Just a weekend separates one man from donning a green jacket, giving his closet a boost for life. While you may not be able to add the coveted green jacket to your wardrobe, you may be able to upgrade your shoe game with some of the best shoes released this week in honor of the year’s first major.
We’ve brought together some of the best shoe drops from brands like Adidas, Nike, FootJoy and more as they all celebrate the start of the major season.
Whether you like spikes or molded spikes, sneaker silhouettes or more classical looks, we’ve got you covered.
Bob Vokey, the namesake of Titleist’s wedge franchise, often says that recreational golfers should play with wedges that have more bounce. He has also said weekend players would often be wise to avoid extremely-high lofted wedges. Clubs with 56 degrees of loft, Vokey believes, can get the ball up quickly and they present a larger hitting area for mid- and higher-handicap golfers who can struggle to make consistent, solid contact.
Lob wedges like a 58 or 60-degree club can be added later, Vokey feels, as a golfer improves his or her technique, so it’s safe to say that “Voke” would caution anyone who is not a tournament-level golfer from buying Titleist’s newest limited-edition wedge, the WedgeWorks 64W. However, in the hands of skilled golfers, this club can be a get-out-of-jail-free card.
The limited-edition 64W has 64 degrees of loft and just 4 degrees of bounce. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
As the name implies, this club has 64 degrees of loft, making it the highest-lofted wedge in the Titleist Vokey Design stable. It also has just 4 degrees of bounce. That combination, in the hands of a skilled player, makes the 64W a club that is ideally suited for firm turf, tight lies and situations when a player is short-sided and has to get the ball up fast.
In soft conditions, fluffy sand or used by a player with a steep angle of attack, the 64W can easily dig into the turf, however, as Vokey points out, “Players that are so good at shallowing out their technique can simply allow this mid-width sole with loft to do all the work when under the pressure of elevated pin locations.”
With 64 degrees of loft, players see the 64W’s entire hitting area in the address position. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
While there are seven sole grinds now available in the Titleist Vokey Design SM9 lineup, the W Grind is not one of them. It has a small amount of camber (curvature) and a pre-worn leading edge with material removed in the heel and toe areas, making it similar to the M Grind, but it has less trailing edge relief.
The limited edition 64W wedge comes with a Jet Black finish that is durable but will wear with time. It comes standard with a True Temper Dynamic Gold Black Onyx S200 shaft and a Golf Pride 360 Blackout grip for $275.
The Season Opener collection includes balls that have a special azalea pattern, plus headcovers and bags.
The azaleas and dogwoods are in bloom in Georgia, there is a warm breeze blowing and Jim Nantz’s voice is primed. It’s Masters time once again.
To celebrate the arrival of the season’s first major championship, TaylorMade is making commemorative golf balls and accessories available to its staff players like Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Tommy Fleetwood, as well as golfers at home who are in the Masters spirit.
The Season Opener collection includes TP5 and TP5x Pix golf balls that have been given a special azalea pattern instead of the normal triangles, along with headcovers for your driver, fairway woods, hybrids and putter. There are also commemorative staff bags too.
All of the Season Opener products, which you can preview below, are available while supplies last, on taylormadegolf.com.
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Only 88 are being created, and they will cost $990 each.
After a player wins a PGA Tour event, golf equipment companies routinely see a surge in interest in the gear that the golfer used. The effect is magnified after major championships because the whole world is watching, so in 1988, when all four men’s major championships were won by players using a Ping putter, the Phoenix, Arizona-based company had plenty of reason to thump its chest … and ramp up production of its putters.
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of that accomplishment, which has not been equaled, Ping is set to release the first of four extremely-limited PLD putters in the Ping Slam collection.
You might recall that last year, Ping released the PLD Limited Anser Patent 55 putters to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Anser. Each of the four variations sold out in less than three minutes, according to the company, proving there is a huge demand for its limited-edition offerings.
Scottish golfer Sandy Lyle (right) celebrates his victory on the 18th hole during the final round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia, USA, 10th April 1988. (Photo by Getty Images)
This year, replicas of the 1988 major-winning Pal, Pal 2, Zing 2 and Anser will be made available starting on the Tuesday of this year’s men’s major championship weeks, but only 88 are being created, and they will cost $990 each at pingpld.com. However, on December 5th, 35 complete sets of Ping Slam putters, including a custom-designed display unit, will go on sale for $4990.
“We’re excited to offer these legendary putters to golfers,” said John A. Solheim, Ping’s executive chairman and the son of the company’s founder, Karsten Solheim. “It’s a great way to pay tribute to Karsten’s success and all he brought to putter designs while celebrating with our loyal Ping fans. Whether golfers want to purchase one of the 88 individual putters during the week of the major or wait until the end of the year to collect all four at once, we expect the putters to go fast, so we encourage those interested to plan accordingly.”
