We conducted a test to determine if spiked golf shoes actually make a difference in your speed and yardage. With 177 swings collected across seven golfers, we measured carry distance, ball speed, and clubhead speed in our test and analyzed all the data to determine if your shoes can help you gain distance.
Get the best spikes on the market here! https://bit.ly/softspikes
⛳ What You’ll Learn in This Video
✔ Do spiked shoes really increase distance?
✔ Why some golfers gained 15–27 yards instantly
✔ How traction affects swing sequence, lower-body stability, and strike quality
✔ Why more outliers and slips occurred with spikeless shoes
✔ A 3D analysis breakdown of what happens when your feet lose grip
✔ Which type of golfer benefits the most from spikes
✔ When spikeless shoes can actually perform better
✔ How to test this for yourself on any launch monitor
This is golf science you can feel, backed by slow-motion footwork, biomechanics, and player reactions.
📊 Why This Matters
-Golfers spend hundreds chasing 3–5 yards with new drivers.
A set of spikes costs a fraction of that — and for many players, the gains are bigger.
-If you want more speed, better contact, and more confidence under pressure, this test might change the way you think about footwear forever.
💬 Tell Us Below:
Are you Team Spikes or Team Spikeless?
What do YOU wear on the course — and why?
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43 Comments
hard to be as fair as possible when a spike company is sponsoring the event just saying you are a bit bias in this set up….not a good look dude
let me guess the result you get when sponsored what a bunch of bs viewpoint dude…
Fully Equipped did an interview with the Softspike rep for the PGA tour. It confirms your results. The tour pros rely on a stable footing to optimize ground forces. Interesting fact, some players have mixed spikes on specific locations on their shoes.
In order of priority: Does the golfer actually use the ground >> Does the shoes (spiked/spikelss) fit well >> type of spikes. Whether a golfer goes spike or spikeless is a combination of personal preference and how much they use the ground (plus wet conditions). The fit and design is arguably more important.
I remember when I first moved to spikes from regular running shoes (they were an enhanced traction shoe), I felt restrictive with the spikes. Now its the opposite.
When you slide off the bank of the canal/pond/lake and get full of mud and scum, you throw out your spikeless shits and only wear spikes from then on. Spikeless golf shoes are range fashion.
I use pantry x 003 spike less and they give me the ergonomics I need best shoes in golf
Spikes are not worth the many conveniences of spike-less.
Even at home on my artificial turf, I tend to get more club head speed with my spiked Adidas 360 vs my generic running shoe. Sometimes they actually feel TOO grippy.
Great stuff. I did a shoe test one time. Flex golf shoe against Cleated pair (common one amongst pros). For myself the flex shoe consistently produced better ball speed. Thought it was shocking as I was expecting the opposite
I have to use spikeless. Because I feel the greens with my feet. Cant feel the greens with spikes. Putting is more important than distance.
Regardless if SoftSpikes sponsored, or not…The Nike spikeless shoe has some of the least textured sole for stability; I own a pair. When it is dry, I have no fear of slipping. I also own a pair of Ecco H4 spikeless, with much more grip. I will tear the range up with those. I would be interested in doing this test. Conditions trump all.
Where I live, and the courses I play, the grass is not so great. So I wear my spikeless in the summer when it's dry and my spiked ones the rest of the time, with the most aggressive SoftSpikes.
Really interesting test. I play and like spikeless shoes, but I have literally fallen down a few times from my trail foot sliding out from under me on the tee. I've learned that it is critical to clean the short "spikes" on my spikeless shoes. They get clogged with fresh cut grass very easily.
Winter golf go spikes/ summer golf spike less 😉
Great stuff. This is still staggering to me that everyone doesn't know this. You should repeat this test on wet/muddy conditions. It's not even a comparison. The other factor I've noticed is lighter golfers 'generally' use the ground more as a percentage of total power input. Likely because of lower overall muscle mass. This tends to mean they use a greater proportion of ground force in their swing. Larger players have greater overall grip due to their greater mass. I'm very small at 60kg, but swing very hard. So much so that I would absolutely fall over at full power on wet grass with poor quality flat soled shoes, as I'm grip limited in the wet. Three swings and I've torn up the ground in spiked shoes. In fact, I'd speculate that if you are not tearing up the ground, then you're very likely not using the ground to its full potential. Bring on the winter wet grass comparison.
If you want to run the test yourself > Here's what to do…
Before starting:
– Properly warm up before hand and hit some drives.
– Have a pair of spike and spikeless shoes
– Have a good launch monitor to get speed, distance, and offline.
The process:
1 – We're going to hit 24 total shots.
2 – Switch shoes every 4 shots (it's annoying but key to now skew the data)
3 – First 16 shots your goal is to hit it far but also online.
4 – The last 8 drives (4 with each shoe) just focus on max distance. Swing as hard as possible.
Get the data! Review and get averages for spike and spikeless (*hint – pull out the "smash" drives and just look at normal shots).
Good video though one thing to consider, especially since you provided the shoes, would be to blind the players. They wouldn't know if they were wearing spikes or not once they put them on. One guy seemed biased off the bat
I'm British, so a bit confused by American measurements, what's a bunch, when describing speed?
