I get these press releases from ECCO (from LONDONDERRY, N.H) and they always start the same “Danish shoemaker ECCO…”  Incidentally the releases (and just about everthing else to do with these golf shoes always comes from New Hampshire and never from Denmark.

This time the release tells me thet the company “confirms that the winner of the PGA Tour’s Turning Stone Resort Championship relied on the quality, comfort and stability of its leather-soled, World Class GTX golf shoe”.

And then the blurb (which we’ve already had or published already  “Constructed entirely at company-owned factories – something that is unique in the golf industry – each traditionally-styled World Class shoe is touched by more than 225 sets of highly-skilled hands…etc etc etc” ).

Who Won: A Golfer Or A Pair Of Golf Shoes?

Now call me old fashioned but [1] I want to know which golfer wn in these shoes – or did the golf shoes win the ournament by themselves?  Why don’t ECCO tell me that? and secondly I want either a pictureof the shoes or better a picture of the GOLFER in the shoes or with them or making some interesting visual.

Less words and more pictures and info PLEASE.  No wonder I don’t get round to publishing… this news has been in my drafts since the day it was

I recommend reading the full article in The Boston Globe about the closing of the doors at FootJoy’s golf shoes factory in Brockton Mass. USA, written by Sam Allis.  It’s a touching visit to the empty factory with the previous owner (from the 50’s to the 70’s).  If you have an interest in FootJoy it’s well worth a read.

Golf Shoes Blog ran an earlier story on the FootJoy Golf Shoe factory closure and the FootJoy president’s statement.

I was going to write about seconds today and how and where to find golf shoes that may be fine to play in but have small flaws (or “Blems” as our cousins call them!)  I saw a piece specificlly addressed to “fans of Footjoy looking for cheap shoes” telling them to look out for golf shoe blems. And them pointing them at “…Footjoy blems, they also include retail shop returns and some factory production overruns. These shoes are all brand new and come in their box; blems don’t affect the performance of the shoe, or indeed, the warranty“.  For just $159 vs, $320 or so for Classic tour golf shoes.

And why not!

But then I had to decide whether to go into the city today to do some necessary paid work or play golf and unfortunately I have to go to work…

So if you want Reelfit, Classics Tour, Dryjoys, Contour, GF II, and womens Footjoy blems you’ll have to find them yourselves today – sorry, I lost the link and have to go!

And One Lady Bought Herself  Three Pairs Of New Golf Shoes!*

These Sandbagger Golf Shoes are currently at Overstock.com and they are going exceptionally cheap – and I’m not surprised – they look awful and they have no spikes or cleats of any kind!  But what can you ask for for £16.41!

Mind you, you could buy them as comfortable shoes and stay away from the golf course!  My mother-in-law might do her gardening in these!

Spec/features: designed to keep your feet comfortable/polyurethane coated leather upper/Slip-on/lightweight polyurethane spike-less sole/Velcro strap/Roomy and comfortable square-toe design

And if you don’t like those (!!!) perhaps the slightly better looking Zoe golf shoes for £25.02.

And The lady in the YouTube video looked so young and fashionable!

* See Golf Girl’s Diary

I haven’t been able to definitively check when these no cleat/spike golf shoes came out (claiming to be the first high performance golf shoe on that basis!) but I think it must have been early 2007 … They’ve had time to introduce a ladies golf shoe in the range…  and then to see it discounted (NOW!)… and it looks like the Etonic G Sok Gore-Tex Golf Shoe has bitten the dust along wit the concept!  (It’s nowhere to be seen in the new 2008-09 range.  ALL THESE GOLF SHOES HAVE SPIKES!

So does that mean the whole concept flopped?!  Who can help me with that one? Meanwhie I guess the answer must be “yes”.

[1] I’ve read masses about a big charity event recently with ceebrities and the public alike throwing shoes at a golf course.  I don’t know the exact set up (was it a distance challenge with prizes?) but the shoes thrown were then given to charity.  But even though it was a shoe event at a golf course it had little or nothing to do with golf shoes.  I’m not knocking it – I hope it raised a lot for its designated charity.

