Golf Shoes Today

The game of golf today is revolutionizing before our eyes. It was not too long ago when drivers were made from solid wood with cyclic, fiber glass, graphite or aluminum inserts. If any of you remember what those look like, you had a sweet spot of about a centimeter; I still can’t rap my head around how these old timers could actually make solid contact from the tee box.

Luckily for most of us, this is no longer the case. Besides having 455cc heads with graphite shafts with club face’s the size of small hand, we are even spoiled with having the luxuries of adjustable technology in many of our drivers. Us golfers in the modern age are given the opportunity today to adjust our hozels to best suit our needs, we can also alter our club faces’ loft and lie with a simple twist of a key. What scientist and engineers are doing in the laboratories of the major manufacturers is simply amazing and it gives us golf players more advantages than ever when trying to stripe the fairways on a long, straight par 5; making the game of golf more enjoyable than it has ever been before.

The advances in golf have not only been contained to long clubs neither. Odyssey has developed a brand new technology giving golfers multiple choices in their short game. In April Odyssey debuted the new Flip Face putter on the market, which gives golfers the option of putting with either the new Metal-X insert face or the alternative of swapping to the ever so popular White Ice face insert. Having this choice, golfers can go out before the day starts and decide whether they need the white ice face for faster greens or the aluminum Metal-X inserts for slower.

Golf clubs seems to be the majority focus on the latest golf technologies, but are not limited too. Golf shoes also have had a major over-hauling through the years. Golf shoes today are just as essential to golfers looking to get the best performance from every swing as the latest and greatest drivers, irons or putters. Many companies like Nike or Adidas are constantly creating new designs and incorporating new breakthrough technologies helping golfer’s performances along the way. Many of the technologies shoe companies are incorporating into the design of the shoe; from waterproof fabrics to power flex soles, all are commonly used throughout the industry.

However, sometimes many brands hi-tech developments will be exclusive solely to that company, even exclusive to just one type of product they are offering that year, making their products much more of a commodity than their competitors. For example, Nike released a pair of the Nike Zoom TW ’12 Men’s Golf Shoes, a pair of golf shoes Tiger Woods himself has been requesting for years now like a bad song you hate to love from the 80’s. After years of persistence, Nike in collaboration with Tiger designed a brand new golf shoe with the comfort of a pair of running shoes, but the bold looks of a solid golf shoe we are all used to from Nike Golf.

Nike is not the only brand giving their latest line of shoes a boost of performance with revolutionary ideas. Adidas, another long standing sovereignty, has recently introduced to the world THiNTech spikes. The whole idea behind THiNTech spikes was brining golfers lower to the ground, making them more stable in the back swing to the follow through, making for better ball striking capabilities. As golfers we know solid form, and perfect technique go astronomically further than raw power, and Adidas surely understands that too. Besides having the low-profile allotting for better balance Adidas has also built the THiNTech cleats with anti-clogging capabilities, offering more stability and support that we need each shot we take.

This would not be an article worth reading if we did not include the world’s leader in golf shoes, FootJoy. FootJoy has recently released a brand new shoe which they claim, is the most technologically advanced golf shoe to date. The New XPS-1 which stands for Xtreme Platform Stability accurately depicts what the shoe is offers people in those three words. FootJoy has built the new XPS-1 with Xtreme Out Sole, a technology that widens the sole with outriggers, automatically widening the natural stance of golfers creating more stability. The XOS technology also gives aide to the golfers who are finding themselves rolling their ankles on the follow through of the swing. FootJoy also gave the foot bed of the shoe Heel Lock, a raised silicone print where the heel of the foot would be, which prevents golfers from slipping in the shoe giving even more stability and control. All of these technologies with in the shoe collaborate together, elevating every golfer who uses these shoes level of play.

