Yes I have mentioned and shown the Callaway Hyperbolic golf shoes before on Golf Shoes Blog but I was flippant about their terminology and TLA’s (three letter acronyms) (and to some extent about the name which does lead to punning).  Now I have worn them for a round of golf, I’m not so flippant but then I didn’t have to wade through the blurb… I just felt dry and comfortable in the wet and drizzle.  And my foot never slipped once.

We went out in the rain and it rained all 12 holes.  Yes 12 holes [a] that’s all they have at this course and [b] it’s a good number of holes to play in the rain with a hangover and [c] it’s safe when in a new leather pair of golf shoes.

But I didn’t have to worry about the shoes. They were great and the looks grew on me.  Tomorrow (or the next day?), I’ll do the proper Golf Shoes Blog review & rating review.  We’ll see how many marks out of 49 they get. 

See the criteria for the golf shoe review and some previous reviews on Golf Shoes Blog’s Review & Rate Review page

These may well be my favourite golf shoes at the moment.  Is the fact that I scored well important?  I don’t know but it can’t hurt can it.  Are the golf shoes responsible?  Partly.  But to business…

Remember how the Golf Shoes Blog Review & Rate Scoring goes…

In each of the following seven categories the golf shoes get marks out of 7… 1: Comfort & Fit   2: Dryness & Breathing   3: Grip & Spikes/Cleats   4: Performance & Contribution to swing   5: Style & Design   6: Price & Value For Money and  7: Personal Feel & Happiness. BUT the average (4) would be as you’d expect for a QUALITY golf shoe.

So the XTT Callaways, as pictured here, before I started – brand new out of the box.  COMFORT/FIT great right out of the box with only one minor hesitation tht they wore a bit on one of my heels but I think that was an old blister by these shoes’ brothers (the Exotic Chev & that’s another story) and when I took them off and put my regular shoes back on, I fely all heavy footed! ~ 4 pts.  DRYNESS/BREATHING great though it was a dry day but a swelteringly sweaty one for May.  But the feet were not uncomfortble so good for comfrt in that respect ~ 5 pts. GRIP/CLEATS no problems at all but as expected so ~ 4 pts:  PERFORMANCE/SWING great with hardly thinking about them BUT as I said I had one of my best rounds for a year or two (though I was experimenting a bi with the overlocking grip which helped too ~ 5 pts. 

STYLE/DESIGN I like them both the top and the bottom.  I wasn’t really dressed for them or vice-versa but they held their own and had admiring looks.  Plus they still look new after their first round so better than average ~ 5 pts.  PRICE & VFM at around $150 (or save a cent for what seems to be the MRRP) they are fair ~ 4 pts.  Lastly the little wiggle for personal preference (FEEL & HAPPINESS) is looking good because they did help me win 5 up! So I’m feeling generous ~ 6 pts! 

TOTAL SCORE 33 points.  Well done to Callaways for a great pair of golf shoes!  Coming next… Callaway Hyperbolic X

As promised yesterday when I reviewed my first pair of new golf shoes I’ve invented the Golf Shoes Blog REVIEW & RATE scoring system to try and  judge fairly the worth of a golf shoe – or even a pair of golf shoes! (And I’m not calling it the Whole FOOTwear© Whole Golf (WFWG®) Xtreme Test rating-i-rank (R-i-R®) – as that was just a joke to take the mickey out of those registered, tademarked  and copyright-ed golf shoe functions or materials.)

The Stuburt Hidro Pro Golf Shoes scored 29 points in the new system but what does that mean… Is it good or bad?

The GSBR&R Golf Shoe Criteria

If you re-visit my main study of what counts in a golf shoe you’ll see six main headings and although I’ve commented and added peripheral thoughts on top, I haven’t really changed the key points.  But for the GSBR&R scoring system I’ve added how you personally feel about the golf shoes and that may be subjective.  When I say “you”, I really mean “me/I” because although I hope to get other golfers’ reviews, I’ll always add my twopennyworth.

1: Comfort & Fit   2: Dryness & Breathing   3: Grip & Spikes/Cleats   4: Performance & Contribution to swing   5: Style & Design   6: Price & Value For Money and  7: Personal Feel & Happiness.

In each of the seven categories your golf shoes get marks out of 7.  So the imposssibe maximum is 49!  The lowest is 1 point in every category so you could get 7 points if everything about them was the worst imagnable.  The average, mean mark would be 4 in every category which would be 28.  BUT to get four points your golf shoe has to be average~as you’d expect for a QUALITY golf shoe.  So 28 is a GOOD mark – nt fntastic but good because it’s based on a decent golf shoe’s average.  (Does this make sense?)

Scoring as follows 1: Complete Rubbish   2: Poor   3: Below Average   4: As Expected for a Quality Golf Shoe  5: Better than Average for a Quality Shoe  6: Fantastic and  7: Absolutely Unbelievably Good!

* I’ve got three pairs of Callaway Golf Shoes coming my way for the GSBR&R test!  The trio of beauties includes Hyperbolic X (like no shoes according to Rocco Mediate), XTT Comps (a modern saddle golf shoe) and Exotic Chev’s (Classic traditional golf shoes) – as pictured here.  What GSBR&R score will they get?

You may remember that I had a bad back so I could only walk my new golf shoes and not golf in them last week.  Well soon the day came when my back was nearly well enough to play – so I did.  My golf was bad but the Hidro Pro golf shoes were good.  In fact they were so comfortable I forgot about them and that I was supposed to be giving them a professional review!  So YES the were comfortable.  What about the other criteria?