Each Ping Slam series putter is fully machined and custom-built in the Ping WRX department at the company’s headquarters, where the putters used by pros like Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Tony Finau are produced. Each Ping Slam putter also is serialized for authenticity.
Ping Slam Pal. (Ping)
On Tuesday, the Ping Slam Pal will become available to commemorate Sandy Lyle winning the 1988 Masters using an original Pal. While Lyle’s putter was cast from manganese bronze, the Ping Slam model is milled from an aluminum/bronze alloy, but it has the precise shape and the perimeter-weighted head featuring a shorter blade length and an Anser hosel.
As this season’s major approach, Golfweek will feature the rest of the Ping Slam lineup.
FootJoy x Buscemi limited-edition shoes for the Players Championship blend iconic Premiere style with luxury touches.
Footwear companies have created cross-promotions for years, importing popular styles and elements from running, basketball and other categories into golf. One of the most popular last season was a blending of FootJoy’s iconic Premiere with Jon Buscemi’s West Coast styling for the 2022 Players Championship.
It’s Players Championship week again, and for the second-straight season, FootJoy and Buscemi have made a limited-edition offering to commemorate the crown jewel of the PGA Tour. We can expect to see players such as Justin Thomas, Max Homa and Will Zalatoris wearing it at TPC Sawgrass.
The FJ by Jon Buscemi Premiere Field and Wilcox shoes each have luxury touches, but don’t let the styling fool you into thinking they are not functional. Both shoes are 100-percent waterproof, have nine replaceable cleats and scores of traction elements to keep players firmly on the ground during the swing, and offer plenty of lateral support.
But let’s be honest:You buy shoes like these because they also have style enhancements such as gold accents that pay homage to the trophy given to the winner of the Players Championship and just look cool.
Blue blades? Yes, but only if you’re good enough to hit these new Mizuno irons.
Last December, Mizuno released the Mizuno Pro 221 muscleback blade irons. Golfers who want forgiveness and are looking for more distance from the fairway can look someplace else, because the Mizuno Pro 221 is for accomplished golfers with powerful, repeatable swings.
Now, on the eve of the 150th British Open at St. Andrews, Mizuno has released a special limited-edition version of the Mizuno Pro 221. Your eyes are not deceiving you: They’re blue.
Only 1,221 sets will be produced, and they will be sold for $2,210 (3-iron through pitching wedge) with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts.
The blue plating is extremely soft, so if anyone buys a set of these irons and decides to play them, it will wear with use.
The limited-edition Mizuno Pro 221 Blue has a layer of copper over the forged steel and under the blue plating that softens feel. (Mizuno)
As with the standard Mizuno Pro 221, the clubs are forged from 1025E mild carbon steel with a layer of copper applied over the steel that softens the feel of impact. They have a narrow sole, thin topline and virtually no offset, so control-oriented players should be able to shape shots up, down, right or left.
The clubs will be available for purchase in the fall.
Going to Waffle House when you visit Augusta National may not be as traditional as the tournament champion slipping into a green jacket in Butler Cabin, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love it.
So does Bubba Watson, who went to Waffle House after winning the 2014 Masters. Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion, made a bid to buy a company that owned 105 Waffle House restaurants in 2009. The deal fell through, but Lefty has made more than a few visits to Waffle House.
To celebrate the 2022 Masters, Adidas has teamed with Waffle House to create a limited-edition version of the new Tour 360 22 shoes.
The shoe is creamy-white on the outside with a waffle pattern along the top. The Waffle House logo is on the back and on the insoles, and the bottom of the shoes are adorned with a color scheme that looks like melted butter and syrup.
Adidas Tour 360 22 Waffle House shoes (Adidas)
The Tour 360 22 was released in late January and has been worn by Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Danielle Kang and several other staff players. It has a unique, molded traction system on the bottom that is designed to increase stability without adding extra weight.
A full-length Boost cushioning layer in the midsole cushions your foot wither every step while a horseshoe shafted EVA stability piece helps to keep your foot from shifting on the downswing.
Available starting Thursday, April 7, on adidas.com and in select retail locations, the men’s version will sell for $210 while the women’s shoe will sell for $200.
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Ping is releasing an ultra-limited run of Karsten Solheim’s masterpiece.
Fifty-five years ago, the most influential putter in the history of golf was sketched out on a record sleeve by Karsten Solheim. You know that heel-toe weighted blade putter you ogle and ‘Like’ on Instagram, it can be traced back to the putter that was patented on March 21, 1967, by the U.S. Patent Office and assigned the number D207-227. The world knows it as the Ping Anser.
