The most innovative golf shoe is a running shoe that can play golf. This is how it works

 

Nike is working on its most innovative golf shoe yet, the Nike Air Zoom Infinity Tour

With golfers walking, on average, 4 miles on the course, comfort should be king on the green. How to blend the comfort and style of a running shoe while enabling one of the best golfers in the world to generate as much power as possible from the ground?

There is a new golf shoe on the market designed to provide speed and comfort to golfers, leveraging maximum energy return from the ground up.

Nike and Brooks Koepka, the American professional golfer on the PGA Tour, brought to life to Nike’s most innovative golf shoe yet, the Nike Air Zoom Infinity Tour. The idea started back in November 2017 when Nike was asked by Koepka to make a running shoe that he could play golf in. Challenge accepted. Koepka has one of the fastest swing speeds at up to 128 mph.

Nike worked with external researchers to create a golf-specific mechanical test that benchmarks the cushioning platform for the Nike Air Zoom Infinity Tour. Nike also measured Brooks Koepka’s driver swing speed to be faster in the Air Zoom Infinity Tour than it was in the Nike Tour Premiere model he wore when he won three previous majors.

Nike’s Air Zoom Infinity Tour golf shoe releases April 1.

“Golfers look at their clubs and golf balls as pieces of equipment, but never really their footwear,” says Matt Plumb, Nike Golf Product Line Manager. “Brooks was instrumental in the Air Zoom Infinity Tour iterative process, helping us get to the point where we can now help golfers look at their footwear as part of their equipment on the course.”

The source of a golfer’s kinetic energy comes from the feet, and every time a golfer swings, they lose some of that energy. This is where Nike Air Zoom Infinity Tour steps in, re-harvesting and redistributing some of that lost energy.

Analyzing data from pressure maps, Nike designers looked at where traction elements need to be positioned on the shoe for an ultimate return on movement. Developing a holistic system that transfers more power up the kinetic chain, Nike obsessed the areas of fit (to reduce in-shoe movement), ride (for maximum energy retention) and traction (for zero slip in any direction).

The Nike Air Zoom Infinity Tour leverages Nike Zoom Stroble technology and moderator plate, first tested on court by Kevin Durant in Nike Basketball’s KD12, to provide the structure, comfort and enable energy return needed on the golf course.

The golf show features weather-resistant Nike Flyknit, first tested on the pitch and introduced by Nike Soccer’s Mercurial Superfly and Vapor 360 Boots. The product borrows design elements and Nike REACT foam from Nike Running’s Nike React Infinity Run Flyknit for game-changing cushioning and energy return on the golf course.