How much traction do you need?
Inside the USGA Museum in Far Hills, New Jersey, there is a pair of golf shoes worn by Ben Hogan on display. You don’t need to press your nose to the glass to realize the Hawk’s shoes were unique. Hogan’s shoes had 14 metal spikes in each sole, four in each heel and 10 in the forefoot.
While it is safe to assume Hogan never would have been a spikeless shoe advocate, scores of tour pros use spikeless shoes every week, and the most-worn shoe on the PGA Tour is the spikeless FootJoy Pro S/L. It begs the question: Do modern spikeless shoes give you spiked-shoe traction?
“The only real difference today between our spiked shoes and spikeless shoes is you can take the spikes out in some shoes,” Fryer said. “There are hundreds of contact points in both of them with the ground. Fundamentally, just because you can pull some of them in and out, it doesn’t make a huge difference.”
Each player’s style and the demands he or she is going to put on their shoes is also a factor in determining whether a golfer may want a spiked shoe or a spikeless offering. For example, if you only play golf four or five times a year, tend to play shorter courses and avoid golfing in the rain, Denison says you are probably a candidate for the comfort and versatility that modern spikeless shoes offer.
“But handicap and regionality also play into it,” he said. “If you are a single-digit-handicap golfer and you live in Seattle, and you are going to buy one new shoe for the next year or two, you probably want a spiked shoe,” he said.
Dension also notes that the durability of the traction is something most golfers overlook. He said the CodeChaos offers more traction than any spikeless shoe Adidas has ever offered, but after six months of play, the traction elements will naturally wear down.
“It will still have good grip, but remember that with a spiked shoe, when those cleats wear down, you can get the exact level of traction back by putting new cleats in,” he said.