SQAIRZ VELO Shoe: 2024 Forum Member Review

[Indy_Oz]

1 hour ago, billpierce said:

I feel like I am reading Dr Seuss - "The places we will go...."

Please post course pictures and how you did!

For me the collar has broken in quite nicely.  I did find getting it wet helped it break in haha!

The shoes are getting around a bit in this test!

maybe I need to get out in the rain to aid the breaking in  a bit more. 

I was planning to post course pics and a more thorough commentary on the experience at Marco Simone on the “how did you play” thread, but here are a few taster pics from the day…

I played with old battered rental clubs with a 12-13 degree gap between PW and 56* (the only specialist wedge in the set). I shot mid 80s, which was good enough for me to enjoy the round.

The first cut of rough is dense and challenging as the ball just sinks in. The full rough- as last year- is just obnoxiously tough. Guaranteed lost balls without spotters on the course as in comps.

First cut…

[Indy_Oz]

47 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

My first round in Scotland will be the 17th round that I have walked in the Squairz VELO shoes (almost equally distributed between 9 and 18 hole rounds), plus a couple where I have ridden in carts. I squeezed in one last round after I thought that I was done playing in the shoes before cleaning them, stuffing them in a shoe bag and zipping up the travel case to be picked up for its flight to Scotland ahead of my arrival there.

These shoes are definitely well broken-in. I have played in wet conditions while wearing them, and a couple of rounds in intermittent showers, but none in the type of steady rain that I am expecting to experience in Scotland next week.

There will be as many photos as I can convince my caddies and playing partners to take, plus maybe a few selfies, if that doesn’t break my iPhone camera, LOL.

Best of luck North of the Border. I’ve taken a couple of personal days to visit family in England, which is where I am currently. 
On the flight from Rome I was sat with the cameraman from YouTube golfer Luke Kwon’s team (for those that know who he is). Luke was behind me. They just played Marco Simone yesterday morning and were on their way to Edinburgh and Gleneagles. They may have been playing another Scottish course before heading to Ireland to play courses both sides of the border. 
I hope the weather is better than forecast!

[funkyjudge]

4 minutes ago, Indy_Oz said:

The shoes are getting around a bit in this test!

maybe I need to get out in the rain to aid the breaking in  a bit more. 

I was planning to post course pics and a more thorough commentary on the experience at Marco Simone on the “how did you play” thread, but here are a few taster pics from the day…

I played with old battered rental clubs with a 12-13 degree gap between PW and 56* (the only specialist wedge in the set). I shot mid 80s, which was good enough for me to enjoy the round.

The first cut of rough is dense and challenging as the ball just sinks in. The full rough- as last year- is just obnoxiously tough. Guaranteed lost balls without spotters on the course as in comps.

First cut…

Bee-you-tee-ful!!!

[Rob Person]

7 minutes ago, Indy_Oz said:

Best of luck North of the Border. I’ve taken a couple of personal days to visit family in England, which is where I am currently. 
On the flight from Rome I was sat with the cameraman from YouTube golfer Luke Kwon’s team (for those that know who he is). Luke was behind me. They just played Marco Simone yesterday morning and were on their way to Edinburgh and Gleneagles. They may have been playing another Scottish course before heading to Ireland to play courses both sides of the border. 
I hope the weather is better than forecast!

Did you ask for an autograph or photo op?

[funkyjudge]

2 minutes ago, Indy_Oz said:

Best of luck North of the Border. I’ve taken a couple of personal days to visit family in England, which is where I am currently. 
On the flight from Rome I was sat with the cameraman from YouTube golfer Luke Kwon’s team (for those that know who he is). Luke was behind me. They just played Marco Simone yesterday morning and were on their way to Edinburgh and Gleneagles. They may have been playing another Scottish course before heading to Ireland to play courses both sides of the border. 
I hope the weather is better than forecast!

Where in England do your family members live? We stayed in Southport two summers ago when I played Royal Liverpool and Royal Birkdale, prior to heading north to the Ayrshire Coast of Scotland, where I played Royal Troon and Turnberry’s Ailsa Course. Then, after contacting COVID, we spent a few days in Edinburgh and four days in London.

My father’s family emigrated from the Merseyside area (very close to Royal Liverpool), and some of his family members lived across the border in northern Wales. My grandmother’s family was from the Western Highlands of Scotland until moving to Glasgow in the 1800s and emigrating to the USA around 1898-1900.