These forward movements in golf shoe developments are not limited to only major manufacturers that are being played on the PGA Tour. There is a plethora of small companies innovating brand new looks and practical technologies throughout the country. For an example, A-Game Golf has built a shoe with what they call Brisole Technology. What this actually is, is they have incorporated tiny bristles to the outer sole of their golf shoes, and enabling golfers to swipe clean the face of their irons or wedges freeing the club from dirt and debris with a simple flick of the foot. Fastening this feature to their golf shoes makes it much easier for golfers to stay focused on the pin, eliminating the need of going back and forth to their respected golf bags for a towel just to dust off the club before they swing.

There are many more technologies I did not get the opportunity to discuss that are available on the market. My suggestion to everybody is find out your weaknesses in your golf swing and find out where a good pair of golf shoes will be able to assist in your all-around play. The majority of players think a brand new pair of golf clubs, or the latest techniques will lower our handicaps, when maybe all you need to do is invest in a little more in the shoe department.

This article was written by Richard Hart from Vegas Golf Inc.

Golfshake Growth Goes From Strength to Strength

Golfshake.com, Europe's largest online golf score tracking service and community website for all golfers, continues it's growth throughout 2012 recording a record breaking month during May despite the continued unsettled and unseasonal golfing weather across the UK. 

Following exceptional traffic growth in 2011, 2012 continues to see site traffic up per month by 60% year on year with May 2012 recording the largest month ever for visitors and unique visitors.

Visitors to the site are not only using the score tracker but analysis shows that more and more golfers are using the site on a more regular basis to access the golf forums, golf news and features plus the in-depth golf course directory which includes over 35,000 independent golf course reviews.  As well as 35,000 course reviews over 50,000 course ratings have been added to the golf course system and recent reports show that consumers searching for golf course reviews is up by 400% over the last 18 months.

Managing Director Darren Ramowski said, 'We realise that golfers just like consumers in other retail industries are keen to gather as much information before playing a new course or booking a new course.  At Golfshake we are committed to providing the number one resource for golf course information and continue to adapt our system to provide the best information possible along with our own reviews and destination features.'

To ensure Golfshake leads the way with it's core and industry leading free online score tracking application several new developments have been added to the service over last 6 months.  Along with tracking scores online the system provides an in-depth 'My Game' section providing golfers with their strengths and weaknesses allowing them to set goals based on their own stats or benchmarks from analysis of over 1 million rounds of golf.

A players strengths and weaknesses is analysed across recent rounds as well as individual rounds within an 'How did I do' section providing a snapshot across 14 stats to show how their game stacks up.  One member commented,  'I have found the recent updates a great addition and I believe that it has assisted me greatly in reducing my handicap by 11 shots in 12 months.'

Further incentives to play more golf and play better golf, alongside the trend analysis, is the Golfshake awards which are automatically assigned when golfers add rounds which are then automatically allocated if someone records their first birdie, breaks 80, records a birdie streak of 3 in a row or from any of the other awards available.

Golfshake.com started back in 2007 but the core Golfscoretracker score tracking service has been in operation since 2001.   Statistics now show over 150k visits per month, 1million+  page impressions per month,1 million+ rounds recorded and tracked online to date and during May over 100,000 email stat reports and over 40,000 round reports were emailed out to golfers using the score tracking system.

For more information visit www.golfshake.com

Golf Shoes: Nike vs. Adidas

Many golfers have a personal preference to what brand they like to shop, from golf shoes to drivers to irons. People, growing up may have received a set of Callaway Big Bertha’s when they were younger, and feel a product loyalty to Callaway and only golf Callaway equipment. Others may have remembered when Tiger Woods was signed by Nike Golf in the mid 90’s, then proceeded to become a power house in the golf world, dominating every tournament on the PGA. In turn their thinking went directly to, if I golf with Nike, I will become the best golfer on my local links.

It is these type of prejudices that holds back golfers from using the best product available on the golf market. I am going to write, in this installment, about the major men’s golf shoe manufacturers. I will compare Nike Golf to Adidas Golf, giving you the pros of each individual company. Also note, that these are not the only companies that offer golf shoes, there is a slew of golf shoe manufacturers that may offer better products, better prices and overall better customer service, but you are going to have to do your own research on companies that I will not be listing.

