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January 10, 2025 13 mins

In this episode, we dive into the science of golf footwear and how it impacts your game. Learn how to choose the best shoes for your swing, which features—spikes, arch support, flexibility—are essential for your unique needs, why mobility matters, and how to prevent injuries like knee and back pain. Whether you’re compensating for limited rotation or have perfect mobility, find out how the right golf shoes can elevate your performance and comfort on the course. Don’t forget to test your swing in different shoes to see what works best! Take the home mobility assessment: https://www.par4success.com/podcast

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to the Golf in As Bomb Squad. I'm your host,
Chris Finn, and today I want to talk about footwear.
I want to talk about how do you know what
type of footwear is the best for you? Does it matter?
Are there like definite styles that are no nos versus
you know, definites and work for everybody you know. Basically,
we're going to dive into in a way, how to

(00:30):
do a custom shoe fitting for yourself when it comes
to your golf shoes. So a couple of things that
you need to know going into a shoe purchasing scenario
right and you know, hopefully you know by going listening
to this episode, you'll be able to identify what type
of shoe I Necessartainly, I'm not going to tell you like, hey,
this brand, this shoe is the one you need to get,

(00:51):
but help helping you understand the type of shoe that
you should potentially be looking for. Okay, So for you know,
for those of you who have not done the mobility assessment,
that would be the first thing that I would have
you do. So make sure that that link is in
the show notes. What you want to do is you
want to figure out for footwear how rotary capable. For

(01:13):
lack of a better terms, you are okay. And the
reason that's important is because if you lack the ability
to rotate through in you know, through the golf ball
into your you know, and you know, finish your golf
sing right through impact to your lead side. If your
hip doesn't rotate well, for example, then you have to
figure out how to rotate through the golf ball somehow, right,

(01:35):
So if the hip doesn't move, it's going to you
have to go a joint up or a joint below right,
So above or below, so the joint below your hip
is your knee, which is not designed to rotate. Uh.
And then you have your ankle right, and so you
know which if your shoe, let's say you have big
spiky grabby shoes, right, the ones that when you walk
around on the fall grab all the leaves if you

(01:56):
hit into the woods, right, those shoes are not going
to let your foot spin out right, so they're gonna
have your foot firmly planned. That's the whole point of
the of the of the like actual spikes. Right. So
if you don't have hip rotation on that lead hip
and your foot is actually like spiked into the ground
and not going to move. What do you think it's

(02:16):
stuck in between the two your knee and then we
have some knee issues, right, your knee is not supposed
to rotate. That's where we can get some miniscal irritation.
You get some you get a lot more shearing force there,
or you get your ankle, you know rolling, you know,
like you roll your ankle if you're playing basketball or
soccer or sport or something, right, like, neither one of
those or anything that we want, or if you don't

(02:39):
do anything lower body, then you're gonna have to basically
increase your trail side side bend through your back and
your lumbar spine, which is no boino either. Right, So basically,
if you don't have the ability to rotate, you know,
most importantly in the lead hip, but you know also
if you just lack the ability to rotate in general
through your spine or your shoulders, you're generally gonna want

(02:59):
to go after for footwear that does not have very
aggressive spikes or grips into the ground, right, something like
a more casual golf shoe that can if you like,
go to swing. I'm sure if this is resonating with
you that you don't have good rotation, and when you
swing through the golf ball through impact, your lead foot
starts pointing like let's say, perpendicular to the target or

(03:22):
like pointing towards the ball, and then finishes with your
toes pointing towards the target, meaning your foot spun out
as you came through the golf ball. If that sounds familiar,
A less spiked shoe is probably more comfortable for you.
It's gonna take less stress, it's gonna take more stress
off of your knee, so it'll apply less stress there
because your foot is not pinned or stuck into the ground,
it'll actually be able to kind of slide out as

(03:44):
you come through. So this would be an example of
a compensatory equipment choice that you make if you're not
going to address your hip or lack of rotational mobility.
We actually will get to this point with some people
who have like really progressed osteoarthritis in their hip, that like, hey,
we've gotten your mobility as good as it can be
and it's really only thirty degrees, but you'r you know,

(04:06):
high speed player, meaning you're you know, you're fifty five
sixty years old and you're still swinging like one ten,
one oh five one ten. Right, you're somebody who we
actually want to let that foot kind of rotate out
a little bit to take stress off of that lead knee.
So from a longevity perspective, unless you're going to go
get that hip replace, that's a very low cost solution
that will allow us to you know, you can flare