Squaiz golf shoes claim about 4mph, I’d buy a pair if they did a money back guarantee if you don’t swing faster in them
This was a great test. However, it's not just about spike vs spikeless, it's about shoe type. Footjoy has some good videos about what type of shoe their tour pros prefer, including how it affects their swing. The shoe platform (sole and insole types) itself is a major factor. So finding someone's preferred shoe platform first, and then comparing spikes vs spikeless, is just as important.
With the spikes I need to turn my left toe towards the target further to make the swing feel correct. When dug in, I feel my knee more and it limits rotation. Maybe age or the fact I'm not too flexible but, I think it may help some with spikes.
I'd like to see a company design a pair of shoes that work together meaning the trail shoe has a sole pattern that promotes your ability to brace/push, while the lead shoe has a sole pattern that promotes force/turn. It seems all golf shoes have the exact same sole pattern for the left and right shoe when we know the lead and trail feet behave differently in the swing. Of course I'm assuming this would have proven advantages in order to manufacture and market. If this already exists, who does it?
As someone that has poor flexibility, being too planted with spikes has put a lot of strain on my knee.
Would love to this with the same maker and style in spiked vs spikeless.
Payntr Match Day SC vs Paynter Eighty Seven SC
G/fore Gallivan2r spiked vs spikeless
Would like to see FootJoj offer their Premiere Field shoe in both spiked and spikeless.
…and to be fair, not all spikeless shoes are created equal.
What I couldnt tell is did you use spiked vs a normal tennis shoe or was that a spikeless design golf shoe?
Excellent video! I am lazy and play in my street shoes a lot but come tournament time, the spiked shoes go on.
I have a broken left ankle with two steel plates and pins holding it together. I would not even walk on a golf course without my spiked shoes.
Amazing
Anyone else notice that Cordie and Luke are starting to look like twins? Did they shop for glasses together?
I'd like to play with spikes and have the extra traction. I had them and I couldn't walk more than 9 holes before my feet were screaming in pain. Took them out and now I can comfortably walk 18.
Good soft spike shoes is a no brainer your feet need to be planted, golf is hard enough without the thought of slipping out to contend with. Also just plain walking up a wet grassy hill to the green can be a challenge without them.
I have both spike and spikeless shoes. I tend to wear my spikeless when the weather has been dry and not afraid of slipping, otherwise I use my shoes that have soft spikes. I also change my spikes at the beginning of each year.
In TPI terms, If you are more jump and less rock and roll + twist then you can better get away with no spikes. I definitely use them as I would for football, soccer, baseball, track… and you want traction in bball too.
I think plastic vs the old metal vs those other sports shoes would be interesting, but not practical.
Don't ‼️have really good lead leg traction & not flare your lead foot. Your knee is not made for twisting!
You only being 10mph less & not improving strike as much as others is likely due to extensive speed training without spikes.
Swinging sock footed on wood floor is good for balance, lousy for top speed and grf.
I wore spikeless for a couple seasons, after going back to spikes I'll never play spikeless again. I actually ended up falling in wet grass last year trying to muscle a 7 wood and re-aggravated an old knee injury, never again.
New golfer here….only been golfing for like 4 months and for the first 3 I just wore my vans shoes on the course and when I finally bought som gold shoes I got the foothjoy traditions (spikeless) but they have the same spikes as the Jordan's basically
…my first game was wierd feeling because I didnt slip in any conditions and after a few holes I started hitting better and farther
I always wear spiked golf shoes. However, in the past I would rarely change the spikes, leaving some spikes very worn. One morning playing with dew in the grass, my back foot slipped an inch or so and I pulled a groin muscle. It took 2 years until the groin was completely healed. I will never wear anything except spiked golf shoes and never again will I wear golf shoes with worn down spikes. A lesson learned the hard way.
Spikeless are better for the body movement. Spiked is too grippy sometimes and create resistance to body that can cause injuries
Can you do one about grips?
See I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I am prior military and have lower body injuries that still bother me. I also was a discus thrower and learned how to swing a golf club by aggressively digging my front foot into the turf like you would a discus throw, basically turning your body into a whip. Allowed me to get really good club head speed. However because of the amount of horizontal torque I was placing on my knee caused a ton of pain. Doctor and physical therapist suggested I sw
Itch to spike less allowing less torque to be placed on my knees. Would love to try this now that I am less dependent on the whipping motion to generate club head speed
New cleats are in the checkout cart now😎
Show me a computer screen and the data.
This is really good stuff…I think Ping did a similar test, somewhat by accident that I read somewhere…one thing I would challenge though is at the 5:49 mark you indicated the ball speed was up more than club speed, so that means it was a better strike….which I don’t think is correct. With driver, let’s say these guys were hitting with a smash factor of 1.45. 1mph of swing speed would be equal to 1.45mph of ball speed…so it’s not 1:1. Even if their smash factor was terrible, in the 1.3 area, that would still be 1mph swing speed equals 1.3mph ball speed…assuming these guys were around the 1.45 smash factor number, that would be about 3mph in ball speed…which is what the data show.
Will definitely do this test in the sim this winter…I have about a dozen pairs of shoes from True Golf zero drop/wide toe box shoes, to a few different Jordans, Adidas 360s (both spiked and spikeless), Ecco (both spiked and spikeless), and FootJoy….should be fun!