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Now I have to change shoes when I putt....

usa1950

Divots like a 72 Playboy
Jul 15, 2007
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Goodness Gracious.....

I played in a brand spanking new pair of shoes yesterday (Nike... uggh) I won with a long drive at a work outing recently. They aren't bad, very comfy, except I putted the worst I have putted in about 10 years.... at least the worst that I can remember. I must have had 4 of 5 three putts, and made no birdies, despite hitting 8 greens in a row at one point. I had 6 birdie tries inside 20 feet, and 3 inside 12 feet. Missed em all.....:real angry: I often play 18 without a single three putt.

Well, I had played in a pair of Foot Joy Classics which I got from Calvin Peete (actually "got" means I took them out of a garbage can at the Nashville Senior PGA Tour event about 12 years ago.) every round I have played for more than 10 years. Peete came off the 18th green at this particular Tour Stop... immediately took his shoes off, said something along the lines of "these suck" and dropped them in the garbage can.

I heard him, went over, and picked them out, and the were brand new FJ's... with C. Peete written in ink inside the shoe. I put them on, and well, we are the same size. An interesting "ho" as you call it around here. Free ho... gotta love those.

Yesterday, my stroke was AWFUL. My practice strokes were awful as well. I usually like to feel the sole of the putter ever so slightly brush the grass, and am an above average putter, usually.

But with these new shoes, I was stubbing the putter behind the ball, or sometimes not even coming close to my normal stroke, and hitting them "thin" without a brush of the grass. Reads were decent, speed was bad early, but great late in the round.

It was all about the path of the putterhead.

I compared the soles of the two shoes when I got back to the car, and, lo and behold, the new Nikes have a MUCH thicker sole than my old FJ's.

So I was measureably "taller" when over the ball? About a 1/2 inch to 3/4? Admittedly, I did not know what was going on, probalby overcompensated after my initial putting woes (including a three putt for a par after driving one green on a par 4). I was never comfortable at all, really, for teh eintre day.

Could it be the freaking shoes?

Am I insane?

Stupid game.

I did manage to par 9 of 11 at one stretch, but neve made a putt longer than 5 feet all day.
 

chemboy2

M634
Supporting Member
Sep 23, 2004
2,822
3
I've actually wondered about this myself. In fact, I only practice putting with my golf shoes on. I do trade off on which shoes I wear. I have good days and bad days myself and now I'm going to see if there is any correlation between my performance and shoes...
 

Eracer

No more triple bogies!!
Oct 31, 2005
12,405
8
If every putt was taken on a flat, level green, then I would think about it. But most putts are taken with the ball above or below your feet, and the thickness of the soles is only one more variable for your brain to deal with.

I vote "non-issue".
 

MCDavis

The Plaid Duffer
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Oct 19, 2006
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Major non-issue.

usa, you had a bad day for you that for others would've been a good day. Unless you have multiple bad days wearing the same shoes, move on. It happens to all of us.
 

limpalong

Mental Ward Escapee
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Oct 18, 2006
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Okay, let me understand this. You go 'dumpster diving' and come up with a pair of FootJoys you wear for 12 years. Then, when you go to a new shoe with a slightly different feel/set up/sole thickness, you can't putt??? If I were guessing, I'd say the golf gods were getting back at you for playing 12 years in someone else's shoes!!!!:laugh::laugh:

It's a stupid game we play. Left my shoes in the back of the truck last night. They were damp from 'dew sweeping' yesterday morning and I wanted them to dry through the afternoon. Needless to say, after setting out all night, they were damp again from the dew. So, I grabbed the son's shoes out of the basement to wear to a special outing today. (He's in Iraq, so I helped myself!!) Well, I haven't hit the ball this bad for weeks. I've been wearing a pair of Nike's all summer. Mike's shoes are FootJoys. So, you see, the reverse affected my game today. I would have simply put the bad day off the tee onto 'one of those days' until you had to go and mention this shoe thing! Guess I need to buy a half dozen pair of the exact shoe I've been wearing to have as back-up!!!:laugh:
 

MCDavis

The Plaid Duffer
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limpalong, you'd have been ok if you'd taken your son's clubs also...they're used to his shoes! ;)
 

warbirdlover

Ender of all threads
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Jul 9, 2005
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My golf pro makes sure you have your shoes on before a lesson. He says shoes make a difference. And if the soles are different thicknesses, I'm actually not surprised at your putting problems although I would think you'd "adapt" in a short time. Didn't you have problems with other clubs? :)
 

kwcsports

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Dec 12, 2006
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This topic is crazy IMO. I can putt barefoot, with golf shoes, sneakers, sandals, makes no difference.:laugh:
 
OP
usa1950

usa1950

Divots like a 72 Playboy
Jul 15, 2007
599
0
  • Thread Starter
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Okay, let me understand this. You go 'dumpster diving' and come up with a pair of FootJoys you wear for 12 years. Then, when you go to a new shoe with a slightly different feel/set up/sole thickness, you can't putt??? If I were guessing, I'd say the golf gods were getting back at you for playing 12 years in someone else's shoes!!!

That's pretty funny...... Have to applaud that.

To be fair, I did not want to go to far into the story.... but I used to have a job in Sports Marketing, for a great big brewery based out of St. Louis, MO.

We followed the PGA Tour and/or Senior Tour from city to city. Having been to more than 75 Professional Golf Events, I procured lots of free stuff. Tickets to concerts (the third time seeing the Rolling Stones from inside the 20th row is not as exciting as the second, which is not as exciting as the first), Tons of tickets to the events themselves for friends, family, or hot waitresses you meet.

Free sets of irons from Tommy Armour Reps (back when the 855 Silver Scots were hot stuff - a nice trade in for $600!)

And in this case, a brand new pair of $100+ Foot Joys, which had been worn for 18 holes.

The "trash can" he threw them in was really a pile of Michelob beer boxes that we had just emptied. It's not as if I had to wipe stuff off the shoes, or climb into anything at all.

And if you get a nice pair of shoes from the highest end of the spectrum, and you polish them and take care of them, shoe trees and all, not just toss them in the back of your trunk... they can last forever.

I also don't play all that much... about 10 times per year.


After further thought.... I think I might take a mulligan on the whole shoe sole poor putting phenomenon. I was a bit uncomfortable over putts, perhpas due mostly to the shoes, but I suppose only an insane person would concede that it was the SHOES which caused the bad putting....

I'll just have to take solace in the fact that I created an "interesting topic" or whatever you call it.
 

limpalong

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Oct 18, 2006
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This topic is crazy IMO. I can putt barefoot, with golf shoes, sneakers, sandals, makes no difference.:laugh:
This topic is crazy IMO. I CANNOT putt barefoot, with golf shoes, sneakers, sandals, makes not difference.
 

limpalong

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limpalong, you'd have been ok if you'd taken your son's clubs also...they're used to his shoes! ;)
Maybe that's why WBL has so much trouble with drivers. He's not buying shoes matched to each driver. But, of course, if WBL bought shoes to go with each driver he'd be another Imelda Marcos!!!:laugh::laugh:
 

limpalong

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Oct 18, 2006
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If every putt was taken on a flat, level green, then I would think about it. But most putts are taken with the ball above or below your feet...
Is this why my numerous putters all work so well on the basement carpet... flat, level... and then won't work out on the course??? Shazaam!! Wonder if the wife will let me jackhammer out the basement floor and put a little undulation in it for this winter???
 

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