To celebrate the 55th anniversary of the patenting of the Anser, Ping is releasing a limited edition version of the putter, the Anser Patent 55 and they will be available starting Monday, March 21.
The putter got its name after Solheim had a conversation about the club with his wife, Louise. She suggested calling it the Answer, but Karsten wasn’t crazy about that name and pointed out that the six-letter word was too long to stamp into the back. The next morning, she suggested dropping the W and simply calling the putter, the Anser. He liked it and the rest is history.
The original Ping Anser was designed in 1966 by Karsten Solheim. (Ping Golf)
In 2003, Golfweek’s associate editor, Jim Achenback, wrote, “The Ping Anser has been the most copied club in golf. No other club is close. The clones are so pervasive that golf jagon now includes the phrase, ‘Anser-style putter,’ meaning, ‘Yea, we copped the Anser.'”
The Anser has been a staple of nearly all Ping putter families for decades, including the Sigma 2, 2021, and the recently-released PLD Milled lineup.
The Ping PLD Anser Patent 55 in machined aluminum bronze. (Ping)
Only 55 Anser Patent 55 putters are going to be made, with each being machined from aluminum bronze and costing $790. The putters will come with a Ping PP58 grip, and as cool as it would be to drop this in your bag, most people would consider it to be a showpiece.
The Anser Patent 55 is the first release in the new Ping PLD Limited line, a family of extremely-limited release putters that Ping has planned for 2022. A stainless steel version of the Patent 55 is scheduled to drop in mid-June, then a carbon steel version is slated to be released in September. Finally, in December, a stainless steel Anser Patent 55 with a special finish will be made available.
The Ping Anser Patent 55 will go on sale at 2 p.m. Eastern on March 21 at pingpld.com, and there is a limit of one purchase per customer.
While only 1,250 putters have been made, Cameron hopes that people who buy a My Girl will use it.
GEAR: Scotty Cameron My Girl putter (2021) PRICE: $850 SPECS: Milled 303 Stainless Steel with aluminum sole plate and adjustable sole weights. AVAILABLE: Nov. 12
Scotty Cameron putters are used by stars like 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, 2021 FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, and the world’s No. 2-ranked female player, Nelly Korda. While they are expensive, Scotty Cameron putters are also very popular with amateur golfers, too. There is even a market for collectible Cameron putters, with most limited-run putters fetching thousands of dollars each.
Since 2002, Cameron has annually designed a limited-edition putter around the theme My Girl, with the actual head and style changing each time. The idea started as a way for Cameron, who is married and has two daughters, to make something for the women in his life and women golfers. Now the 2021 My Girl is here.
“My wife likes girly things, and I like to design girly things for my girls,” Cameron said.
Instead of red “Cherry Bombs,” the My Girl has blue dots ringed in chrome. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The theme for this year’s putter was inspired by the classic blue boxes and bows from Tiffany’s. The headcover features a bow design that wraps around the outside, with another bow inside. There are robin’s egg blue bows on the sole, the face’s heel area and the topline. Instead of his trademark red “cherry bombs” on the back of the head, Cameron designed the My Girl with three blue dots, then made the rings around them chrome to make them pop like a picture frame.
The 2021 My Girl is a Phantom X 7, a mid-size mallet with wing-like extensions in the heel and toe areas. The body is milled from 303 stainless steel, but a large part of the sole has been removed and covered by a plate made from 6061 aluminum. The aluminum is lighter than the steel, so this design shifts more weight to the heel and toe areas to help the putter resist twisting on off-center hits. Like other Cameron putters, there are adjustable weights in the heel and toe areas in the sole. A fitter can use different weights to adjust the putter’s swing weight based on its length and a player’s preferences.
A blue bow acts as an alignment aid on the My Girl. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
And that’s the thing, while only 1,250 have been made, Cameron hopes that people who buy a My Girl will use it.
“All the My Girl putters have been colorful, and there have been different styles, but a guy could play with it,” Cameron said. “I don’t want it to be a wall hanger.”
To celebrate major wins over the years, Scotty Cameron and Titleist have released a limited run of putters with a Teryllium insert.
Gear: Scotty Cameron Champions Choice putters Price: $600 each Specs: Milled 303 stainless steel with Teryllium insert and adjustable sole weights Available: August 6
Professional golfers have used Scotty Cameron putters to win scores of tournaments over the years, including numerous majors. Tiger Woods used a Scotty Cameron to win all 15 of his majors, Brooks Koepka used his to win four, Jordan Spieth his three. You get the idea. The clubs have also developed a passionate fan base and collector community, with rare and limited-edition Scotty Cameron putters often sold for thousands of dollars.
Cameron and Titleist have announced the release of the new Scotty Cameron Champion’s Choice putters, a limited run of three putters, to celebrate major wins over the years.