(04:27):
the foot to start a little bit and then it
you know, if it gives it the ability if it
needs to kind of slide out a little bit and
rotate your pivot there that that's okay. Then that happens.
Then your foot isn't stuck and yournee doesn't get stuck
in the middle. So that would be one of the
considerations to think about is how much spike you get
in your shoes, how grippy they are. Now, if you
take the home Mobility assessment and you pass it and

(04:50):
you have great mobility rotary wise, like, particularly if you're younger,
you might be okay, would still take the test. There's
a lot of people in their mid thirties who failed
as test miserably. You know, you're some who's gonna want
to if you pass it. You can kind of go
either way whatever's comfortable, right, You could go for something
more grippy, or you could go something that's a little
more you know, just casual, not as grippy. So like

(05:11):
for me personally, you know, I am somebody who I
have good mobility, right, you know, I would hope so right,
considering this is what I do for a living. But
I have no issues rotary wise, So I can pick
either shoe I actually like or prefer the more casual
shoe if it's not that wet, not that hilly of
a golf course, but if it's been raining or it's
a real hilly golf course, I'll actually wear something that's

(05:32):
got a little more grip on it so that way
my feet are stable. So that's kind of you know,
that becomes a little bit more of a performance preference
side of things. So that's the first big one from
a consideration standpoint. The second is going to be the
art support or how stiff the shoe is, right, and
I say or, but it's really kind of the same thing.
So I'm gonna actually, if you guys are watching on

(05:53):
YouTube or social for on Instagram or somewhere, you see
my shoe. Here if I can bend it. See how
I can bend this is just like my shoe we're
going to work. I can bend it. So literally, for
those of you who are just listening, I'm bending my
sneaker so that the toe can bend backwards and touch
the heel. Right. It basically is like super flexible. I
can bend it all the way around. It's like a
there is It is a not a like platform I

(06:17):
think of like a classic foot Joy golf shoe, Like
you can't bend the toe all the way back to
the heel like that. It just doesn't go that way
because it's a much more supportive stiff sole. So when
you're thinking about your how stiff or how flexible you
want your shoe, the general rule of thumb. And we've
done this looking at pressure plates. Foot Joy actually did

(06:37):
some stuff with body track back in the day. We've
done a good amount of stuff internally as well with
our force plates and pressure plates. And if you have
a really high arch, so meaning when you stand up
and when you walk, like your arch does not touch
the ground, like you can like almost see daylight underneath it,
like you're somebody that's who naturally has a more rigid foot,

(06:58):
So generally you're going to want a shoe that would
promote a little bit more flexibility. Right, So, the more
rigid the foot, generally start to think you want generally
a more flexible shoe that will get more of the
bottom of your foot onto the ground. When we look
at pressure plate readings, when we have somebody like barefoot
versus and a very stable shoe like like think of

(07:21):
like high arch with a very like stiff shoe versus
high arch with more of like a sneaker like shoe
or a casual shoe, you actually will see improved ground
reaction forces the more contact they have with the ground.
So if you have a very high arch, you generally
will struggle by you actually have not enough contact to
the ground, which will actually reduce your ability to produce force.

(07:41):
And when we have seen people who've been mismatched in
shoes and we've tried different footwear, we've seen you know,
close to three miles an hour gain. Actually in the
most extream case, I actually saw five miles an hour.
But so basically literally like could be a ten hour
difference by having the right footwear. So it's it's a
legitimate thing to think about when you're purchasing your sho Now,
if you have a flat foot, meaning you stand up

(08:02):
and your whole foot collapses onto the ground right, looks
like you're almost rolling your ankle in. You're somebody who
has a hyper mobile foot, meaning you have like too
much mobility in your foot. So actually getting something that's
a little bit more supportive is going to be more
beneficial for you. So that classic foot joy shoe is
going to be something that would probably be more beneficial
for you. Maybe you even maybe so flat of a foot,

(08:25):
like no arch whatsoever, that something maybe in even like
an aftermarket arch support or something into into that on
top of the stable shoe, maybe something that you want
to do. So, and I think that's an interesting piece
to talk about. Is like a orthotic or something that
gives you more support can be used. To think of
it this way, if you have like a use like

(08:47):
a zero to ten scale, right, let's call like the
classic golf shoe has like a ten on stable, or
let's call it like an eight on stable. And then
we have the like I don't know, like the Air
Force ones. The hike kind of makes it I don't know,
if they called Air Force ones and call shoes, but
they're basically the Air Force one design, right. Just the
casual shoe that like nose real spikes on it can
literally bend it in half. Right, we'll call that like