[Indy_Oz]

26 minutes ago, Rob Person said:

Did you ask for an autograph or photo op?

lol. No, I’m probably their Dads’ age and I hate selfies. Ha ha. If it was Peter Finch and his crew, probably would ask as I love their stuff.
I chatted with Shaylor (camera/ production guy) most of the 2hr flight. He’s a nice guy. Just a brief chat with Luke as we walked towards border control. I left at Heathrow and they went to the connecting flights. It was pretty random recognizing him when talking to Shaylor as he reached into the locker above me.

[Indy_Oz]

34 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

Where in England do your family members live? We stayed in Southport two summers ago when I played Royal Liverpool and Royal Birkdale, prior to heading north to the Ayrshire Coast of Scotland, where I played Royal Troon and Turnberry’s Ailsa Course. Then, after contacting COVID, we spent a few days in Edinburgh and four days in London.

My father’s family emigrated from the Merseyside area (very close to Royal Liverpool), and some of his family members lived across the border in northern Wales. My grandmother’s family was from the Western Highlands of Scotland until moving to Glasgow in the 1800s and emigrating to the USA around 1898-1900.

A little south of Birmingham is where my remaining family live now. I’ve lived all over England, but Yorkshire is more my spiritual home as I really loved my time living there. 
As a junior and in my 20s I played courses all over. The bigger name courses in England would be the Belfry and Royal Lytham St Anne’s. A few in Scotland, including Moray and Nairn near Inverness. None of the big name courses as i would travel to the same location with work and play colleagues and their friends. 

[billpierce]

7 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Any testers ha e any issues with tongue drift?

Good point on the ankle rubbing too @Indy_Oz I had to stop wearing my leather FJ saddle winter shoes because of how hard the inner cuff was. It pushed right against my metal hardware inside my ankle.

 

No tongue drift for me in the old or new pair!

[Indy_Oz]

16 minutes ago, billpierce said:

No tongue drift for me in the old or new pair!

Same. Limited use but no tongue drift at all during the round or practice sessions so far. 

[funkyjudge]

First Round at St Andrews Links (Pouring Rain Most of the Day):

We played the Castle Course at St Andrews today. The Head Pro and several caddies say that this is the toughest course that we will see on our trip (more difficult than Carnoustie according to all of them; can you believe that?) It rained very hard all morning and into the early afternoon. The Squairz VELO shoes held up extremely well, and were the only dry item on my body by about the 4th hole other than the socks inside these shoes. Even my “waterproof” jacket from Kjus, which cost $495, leaked in this heavy rain.

Here are some photos from today, beginning on the range, and in chronological order. No photos were taken on the first six holes because the rain was absolutely pouring down. Caddy took a couple of photos on the 7th tee when the rain let up, and then nothing until the 17th hole thanks to an additional downpour.

gratuitous practice range photos —

On the 7th tee looking out onto the North Sea —

 

The rocky “beach” is mighty close to some fairways —

Looking across the abyss to the 17th green from the tee that I played (two golfers in our foursome played the forward tees). Both of us who played from these tees hit the green from 218 yards, while neither of the two who played from the 153 yard forward tees made it —

I didn’t play great, particularly on the front nine; however, I turned things around on the back nine to shoot 92. My adjusted handicap from the 6,000 yard senior tees was 19 (slope rating of 139 from these tees). That’s quite an adjustment for a 14 handicap!

Edited May 26 by funkyjudge
Typos

[Javs]

2 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

First Round at St Andrews Links (Pouring Rain Most of the Day):

We played the Castle Course at St Andrews today. The Head Pro and several caddies say that this is the toughest course that we will see on our trip (more difficult than Carnoustie according to all of them; can you believe that?) It rained very hard all morning and into the early afternoon. The Squairz VELO shoes held up extremely well, and were the only dry item on my body by about the 4th hole. Even my “waterproof” jacket from Kjus, which cost $495.

Here are some photos from today, beginning on the range, and in chronological order. No photos were taken on the first six holes because the rain was absolutely pouring down. Tho photos on the 7th tee when the rain let up, and then nothing until the 17th hole thanks to an additional downpour.