I’m starting to think that my golf isn’t good enough to really stretch a golf shoe… so now I have the problem of making a constructive comment – given that I seem happy with these relatively inexpensive but good value shoes.  I don’t hit a driver when I play so I guess that the real classic idea of grip and stability (as the ball flies off 300 yards) doesn’t  happen when I hit my old trusty 4 iron…

By the way the cleats were fine on grass and not clogged with mud and I had fun by the first tee, before I started with the air gun cleaning the cleats.

Golf Shoes Blog Review Ranking

So I’ve invented the Golf Shoes Blog new review & rating system (patented!)  If I were one of the more pretentious prolix golf shoes promoters I’d have to call it the Whole FOOTwear© Whole Golf (WFWG®) Xtreme Test rating-i-rank (R-i-R®) or something similar.

My new Stuburt Hidro Pro Golf Shoes score 29!  The only category that they fell down was  less than average  “style ~ design” which although having the bigger toe box, come across as a bit too round and un-stylish.  (The original picture made them look a little more elegant and special.) To find out what the score actually means,  you’ll have to come back to when I DEFINE THE WHOLE SCORING SYSTEM – watch this space…

Number one test for a new golf shoe is comfort.  Forget all the rest if you can’t walk in the things.

So my new golf shoes have arrived from Stuburt and what happens to my back!  Too much paving, wheel-barrowing and moving a telegraph pole (don’t ask)!  So the back’s gone and I cannot play golf for a few days and the new shoes are sitting there looking new and shiny.  But a litle walk is good for the back so we’re off for about 4 miles with the dog.

The walks around here are quite muddy at the moment and the terrain on the walk is old railway line (mud, grass and whatever), the side of fields (clay, flint and grass), hills (mixed) and all the road surfaces/tarmac in between.  OFF WE GO and “oh no” they didn’t feel comfortable…   I wont be able to say this first out!”  But hang on, an adjustment of the laces and a little bit of wiggling all round and they’re fine.  Better than fine…

They are actually really comfortable – below the foot and above and around.  The foot feels well held and supported and all the leathery bits feel good.  So for comfort and “HOLD”, given that I’ve not swung a club in them, is 9/10.  That’s really not bad at all for a good value (ie inexpensive) golf shoe.(And the back was better too.)

One complaint and it may not be fair and that is that the cleats bunged up pretty bad – see the picture.  Maybe it’s not fair because I walked on a lot more mud than the average golf course has.  SO TODAY – this was tw days ago – it’s out on a grassy course for the realgolf test.  In other words I’m going to golf in my golf shoes as well as walk in them!  (Who knows, maybe I’ll chew gum too.)

There’s an article on the World Golf website (see below) which advises readers to get new shoes – especially those who’ve had so many new clubs in search of improved golfing prowess and who forget the humble golf shoe.  But not so humble anymore!  As we know.

Quoting him “One of the best new examples of this shoe technology is the Nike Air Zoom Elite II. This is the first Nike shoe I’ve tested that is perfectly comfortable right out of the box. I literally took the tissue paper out, laced them up, and walked 9 holes carrying my over-loaded bag. No blisters. Not even a hotspot. And no sore feet the next day”.

He urges ”those golfers who have switched drivers 3 times in the last six years, but are still wearing your old saddle shoes from 1995, do yourself … a favour, and check out some of the new footwear technology”.

There are of course newer Nike golf shoes – see details in Nike category

See our previous post for the Nike Air Elite II golf shoes

world golf: Writer Kiel Christianson.

There’s a site which usually reserves it’s comment to putters but I’ve just read a review of the Adidas 360 Tour 111 (or 3 if you prefer) where they extend their praise (a glowing review) to a golf shoe. 

PutterZone writes all about the 360 degree sock effect (see various previous posts on Adidas shoes) but extends the benefits to the putting green, as follows “These qualities translate beautifully to the putting green. With the feet and back feeling healthy deep into a round, it’s much easier to consistently bend at the hips and maintain a firm spine angle for a proper putting setup. Bending at the waist instead of the hips and rounding the back are two posture issues that will undermine your putting peformance (watch Tiger Woods for a textbook example of excellent putting posture)”. 

Previous claims for the Adidas golf shoe…

… have centred around stability and the resulting distance on the tee/fairway, so I thought readers might like to hear of this extension of the opinion/praise of the shoe!  Personally, I’d think that any good golf shoe which delivers you to the green with a good posture due to comfort (protection from soreness and from wet or heat) would help you putt, in this sense.  I’d therefore be careful to qualify that praise of any particul shoe.  Let it do the all-round job of keeping you happy, in all senses, so that you relax on the green.

Any more for any more?

“The Flexor Golf Shoe is as comfortable as one that I have ever put on”…

… says budgetgolf.net and give this as he reason to stock the Ecco shoes – even though they are not as “budget” as they usually stock and sell.  (The clue’s in the name!)

See earlier post for more info on the shoe.

A blogger who calls himself DogBalls just wrote of these golf shoes “The most comfortable golf shoe I’ve ever worn!”  Praise indeed.  He added ”great stability, cushioning and grip (even with the “stock” spikes.) Adidas does a good job with these shoes and I think they’ve made a giant leap over past attempts… They’re not bad to look at either!”

I’m not sure how the other brands that they sell will feel about that.  Given that they might sell a lot of them:  Given that they might look good:  Given that that’s what the publicity may say…

But let’s hear it from some golfers – what are the best golf shoes? Or does it depend when and what you bought? Who used to be the best?  What makes them the best now?

Email us and let us know – or leave a comment