***Please note that I was not compensated in any way by Footjoy nor did they contact me to write this.  I bought the shoes through a well-known online specialty golf retailer.  This review is entirely my opinion.

After 3 years and more rounds than I can count (somewhere between 65-75), my existing ProSL’s were starting to wear out so I figured it was time to replace them.  As I have pointed out in other posts, I’m a fairly big lad and I’m aware that this means shoes break down quicker and it means they don’t last as long as would be ideal.  Because their sizing hasn’t changed I knew what size I would need.

One tip: Unless you know your size by brand/model, I strongly recommend trying shoes on in-store BEFORE you buy. Ideally, at the end of the way, wearing socks that you’d wear when playing. Shoes aren’t cheap so you want to make sure that you’re not wasting money.

Since I really liked my old pair and had good luck with them, when it came time to buy a new pair I was always likely to stick with Foot Joy.  For one, their last fits my foot very well.  I learned the hard way that every company makes a slightly different last, plus I tend to under-pronate which makes things even more difficult.  The Foot Joy shoes don’t make this worse which is more than I can say when it comes to a couple of other brands.

Other brands, you ask?  Adidas has made some changes and their current range really doesn’t fit.  Plus, they don’t make an extra-wide and they’ve narrowed their existing wide a bit.  Nike shoes have never felt good on my feet (I bought a pair of their golf shoes in the 90’s when they were just starting to get into the market; they never felt great and broke down very quickly).  I tried New Balance once but wasn’t impressed.  Made my foot sweat something terrible and waterproofing was bad (I play a lot of early morning rounds so my feet were often wet after a few holes).  I wear ASICS sneakers as they fit my foot fairly well; haven’t tried their golf range yet (been hard to find).

Comfort: Excellent. Most modern shoes “should” fit well right out of the box with synthetic materials.  Not like a shoe from 30 years ago that you’d have to break in.  These fit great the second I put them on.  They make a BOA model for $20 extra, but I prefer the regular lace-up.  The foam is highly dense but still provides plenty of cushion.  It’s not as spongy as some other models, but for me, it was very good.  One note: Foot Joy tends to run a half to one full size smaller than my regular shoes.  I wear a 10 1/2 in ASICS, New Balance and Mizuno but I wear a 10 in Foot Joy.

Grip: Excellent. This was a bit of a revelation for me.  I always thought (wrongly) that spikeless shoes would have bad grip on turf.   My Pro SL’s have better grip than my old shoes with softspikes.  No slips, no issues on side hills or going up and down mounds.  During my swing, it feels like my feet are anchored down which is what I want.

Stability: Excellent.  The soles flare out a bit from the foot, providing additional stability.  It’s one feature that my old XPS-1 shoes had that I loved.  Full swings from the tee box, shots from the fairway or rough…felt very secure.

Look: Average.  If I have one complaint about these shoes, it’s the look. They’re not exactly a modern looking shoe. My first thought when seeing them was that they look like bowling shoes. I do wish they’d adopt a more modern look that other brands seem to be doing.  With that being said, I’ll sacrifice looks for performance.

Overall: Excellent. Foot Joy does one thing well, and that’s golf. To their credit they don’t try to get into other sports or make some ‘training’ shoe.  Unlike companies that see golf as one line on an org chart, Foot Joy only does golf.  And they do it very well. They make widths from extra narrow to extra wide (I really wish Ecco would make wide widths but they don’t which means they’re a non-starter for me).  They don’t introduce new lines every year for every model, which is not the norm in the industry.  Overall, they’re outstanding shoes and I’m looking forward to getting plenty of rounds out of them.

Song Of The Day

Johnny Marr’s solo records have a distinctive sound their own.  Bit of social distancing here from a few years ago.