 

 

Good pictures and trip! I personally did not find the Castle harder than Carnoustie. Did you? Weather aside. 

[funkyjudge]

15 minutes ago, Javs said:

Good pictures and trip! I personally did not find the Castle harder than Carnoustie. Did you? Weather aside. 

I haven’t yet played Carnoustie; that comes on Tuesday. Old Course tomorrow!

[Javs]

12 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

I haven’t yet played Carnoustie; that comes on Tuesday. Old Course tomorrow!

Carnoustie is a great test, shot 79. First time at the Old, I shot 74. Have a great time! You staying in St. Andrews? We were around the corner from the Old Course. 

[funkyjudge]

15 minutes ago, Javs said:

Carnoustie is a great test, shot 79. First time at the Old, I shot 74. Have a great time! You staying in St. Andrews? We were around the corner from the Old Course. 

We are staying at the Fairmont Hotel through Wednesday morning, then over to North Berwick at the Marine N. Berwick Hotel until Saturday.

[Javs]

46 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

We are staying at the Fairmont Hotel through Wednesday morning, then over to North Berwick at the Marine N. Berwick Hotel until Saturday.

Nice!

[funkyjudge]

Squairz VELO Shoes make an appearance at The Old Course:

Played the Old Course this morning wearing my Squairz VELO shoes (see pic’s below). 

It only rained on us on 2.5 holes today and I beat yesterday’s score by 7 strokes (could easily have broke 80, but I shot +4 on those two rainy holes).

The shoes are holding up great and providing great walking comfort, stability and comfort (33,000+ steps over these first two St Andrews rounds, several uneven and hilly lies during both rounds).

I must give kudos to @wheelieb — he was absolutely correct about the “nubs” on the Squairz laces (and I was wrong!)  At least 4 of the rubber-like nubs have now worn off of each of the laces exactly in the area where I double-knot them.  Minus one point at the minimum for this.

 

 

Edited May 27 by funkyjudge

[funkyjudge]

The Squairz VELO shoes certainly helped to keep me stable on my tee shot off of the first tee at The Old Course. 4-wood 227 yards in the left center of the fairway —

 

[Indy_Oz]

On 5/27/2024 at 2:50 PM, funkyjudge said:

The Squairz VELO shoes certainly helped to keep me stable on my tee shot off of the first tee at The Old Course. 4-wood 227 yards in the left center of the fairway —

 

Love the updates and photos! Very cool little vacation you're on and good to hear the Velo are working out well for you, particularly in the rain.lol

I got back from Italy last night and have my first league 9-hole round on Thursday. Finally feel like I can get back to regular golf. Just need to be careful not to overdo it and screw up my shoulder/ side strain.

Strange that your past Sqairz shoe laces haven't lost the grippy nubs but these have for both you guys. Were they all the same design laces? Or are these slightly different/ updated? I wonder how many rounds it will take for mine to go the same way. Rome was the first full round with them, so I'm a good way behind both of you.

[funkyjudge]

On 5/26/2024 at 10:02 PM, Javs said:

Carnoustie is a great test, shot 79. First time at the Old, I shot 74. Have a great time! You staying in St. Andrews? We were around the corner from the Old Course. 

We played Carnoustie today. It is in Senior Open condition because that tournament is being played at Carnoustie this year. Fairways have been narrowed and rough is 3 feet high almost everywhere. I played extremely well overall and still shot 91 (89 for GHIN purposes because I had a 9 on the 3rd hole).

I was in 12 bunkers and got out of 12 bunkers without having to go out sideways or backwards.  This is a major reason why I didn’t shoot 100 or more.

[Javs]

3 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

We played Carnoustie today. It is in Senior Open condition because that tournament is being played at Carnoustie this year. Fairways have been narrowed and rough is 3 feet high almost everywhere. I played extremely well overall and still shot 91 (89 for GHIN purposes because I had a 9 on the 3rd hole).

I was in 12 bunkers and got out of 12 bunkers without having to go out sideways or backwards.  This is a major reason why I didn’t shoot 100 or more.

It is an extremely hard course! Thanks for sharing the round!!

[funkyjudge]

1 hour ago, Javs said:

It is an extremely hard course! Thanks for sharing the round!!

I shot 83 yesterday at The Old Course from the blue tees. I felt that I left about 5 to 7 strokes on the course yesterday. Today, other than one really bad hole, I felt that I maximized my potential scoring opportunities almost everywhere.

