Courses Banning 2014 Adizero shoes - Buyer Beware

So here's my issue...

I have very recently purchased 2 pairs of the Adizero 2014 golf shoes (one white and one blue.) Because of the damage these shoes do to the greens, my club (Camberley Heath) has now banned these shoes from the course permanently.

Here is a quote from an email I have just received from the club:

Adizero Ban
Due to the significant damage that these specific golf shoes cause to greens, the Board and Committee have made the unanimous decision to ban these golf shoes.

I am the first and only person at my club to have purchased these 2014 shoes so thankfully nobody else is putting themselves in the situation I am in whereas I have 2 pairs of shoes, both of which I have worn twice and now I can no longer use them.

It does just go to show the damage the shoes are causing the greens when it is just my footfall that is causing the issue. I am not particularly large or heavy, there is just a design fault with these shoes. As more and more of them are purchased I believe more and more clubs will introduce a ban on wearing them.

I realise that the weather has caused the greens to be wet and therefore the damage may appear worse than when the greens are firm and pristine however I am of the belief that when the greens are in perfect conditions, the likelihood is that the marks will probably be even more noticeable. This is demonstrated in the recent WGC event where both Jason Day and Sergio Garcia wore the shoes and the damage was very noticeable. Look at this photograph taken of one of the greens when it was being putted on by the group after Jason Day's group had played out that hole:

The spike marks that are very visible on these pure greens are undoubtedly from Jason Day’s Adizero 2014 shoes and that is before Sergio Garcia’s group had gone through this green.

This is an image taken from my course about an hour after I had walked on a recently cut green:

As you can see, the marks that are being left are the same type as those left on the better condition greens that the WGC was played on last week.

Unfortunately, unlike Jason Day or Sergio Garcia, I cannot go to the tour van and get another pair. The suggestion of changing the studs is of no use whatsoever because it is the elevated location and distribution of the studs that causes the issue. Whatever you replace them with is going to leave the same scarred greens because it is the distribution of the weight onto the 7 spikes that is causing the problem.

So if you are considering a purchase, you may want to rethink the Adizero route. As waterproof, comfy and light as the shoes are to wear, if your course joins the growing group of courses to ban them, they will end up being an expensive pair of dog walking shoes!

Baz

Wow, you'd think someone would have figured this out before getting to market, huh?

Adidas should give refunds.

Yep - Contacted adidas and they are not interested. They are saying that the shoes are legal and thats the end of it.

Its not that they have fewer spikes, its that each spike is raised about 10mm from the actual sole of the shoe.  This means that the sole doesn't make contact with the ground at all on dry greens meaning that they will mark the pure ones and not until the spikes have already dug in 10mm on wet greens. You can imagine what mess that makes.

Just a very, very poor design.

When I bought these a few weeks ago they were literally just out in the shops so I'm guessing that not many players have them hence the reason Adidas don't think there is a problem yet.

But you watch the mess that Sergio and Jason Day make if they continue to wear them (which I doubt they will for long).

Such a shame becasue I have worn Adidas shoes for years and never had an issue until now.

This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Is it the spike itself that is raised 10mm, or is it the housing on the shoe?  If it's the spike, maybe you could just replace them with shorter spikes?

It sucks that Adidas won't help you.  With all of the good customer service stories I've read on here and elsewhere when it comes to clubs, I'm surprised they wouldn't want to help you out.

P.S.  Welcome to the site, and thanks for the information!!

The sole of the shoe never touches the ground so ALL of the weight of the player is on the spikes only, even with metal spikes the shoe sole still touched the surface and were less damaging unless someone started dancing "the twist".

Wow. Thanks for the heads up. I was considering buying some Adidas shoes soon for summer, as they seem so comfortable straight out of the box. But I think I may look at something else now. Old school spikes never did any damage like that...

When my son and I were in Golfsmith looking around I showed him those shoes and told him there's not a chance I would wear those on our greens.

Hard to believe anybody thought that design would work.

It reminded me of a day last year when somebody last year was wearing some tennis shoes that had a design like this on the bottom and it was obvious where they took each step.

HO-LEE-SHEEEET!!

Ban those suckers ASAP. And they were concerned about the long putter??????

I literally just bought a pair of adizero a couple of days ago. I found them on clearance at golfsmith and was wondering why they were on clearance already. Is it a specific type of adizero's because mine do not look like those and i think the sole does touch the ground. Here are some pics of mine, I hope these do not make marks like that because they are soooooooo comfortable.

FWIW my Nike Lunar Swingtip did the same thing and it doesn't have aggressive lugs for a street shoe. Though here squishy public course greens are the reason. I leave imprints wearing Keen hiking sandals and those are nearly flat on the bottom.

Need to quote a post by a fella here from last year June.

Those look like they would be better than the ones I saw. At least the raised area is a larger space than the humps with spikes on them.

No those look okay, it's the one with the spikes protruding well below the sole of the shoe, I'm sure the people who invented the soft spike never intended them to be on a shoe like that.

Definitely.

These greens look like our greens here in NE Ohio did a few summers ago during one of the worst hail storms we ever had. I remember the greens at Fox Meadow and Copper Top looked like somebody dropped buckets of golf balls onto sopping wet greens from a helicopter.

You can't even just roll that damage out... so I don't see these shoes being used for very much longer. Billy Payne is probably already sending out notices.