"A bit like those spectators who wear golf shoes to championships"

The Guardian's Marina Hyde, in her daily Olympic dispatch on the Greenwich scene yesterday for the London 2012 equestrian events:

At Greenwich, despite the sunny skies, there were innumerable pairs of Hunter wellies, for the simple reason that you never know how it's going to turn out. Empty seats scandal in the morning, shepherd's warning.

Even more clearly in evidence were the hundreds wearing riding boots – a bit like those spectators who wear golf shoes to championships, giving them the air of people who imagine they might be called on to the greens at any time and asked to replace Tiger Woods if he goes to pieces.

I will say that the Open Championship crowds featured a surprising number of metal spike sounds, something you almost never hear anymore.

Comments

[Stord]

I never understand the criticism of those who wear golf shoes to golf tournaments.. surely it's one of the most practical things to walk around a course with? Particularly when it's muddy.

[LooseImpediment]

Couldn't agree more with Stord - that's what golf shoes are made for.

[Sean Tracey]

Er, we wear golf shoes to golf tournaments for grip, I wonder if Marina has ever attended one?

[Tim Gavrich]

I've always found it terribly pretentious to wear golf spikes at a professional golf tournament. Sneakers are just fine; no need to tear up the grounds (even off the field of play) any more than they already are.

The next worst thing is seeing caddies at a club wearing golf shoes. Ugh.

[Press Agent]

With the shoes today, many of which look like simple sneakers etc, it's not a big deal. However a few years ago, when golf shoes were white leather with a brown leather area for the laces, it was a very douchey thing to wear those around as a spectator. It's like saying: "hey look at me, I'm one of the in crowd, I play golf just like the fellows we're watching." Most people with any sense of coolness would never wear golf spikes for anything but playing golf.

[Jeff]

Yeah, don't understand why you would wear golf shoes if not playing. I would think most people can remain upright while walking around a tournament in regular sneakers. I think if you were to ask a golfer why golf shoes are used, they would say to prevent slipping while swinging due to the forces involved. I can't imagine they would talk about the aid they provide while walking.

[KRoper]

You try following players up and down the steep slopes at Riviera every year without proper shoes to get a grip. I don't want to have to take the long way around 18, so I wear shoes that let me do it. For certain courses, (Almost anything in Florida right?) I recognize it is unnecessary, but every tournament I've been to throughout California there is always at least one point in the day that you come across some terrain that just makes you wish you'd brought your golf shoes. In my case I'm simply glad that I brought them and am not trying to tippy toe my way down a slope where the grass has been trampled down, and the soil compacted, thus making the surface more slippery. I guess I could bring a gunny sack and slide on my ass as if it were a county fair, but I don't think the PGA Tour or Club officials would like that.

[Golfin Dolphin]

You guys are the grown men that still take a glove to baseball games. And probably wear a batting glove on your globe hand!

[Paul Dirac]

For the people who claim they wear golf shoes while observing a tournament is because of the grip/traction let me ask you this: If you were going to simply just walk around a park or pasture would you still wear your golf shoes?

[sgolfer]

John Hawkings used to refer to the hordes as the Saddle Shoe Brigade.

Ecco and Addicross spikeless are okay for sure. Wearing golf shoes with spikes looks retarded.

[Sclaff & Foozle]

I've seen people wear running shoes to museums ... hunting boots to church ... My God. Signs of the apocalypse, surely.

[No Longer Used to be Former Stack & Tilt Convert]

The sound of metal spikes against a hard surface is something my kids will probably never hear.

[duck!hooker]

i've been to both pga championships at whistling straits
people without golf shoes were face planting right and left

[carnaptious and camsteerie]

... because you airheaded born with a silver spoon in yer mouth yuppie, you need 'em to stop slipping in both dry and wet conditions.

[Matt Newby, PGA]

I don't have an issue with people wearing golf shoes to tournaments. As duck!hooker mentioned at Whistling Straits it really is almost a necessity, I witnessed many people fall on that course. The funniest for me is the people who wear their spikes EVERYWHERE. I have a buddy who wears Tour 360 LTD as his regular shoes. Cracks me up everytime we go into the grocery store and you hear click clack down all the aisles.

[JR]

I could see wearing golf shoes to a tournament because they are waterproof, but that's about it.

[digsouth]

I have a friend who saw a broken arm and a broken leg amid the numerous falls at WS. I am of the opinion that there are climbing shoes that serve a purpose.

