50 Words or Less
The FootJoy Pro/SL golf shoe has been quickly adopted by many of the top players in golf because of its extreme comfort and strong performance.
Introduction
In this modern age of golf, “internet golf guys” like us rely heavily on Twitter to get an inside look at the golf industry to see what players and OEMs are up to. With the new FootJoy Pro/SL golf shoe, it seemed like FootJoy mentioned the new shoe on Twitter once and almost immediately the likes of Lee Westwood, Adam Scott, and the legend Andrew “Beef” Johnston were “all in” on switching to the new shoe well before a sniff at any retail release. Following my testing of the Pro/SL, I can understand why.
Comfort
FootJoy has always made some comfortable golf shoes, but over the past four or five years they’ve really had some killers like the DNA and the Freestyle, and now the Pro/SL golf shoe. Before we get into the details of comfort for the Pro/SL, I want to address the fit. I generally wear an 11 D (medium/regular width) and found the Pro/SL to fit a little more narrow without being uncomfortable.
Utilizing Laser Plus Fit, Fine Tuned Foam, and ChromoSkin leather, the Pro/SL is lightweight, stable, and supportive. I’ve narrowed my comfort criteria down to “how comfortable is a shoe to walk 18 holes in, how well do they keep water our, and how hot do my feet get?” Of course, the shoes need to do these three things while still performing well or it’s completely pointless. The FootJoy Pro/SL has a soft and supple footbed with a firm sole and mid-sole to give you a stable foundation. Admittedly, I haven’t played in the Pro/SL in hard rain, but they have done well keeping my feet dry in heavy morning dew without cooking my feet in a waterproof oven.
An additional comfort win is the new spike system. The molded spiked sole utilizes a large range of smaller “pins” rather than the usual individual spikes in specific portions of the sole. This sole makes the shoe feel smoother on the bottom of your foot without having any significant pressure points.
Looks
This is my one area of concern for the FootJoy Pro/SL, but I’m perfectly willing to accept it’s my personal tastes and preferences. While I do believe I am fairly open when it comes to different shoe styles, I am still struggling to come to grips with the overall look of the Pro/SL on my feet. When I look at the Pro/SL, I see more of a bowling shoe than a golf shoe. Going with the white on white pair, I felt like I managed this vibe a little bit better and felt more comfortable with how they looked on my feet.
Performance
Even if the FootJoy Pro/SL looks a little bit like a bowling shoe, it’s still extremely comfortable and a hell of a strong performing shoe. I wouldn’t call the Pro/SL a spikeless golf shoe, but I also wouldn’t consider it a traditional spiked golf shoe. The difficulty I’ve seen in the industry over the past five years has been finding the grip from a spiked shoe and blending it with the comfort and feel of a spikeless shoe. The traction system of the Pro/SL has excellent grip and the coverage on the sole makes the shoe grip based on the needs of your specific foot. Unlike traditional spikes that are in a designated point on the shoe, the spikes of the Pro/SL cover the entire sole so they are going to grab the ground in the exact places where your foot needs them to, not where the manufacturer designated the best spike locations to be for the entire market. Frankly, I was shocked at how good the traction and stability of the Pro/SL was for such a lightweight shoe.
Conclusion
You’ll hear a lot of golfers make claims like “I don’t care what it looks like as long as it works great and helps me play better.” I don’t believe 95% of these people, but in my case, I may be leaning that direction with the FootJoy Pro/SL. Bowling shoe looks or not, it’s such a good golf shoe, and if the Pro/SL is good enough for my boy Beef to wear, I can wear them too! There’s a reason people have been rapidly adopting the FootJoy Pro/SL all the way through the ranks so I would strongly suggest adding them to your list to check out when you’re in the market for a new pair of kicks for the course.
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Bill plays Scott Readman Concepts putters and accessories.
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