Edited May 28 by funkyjudge

[Javs]

6 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

I shot 83 yesterday at The Old Course from the blue tees. I felt that I left about 5 to 7 strokes on the course yesterday. Today, other than one really bad hole, I felt that I maximized by potential scoring opportunities almost everywhere.

Great playing!

[billpierce]

Quite the experience it sounds - good trip!  Where did you leave the scoring out there? Putts? Bunkers

 

[billpierce]

16 hours ago, funkyjudge said:

We played Carnoustie today. It is in Senior Open condition because that tournament is being played at Carnoustie this year. Fairways have been narrowed and rough is 3 feet high almost everywhere. I played extremely well overall and still shot 91 (89 for GHIN purposes because I had a 9 on the 3rd hole).

I was in 12 bunkers and got out of 12 bunkers without having to go out sideways or backwards.  This is a major reason why I didn’t shoot 100 or more.

Congrats on bunker mastery! Thats a big deal.....

[billpierce]

17 hours ago, Indy_Oz said:

Love the updates and photos! Very cool little vacation you're on and good to hear the Velo are working out well for you, particularly in the rain.lol

I got back from Italy last night and have my first league 9-hole round on Thursday. Finally feel like I can get back to regular golf. Just need to be careful not to overdo it and screw up my shoulder/ side strain.

Strange that your past Sqairz shoe laces haven't lost the grippy nubs but these have for both you guys. Were they all the same design laces? Or are these slightly different/ updated? I wonder how many rounds it will take for mine to go the same way. Rome was the first full round with them, so I'm a good way behind both of you.

My laces are holding up - have at least 9 rounds on them plus a bunch of 'testing'.

[Wheelieb]

I went to the range this morning as a way to clear my head for all the built up nervousness about my final year in the Navy. When the claims of a tighter dispersion were made in the original post looking for testers, I was skeptical about that. Today was probably the worst swings I've made on the range in quite some time. However, where I had seen more of a draw bias in my shots and will admit that it is probably just my swing, today I had no draw bias. I was fading every shot I had with the exception of my wedges which went straight. Admittedly, again, this was probably on me. The fairway I had in my head though I would have been in it or just into the rough. Going to get a few more rounds in on them with a follow up to another scramble on the 7th. 

[funkyjudge]

3 hours ago, billpierce said:

My laces are holding up - have at least 9 rounds on them plus a bunch of 'testing'.

I just played round #21 today in my Squairz Velo.

[funkyjudge]

8 hours ago, billpierce said:

Quite the experience it sounds - good trip!  Where did you leave the scoring out there? Putts? Bunkers

 

Missed fairways in some places where the only play was a punch-out shot (e.g. - 3 foot deep rough), plus a few unplayable lies in gorse bushes.

[Indy_Oz]

Local 9-hole league debut this evening. Walked, obviously. General comfort, grip etc of the Velos were great. But towards the end of the round, I noticed the collar pressing against my ankle bone again. I may need to put a thin insole/ insert under the Sqairz insole to elevate my right foot slightly and see how that affects fit and comfort. It's the only black mark against these shoes right now.

Shoulder injury wasn't noticeably aggravated, so I'm playing another 9 Saturday morning with friends. Next week I have 27 holes booked- 9 with league again on Thursday and 18 on Saturday morning. Good to be playing again after 7-8 weeks of almost no golf...

 

[funkyjudge]

I gave these Squairz shoes a one-day break yesterday for two reasons:

1. When I played at Carnoustie on Tuesday, my socks got quite wet inside the Squairz shoes following some steady rain that lasted virtually the entire back nine. In fairness, I don’t know whether the shoes leaked or the socks got wet and water was wicked all the way down to my toes.
2.  I wanted to wear a different pair of shoes for comparison purposes, so I wore my Skechers Elite Tour SL shoes (HUGE MISTAKE). Those Skechers shoes were comfortable enough for walking a long and hilly course (Gullane No 1), but my feet lost traction and I slipped about a half dozen times while swinging my clubs. This has never happened when I was wearing ANY of my Squairz shoes!

 

Back to the Squairz VELO shoes for my round at North Berwick in less than two hours.

Edited May 31 by funkyjudge
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