Athlonz - the good the bad and the ugly

[GolferXY]

The Good: They work as advertised

The Bad:  They don't have great traction

The Ugly:  Well, just look at 'em!

So, we've been hearing a lot about Bryson DeChambeau and his trek to increase distance.  In that conversation is the new buzz word, "ground reaction force."  Put simply, it means we push against the ground to increase the force delivered to the ball via the club.

So, I decided to try the Athlonz golf shoes because of their claims that the canted insole can help the golfer to impart more ground reaction force into the shot.  And guess what?  In my case, it works.

Athlonz must be purchased online.  There are three basic styles, none of them very attractive to my eye.  But what the heck, that's not why I'm interested in them.  I bought them on a Tuesday and they were delivered in a week.  I opened the box and realized that they were just as unattractive in person.  The shoe is unlike any other I've ever tried on.  It has a sleeve, similar to some surf shoes I've owned, that makes getting into the shoe a bit of a chore.  However, this would turn out to be a good thing.  More on that later.  The fit is a little big - I normally wear a 12 and these fit about a half size big on my foot.  I noticed in walking around the house that my knees were definitely in a different alignment than I normally experience in my other shoes.  I wondered if or how that might affect me on the golf course, and determined that a trip to the range was in order before I tried them on the course.

The driving range proved insightful.  I brought along my Mevo and set up a monitoring station.  I admit, I was pleasantly surprised.  I immediately felt that my weight was staying centered over the inside of my feet without any effort on my part.  It isn't that obvious a thing, but it is noticeable.  I noted that I had less of a tendency to sway, especially with my irons.  This is a truly confounding issue for me, since it isn't easy to self-diagnose and I don't always have time or room to set up a monitoring station but I noticed it immediately by the quality of contact between irons and ball.  So, points for Athlonz.  I noticed additional distance on all clubs from P to Driver.  Mevo was telling me I had gained 5-10 yards just by using a different shoe.  Hmmm.  

So, I took them out on the course, and guess what?  It was a drippy, damp morning.  I normally walk but I decided to ride a cart so that I didn't get the shoes so dirty that I couldn't return them.  They ain't cheap! 

The shoes are advertised as water resistant, and they kept my feet dry in the damp conditions.  That sleeve I mentioned earlier?  It's to keep the mud and detritus out of your shoe in these types of conditions, and worked well.  So, even though it makes the shoe a bit of a hassle to put on, I appreciate the feature.

The biggest problem I had with the shoe is that they don't have adequate traction.  I live and play in the Great Northwest, and damp courses are the norm 8 or 9 months of the year.  Even during the summer months, there is usually dew on the ground when you are an early group off the tee in the morning.  I lost traction two times on driver and once on a 6 iron.  Left foot just lost grip and I was flailing to keep from losing the shot.  The kicker is that Athlonz don't come in a spiked version.

At the end of the day, I looked at my card and realized that I'd had a decent round.  Not my best, certainly not my worst! So, intrigued, I decided to wear them on the first sunny day I could find.  Remember where I live?  We're still trying to find summer here!  However, I went out with my best golfing buds last weekend and found some sunny weather.  I decided to try the shoes out while walking the course and found that, as I feared, there was a distinct wear on my knees as I walked.  For some probably not even an issue, but for me, it came very close to being a deal breaker as I have two bad knees to begin with.  But considering that I had what was arguably my best round of ball striking in recent memory, I have decided to give the shoes a long term tryout.  I figure that if nothing else, I can use them at the range to drill the proper weight distribution into my old, damaged, and recalcitrant knees.

As always, your yardage may vary.  For me these are definitely a 4 out of 5. 

[fozcycle]

Shoe Pics please

[Hacker1]

https://www.athalonz.com/pages/athalonz-technology

[cksurfdude]

Good info about the traction .. ie. lack thereof .. and the walking discomfort. Not that I've been tempted by these things anyway...

Kinda related - I'm not an expert biomechanic nor an expert golfer, yet I've wondered if just the *back* for should be canted as shown in that illustration .. and leave the front foot flat. That would imply, of course, that they need to manufacture and sell two different pairs of shoes for RH vs LH golfers

[brogies]

I would have to guess that these shoes might cause other issues, namely with your hips and back as you walk/ride 18 holes. Sure, they're optimized for a golf swing, but what about actually walking? Feel like these might cause you to put more pressure on the inside of your foot and thus lead to uneven wear and possible health issues. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