(09:08):
a two on the stability scale. If you put an
insert into the classic golf shoe, it can turn that
eight into a nine or ten, let's say, right, if
you put an insert into the two, it could turn
it into four. Right. So, depending what you're looking for,
you can actually use an insert. Let's say you like
a more flexible shoe, but you have a really flat foot,

(09:29):
you can actually use a aftermarket insert that gives you
some more art support. Put that into a more flexible shoe,
and it will make that two support shoe a four
or five. Right, So to make it kind of more
mid tier. You know, if you have the more classic
shoe and you need even more art support, you could
put an art support in that as well too. Then
you have a super supportive shoe. But it's definitely something

(09:50):
I've advocated it in golf shops, nobody ever listens to me.
I think it would be amazing to have a golf
fitting process for footwear like they do in running. There's
tons of signs to back it up. You literally can
change your shoes, swing a golf club and see if
you swing faster or not. It's kind of a no
brainer for me. But I'm not going to stock a
bunch of shoes that I got to pay for and
then hope to sell. I'm not in the shoe selling business.

(10:12):
But if anyone's listening that does, I would. I mean,
you could truly start your own differentiator there. So as
the consumer know what your foot is. Is it a
high arch, which is not a lot of mobility in it? Right,
So think of a stiff foot. If your arch is flat,
it just totally collapses. Think of it as like a
super mobile foot seat. So that situation you want a
more supportive shoe. The former situation where you have a

(10:34):
very rigid foot, you want a more flexible shoe or
a less supportive shoe, right, and then you can obviously
use the arch support to kind of you know, tight,
trade it either way in terms of more or less flexible. Now,
if you have a like a generally functional arch where
you're not you know, collapse, You're not crazy how you
have you know? Then similar to if you have good
rotary mobility. You can pick big spike or no spike.

(10:57):
Right in this situation, you can pick kind of what
feels the best, and I would test it out. Do
you like a less supportive shoe, kind of more sneaker like?
Do you like a more supportive, rigid kind of classic
golf shoe? You know, this is where you can start
to kind of you know, talk, you know, talk with
the wherever you're buying your shoes or if you're just
buying them online, like get a stiff one, get a

(11:17):
mobile one, get one with big spikes, get one with
no spikes, and just mess around with it, right, and
if you have a launch monitor, like go hit balls
and see if you see a change in club speed.
But so hopefully that helps. So think of it as
kind of there's a there's a very like I don't
know how to say, there's there's a very yes or no.
I have a mobile foot, I have a flat foot,

(11:38):
or I have a high arch a rigid foot, in
which case there then you can that's the starting point
and then you can kind of decide which how far
down if you have a rigid foot, how far down
the mobile side of shoes you want to go. If
you're very flat foot or very hyper like too much mobility,
how far up the stability you know, chart you'd want
to go in a way, And then obviously you can

(11:58):
have the insert to kind of tight traded either way
if you like the base. If you need more support,
but you like the base, like more mobile shoe, well
then you just put an insert in it, and now
you've made a more mobile shoe a more stable shoe.
If you are also looking for thinking on the spike side,
that one is just very much like you either have
the rotary mobility or you don't. If you don't have

(12:18):
the rotary mobility, I would not recommend getting big spike shoes.
I'd have something that can kind of more slide or
rotate or pivot on the grass as posed to locking
your foot into the ground. As you get more rotary
mobility and your hips in particular on that lead side,
bio needs go to the more grippy shoe. But hopefully
that helps kind of understand how to shop for footwear.

(12:39):
It's a very obviously superficial kind of dive into it,
but it hopefully gives you some perspective and some thought
when you're looking not just at the style, but actually
at the functionality. Right, you don't you go fit, You
go get fit for golf balls. You get fit for shafts,
you get fit for drivers, you get fit for irons,
you get fit for potters. Why the hell wouldn't you
get fit for your shoes just doesn't make any sense
to me. So if anyone out there sells golf shoes,

(13:03):
got more information, let me know, be happy to talk
with you. I think I think we can help you out.
But for all you guys out there that are just
looking to buy your next set of golf shoes, hopefully
that helps you guys understand kind of you know, the
types of things to think about. If you have questions,
as always, drop comments. She just you know, she does
a message and we're happy to help you figure out
you know, whatever you need. So thanks as always for
listening to the Golf in this Bomb Squad. I always

(13:24):
appreciate you taking the time to hang out with me
here on the pod and we'll catch you on the
next episode.
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