As to regular courses, not WS, a course designed to be viewed from the air, and never intended for any walking by humans( goats and sheep are ok), I just think that people wearing golf shoes are beyond nerdy.

Sorry. I love metal spikes, and hate the fake ''problem'' that enables millions of dollars of crappy ''soft spikes'' to be sold, but to wear golf shoes as a spectator is just sad. And we have hilly courses here in Texas that are very steep.

I have played in flip flops and not slipped-and been under par for 9 holes as well- but I do prefer golf shoes/metsl spikes while playing.

[Del the Funk]

Hell, I don't even wear golf shoes to the golf course! (unless it's a fancy private club) My fav's are gore-tex lined Nike Pegasus running shoes. The waffle soles have just as much grip as a pair of Foot-Joys and WAY more comfortable. I put over 9 miles on a pair today, great hike had be all including the world famous Reef Hole ;) Shoot, maybe I'll put on a real pair for Tilly's finest 3-shotter tomorrow...it is after all the 5th to last day before closing...

[BrianS]

People claiming golf shoes are needed for traction are beyond ridiculous. The caddies don't even wear them. When was the last time you heard anyone in another setting (say hiking) claim to use golf shoes due to the great traction they provide ?

[Big John]

@Sgolfer Just for your information, the word "retarded" is not cool and makes you look like an absolute jackass.

[MikeZ]

I always just figured some people wore golf shoes to tournaments (mostly older men, by my observation) because those are their most well-worn, comfortable shoes for walking. (My dad, for instance, back in the day, never owned a proper pair of "sneakers" that I can recall.) If the only recreating you do is play golf, it would make sense to wear them to walk around a golf course all day. (But who wears metal spikes anymore anyway -- other than some pros? Are they even allowed anywhere?)

[Stanley Thompson]

There is nothing wrong with wearing golf shoes at a tournament.
The are comfortable, waterproof and offer good traction.

However....no one today should ever wear metal spikes....unless you are a nerd.

Well...Phil still wears them.........

[3foot1]

If I owned lightweight/GoreTex hiking boots OR if I arrived at a tournament only after the dew had dried (and there were no damp drainage areas), I wouldn't wear golf shoes. I've worn running shoes a few times when I arrived late. But most of the time (25-30) I've wanted to get my money's worth, so I've arrived before 9:00 and stayed till 7:00. My golf shoes are the most comfortable waterproof shoes I own, and I don't want to be wearing them all day long if they're going to be wet for a few hours in the morning.

Also, golf shoes give better lateral support than running shoes.

[Keith 86]

Blew the plug out of the toe of me right thong(I am right handed)on the 11th hole once. Input a metal divot repairer through the rubber on the underside of the thong to hold it together and played the last 7 holes 8 over walked into the club house to the sound of metal clinking on a tiled floor every second step. I'm with DTF shoes are for weddings.

[Del the Funk]

Any and all are welcome to wear good ol' fashioned metal spikes at Champions down in Tejas...

...Mr. Burke said "when Usain Bolt wins a race in soft spikes we'll switch"...

...gotta love that!!

[DDowner]

use of the word "retarded' is perfectly acceptable, except to those so caught up in PC nonsense that they are threat to society.

[GolfFan]

Retarded is used in Medicine and Engineering to specify a response, dampening and the like.

The R-word commercial somehow never runs on Fox Soccer any longer. A bit too? politically correct to remove a scientific term?

Learn more science and math, boys and girls.

And ... I don't understand why my shoes post wasn't accepted last night, I noted that our golf shoes are most comfortable and appropriate for slopes whether on manufactured TPC's or regular natural mounding. Not that kind of natural mounding ...

[W.R.]

@GolfFan,

Your comment lasted until Geoff posted his own catty reply (about how you regularly miss the point). Then, apparently, he regretted his comment deleted it and yours.

[Bob]

Much to do about nothing. Who cares about what footwear you have on at a golf tournament. Let's worry about something more important, like the national debt or the "Get in the hole!" a--holes!"

[shimmy]

@DDowner, maybe it is acceptable to you, but to those of us that happen to have a retarded person as part of our family it is not acceptable to describe a "normal" persons behavior. Asshole, on the other hand, is acceptable and that is what you obviously are.

[john]

It's like people who wear tennis outfits to the US Open in Flushing NY or fans who wear baseball jerseys to the ballpark. They are expressing their support for a player or the sport.

I personally find running shoes have enough semi-cleats to get traction on steep hills. I suspect people who are slipping are wearing flat bottomed shoes.