Golf Shoes Blog Digs Into The History Of Golf Shoes
Most golfers know something of the history of golf and the development of balls (from pebbles) and clubs (from sticks) but what about the humble golf shoe which has so much technology invested in it today?
There’s very little about this and the small amount of info that I found seems to be only in one place! (Was it made up?) Apparently the first golf shoes had hob nails (like the hob nail boot workmen wear for grip and presumably for longevity). There’s supposed to be a photograph from New Zealand in 1893 showing golfers in hob nailed golfing shoes, but I cannot find a reference to it.
According to this source (golf rules.net) the golf shoe with the hobnail made it into the mainstream consciousness in the early 20th Century. “During a rainy game at the Country Club in Brookline, MA, 1913, during the US Open, a man described how he wore red rubber-soled shoes during the US Open. He slipped during the game on the wet grass and lost. The next year during the 1914 Open, he bought the hobnail shoes, and won!” If that’s the case it would hve been Francis Ouimet, who was then banned (as an amateur) because he started a sports equipment store: although he was allowed to play again 2 or 3 years later.
Golf rules.net continues “Another champion golfer wore the hobnail shoes in 1916, making them a trend. He won the Amateur Champions in 1919. By 1919, the standard foot gear for golf became the hobnail shoes. Thanks go out to the men that started the trend that shook the golf world. The game of golf and the putting green would never be the same”. And then nothing - and no pictures – and that’s just about the whole world on the tinternet.
It looks ike if I want to find more then I’ll have to revert to looking it up in books!