[2] Now I’m seeing stuff coming through on Puma at the Sundance Festival and celebrities signing Puma shoes – again not golf shoes.  The charity involved is Soles4Souls and they get shoes to those without shoes.  Again a very worthy cause.

But when you’re like me and your major concern is golf shoes, you’d like to see something that  fits neatly into your own box!  So I’d like to see something solely around the golf shoe (no pun intended).  But who’d run that and who would be the relevant recipients ?  Golfers (hardly hard up in the wide-world perspective)? Or the shoe-less? (Easier to find.  Apparently there are very real needs for the homeless to get both good shoes and foot care:  Life on the streets is not kind to feet!)  Or some lesser cause-related group – but then why golf shoes? 

So I’ve answered my own question about why there is no such specific event…. And if I want one then I’d have to do something about it myself!  At the moment golf shoes blog is just a fledgling (giving charitably to web hosts with little return!)  But if ever we make it more viable then maybe we’ll be [a] clever enough to think of something appropriate and [b] kind enough to do something abut it!  Meantime, the golf shoes thinking cap is on!

FootJoy, (Who just love their #1 Golf Shoes tag) have announced last week that it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Padraig Harrington.  Harrington will wear the new SYNR-G shoe (see earlier mentions), which will be available from 1st February. A perfect combination of comfort and stability, SYNR-G is engineered for players such as Harrington who possess higher swing speeds and demand additional support and motion control in their golf shoes.

Padraig will be featured in new FootJoy television advertisements (though he wasn’t mentioned in earlier releases when they made the ads – was he making them secretly?) as well as print and online creative throughout the year.

FootJoy says “Following a historic 2008 season in which he captured two major championships, was named PGA Tour Player of the Year and The European Tour Golfer of the Year, Harrington will add yet another “#1” to his resume when he laces up the #1 Shoe in Golf in 2009″. 

But he’s number 4!?

Apparently acording to the news yesterday, these new golf shoes will be shown at the PGA Merchandise Show on their Ecco stand. (When? – the end of the month, in Florida.)

But I want pictures now!  Of the golf shoes!

In the meantime you get to see ECCO the doplhin -  a SEGA computer game!

To whet your appetites for now, these top notch golf shoes will retail for $430, at select on & off course outlets and on-line starting in early February.  “This is a very finite offering for a select number of golf’s most discerning players,” says Michael Waack, Head of Global Golf at Ecco. “It’s a truly classic shoe with the advanced comfort and stability that has made Ecco the brand of choice for so many top PGA Tour players.”

There’s a good article on a site specifically designed to teach the wary how to shop on-line (buy & sell) - called jennyhow.com.  An article about buying fake Nike’s – I assume this includes golf shoes – gives a fair number of tips but most only deal with after you have received them, which isn’t much good!  The key points to check before you buy, boil down to [a] check the vendor’s rating especially for neutral or no comments, [b] delivery from the Far East probably means they’re fake and lastly, [c] if they seem too cheap it’s probably too good to be true.  I’m sure this applies to other brands too, but Jenny didn’t say.  If you want to read the whole article, go to the above link.

Pictured here are the Nike SP5 II Golf Shoes – Air Soles (real ones of course), with full grain leather/built around an athletic last to give a full rounded toe and fuller forefoot/with a visible encapsulated Air-sole unit/Nike Watershield linings – breathable but 100% waterproof.

And they are the same company – at corporate level they both belong to Fortune Brands which owns the golf shoe and the golf ball/clubs/etc brands as well as other products more commonly thought of as “brands” such as Jim Beam & Courvoisier – as well as ThermaTru doors!
So when I read that new PGA Tour pro Tyler Aldridge had a deal with Titleist for balls, shoes and glove, I thought “What?!”

So off to reference sources… to eventually find that Titleist is part of Fortune Brands who own FootJoy too, so I guess that Aldridge gets FootJoys!  Not bad, I’m sure.  But does he also get a ThermaTru door too?