. Yet every brand now offers a spikeless model, and more and more tour players are wearing these shoes. So what should you wear? How often should you swop your spikes? Are spikeless shoes grippier? And what does the future hold for them? We spoke to Softspikes’ VP of Marketing, John Hohman, to find out... material out of the receptacle (the hole that holds the cleat) and make it narrower and shallower. This brings the golfer closer to the ground but also allows the shoe companies to make the outsole thinner and lighter, so they can add more padding for comfort. n How much research goes into cleats? A lot! We used feedback from athletes in multiple sports. They spoke about how much
more comfortable it is when their weight is absorbed by the legs of the cleat flexing. On a rigid cleat, the shock goes right into the foot. So with the flex you get in the Stealth, it interacts better with the grass and creates great traction and comfort. n Do you test green friendliness? Very carefully. Green friendliness is a hot topic right now. People step on the green, remove their foot and see it’s leaving marks. But the true test comes after 8-10 minutes, as that’s when the next
467,000
shoes sold last year in the UK
79% had
The science of spikes
ss atle cle
Softspikes Stealth cleat, £8.99 (pack of 20). www.softspikeseurope.com
fourball comes through. We take pictures of indentations from our cleats at regular intervals up to 10 minutes, to see how the ground recovers. n Can you get the same grip from a spikeless shoe? It might be similar out of the box, but six or 12 months down the line, the cleatless outsole can’t be replaced. We find cleats work better than spikeless in any lie outside of the fairway. And let’s face it, that’s where a lot of us hit shots. 94-96 per cent of the top golfers in the world wear cleats – that says it all.
The Stealth cleat’s PINS insert system is the new, state-of-the-art method of attaching cleats to the outsole via a special two-pin wrench.
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A brief history of spikes
Todaysgo lfer .co.uk issue 321