Let us first look at Nike Golf. Nike Golf Shoes are priced on a wide range from $90.00-$230.00 and everywhere in between. Nike makes their shoes from a number of different materials, all depending on the shoe you purchase. The Nike Air Tour Saddle II which retails for a cool 90 bucks, is crafted from %100 leather uppers, while the Nike Lunar Ascend, the more modernly designed shoe, is constructed from Hyper Fuse technology; Nike claims this technology optimizes durability.

Nike Golf also claims some of their products being waterproof, backing them by a waterproof warranty, some being a one year warranty, others two. Nike Zoom TW 2012, Nike Air Range WP, and the Nike Zoom Trophy are a few on the list that are back by the warranty. Now mind you these are limited warranty’s, meaning you can’t jump into the water hazard on your local par 5 to fetch your ball, the go back to Nike and say your shoe is falling apart due to water damage. However, on rainy days you can guarantee your foot will be dry and protected no matter how much the sky’s pour.

If you are looking for the higher end type of golf shoe, the shoes that employ every technology in them, except for microwave technology, and are willing to spend in excess of $200.00, Nike can sure suit your tastes. Including the New Nike Zoom TW 2012, manufactured for Tiger Woods, Designed by Tiger Woods with Nike Free Technology, the cream of the crop in Nike Golf Technologies. The Free technology actually conforms to the human foot, giving golfers feet the flexibility of being barefoot, while still giving traction and protection.

The final overview on Nike is great quality products backed by Nike’s confidence in all the goods they offer throughout their different lines. The negatives, the shoes are very expensive and probably over-priced, they also have a very limited selection when it comes to integrated traction soles; the hottest and up and coming technology on the market for golf shoes.

We have looked at the super-power Nike; now let us look at another sports sovereignty, Adidas. Adidas has been in cahoots with TaylorMade golf since 1997, wrecking the other competition in golf sports merchandise including golf clubs, golf equipment and most importantly, golf shoes.

Let me clarify that TaylorMade handles the Golf Clubs and Adidas handles the apparel along with Ashworth, but today are only concern is with Adidas.

Adidas along with Nike has a very wide price range on golf shoes; although no discount golf shoes, the starting rate for Adidas is at $87.00 with the Adidas adiCROSS Golf shoes, one of three golf shoes on the 2012 Adidas line with an integrated spike sole. The other two are the Adidas Pure Motion and the Adidas Cross Flex, prices ranging from $99.00-119.00. The cheapest conventional shoe on the product line (conventional meaning spiked sole) would be the Adidas Power Band 4.0 costing $144.00.

All of the shoes from Adidas Golf are crafted from full-grain leather, giving the necessary durability all golfers need and want. Adidas also backs some of their shoes available with a waterproof warranty, the downside, when compared to Nike, is it only comes with two different styles you can choose from. One is the Power Bands the other is the adiPURE which retails at $249.00, which makes me wonder, how quality are the products coming off the Adidas assembly line?

To sum up Adidas in a few short words, they have very stylish shoe make ups they offer. Adidas also offers a decent selection of integrated spike shoes, with three different models, varying in over 12 different colors. The downside is, the general selection is very limited, marketing only 7 different style variations, not exactly a wide variety of choices. The prices are generally the same as Nike, no positive there; it really is starting to look a bit shaky for Adidas.

I am going to let you be the final judge of what company is better. Maybe you have special unique experience with one of these two companies, maybe you will have an opinion that may need to be heard. But these are not my personal opinions I have shared with you, these are just the cold hard facts. No bias on end, I actually prefer using Ecco Golf Shoes, I believe though, other than FootJoy, these are the one and two companies on the top of the market. I truly hope I have shed some light on the subject for you as a consumer, nothing less and nothing more.

This article was written by Richard Hart from Vegas Golf Inc.