I “HEARD” Davis Love crossing a cart path at the Sony Open yesterday…clack clack clack…metal on concrete. Some know.
I’ve been looking for my old spikes for months, but cannot find them. 2 weekends ago on the range my worn soft spikes “gave way” a bit much and I tweaked my left knee. Not badly, but enough for me to say enough. Found a new pair of Etonics with steel spikes on ebay. They arrived today and luckily fit perfect. I’ll let you guys know how much trouble I get into at the local courses. I wonder if you had a Doctor’s note of some sort, an exemption, that says you were physically unable to play without substantial footing or traction? (As always, I promise to walk fast, not hold-up play, repair divots, fix more than 1 ball mark, not drag my feet, and now I’ll repair any spike marks within 3 feet of the hole).
Even if it’s difficult to play em nobody’s going to kick you off the driving range for using spikes. That solves the practice problem.
Although I am no fan of the USGA, they are not illegal by their rules. Odd that a sport would exist where one is not allowed to use legal shoes on 99.9% of the sport’s playing fields.
Good one! It’s pretty ridiculous when you think if it like that…
I just put a set of Pro Stingers in my shoes and I’ve been really liking them. They’re a steel spike, though a bit short, in the middle of a soft spike. These may have been discussed before, not sure. I didn’t know about them until a friend of mine heard me talking about missing the old spikes, and he said he’d order me a set. They feel great, and a world of difference from the regular soft spikes. The sound of them on pavement alone is great. I’m not sure if they’d be deemed a non soft spike or not, but I’d vouch for silent(if you stay off the paths) objection, and wearing them anyway. Has anyone ever been checked before they play? I know I haven’t.
Two things:
One, is that metal spikes as a “natural aerator” is definately not a myth!!! That is exactly how it works. There is actually a machine that landscapers use on grass called an aerator which puts little holes (albeit a bit bigger than spike holes) in the ground, to facilitate air and water can get down to the root system. And plastic ones do the exact opposite.
Two, to solve the whole ruining the flooring in the clubhouse (which is just a lameass excuse in my opinion), a pair of these should do the trick…
JN
Bom, Bentshaft and I have them in our shoes as well. Both of us agree it is a huge difference. Also, I told our course owner about the steel spikes, he had no objection. He said “sure…no problem. May even help the greens”.
Going to give those spikes a try…I take a pretty good whack at the ball and I wonder whether my inability to keep my right foot down is due to an inability to keep traction in order to contain the swing–at least I think it might help me turn more efficiently so that I might not need to jump off my right foot midswing…
The flatter you swing… the more torquing, twisting and diagonal forces move into the footwork. If you swing upright, much less so. Just take a heavy pipe or something similar and start moving it around your body very level and you will see what I mean.
This is exactly why steel spikes were invented in the first place. The clubs were flat early on… players swung correctly around their bodies, and proper traction was necessary.
It’s no coincidence Hogan put an extra custom spike in his shoe.
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i have NOT played with any other spikes but steel for my golf - i simply will NOT play a course that does not allow them
i WALK each and every round and have paid at least $300 for each of the three pair of steel spike shoes i bought over the last twenty years - i rotate and currently have pair with five to seven years of use and a pair with three years use in the line-up here in ft liquordale FLA, and i have taken the ten year old pair out of the line-up because of necessary repair and left them up north in westchester county NY
i have studied most all the university level and above reports of effects of steel spikes on grass and except for a university of the ohio state indicating they may spread certain grass diseases more effectively than spider spikes the results for the most part show negligable detrimental effect if worn properly and a person PICKS UP THEIR FEET properly on the greens and certainly NO more detrimental effect elsewhere on the course
CARTS DO MORE SEVERE damage to the golf course in general and specifically after wet and very wet weather - NO ONE GOES off about banning CARTS - do they ?
it is a solid SHOE and i can feel anchored in cement upon the tee and comfortable walking through-out a typical four mile journey - something that would be impossible with the cheap molded plastic glued together feather-weight slippers they sell today as GOLF shoes that wouldn’t last a single season for the frequent golfer like myself
and best of all i get my true size 11 and 1/2 - something very few retail outlet stores carry in their inventory of the plastic spike shoes lately
frankD
I’m sure we will be selling steel spikes on this site before long.
I hear your frustrations.
Golf needs to be taken back one spike mark at a time!
I loved my old FootJoy metal spiked shoes. I felt like I could climb Mt. Everest in them without a rope. Too bad most of the courses have banned them. I ended up giving them to GoodWill.
Those pro stingers metal spikes have perked my interest. I thought all metal spikes were gone for good. I will have to look for them next time I’m in a golf store.
Gee wonder why they make them only last a season or two? $$$ 
Yes, good golf shoes should last decades. It’s not like you wear them everyday. Most people only walk from the cart to the ball and back. The longest walk they take is from their car to the bag drop. At that rate they should last an average golfers lifetime. But as we can see, planned obsolescense is the marketing strategy. At least you can get last years model shoe for about $50 bucks. LOL last years model of shoe. Maybe I can trade in my older gently used model. 
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yes of course i am sure those plastic shoes were designed to be “consumable” as these days anything that “creates j o b s” is a political plus (so what if those jobs created are in third world countries)
and no i am not out to change the golf shoe world BUT i simply canNOT play with any other shoe than a solid leather sewn heavy heeled thick soled metal spiked shoe
and yes i do hate to be “sold” every new and improved way of doing things AND just as there is nothing wrong with my putter or set of irons (i do not use woods), there was and is nothing wrong with my shoes
frankD
Didn’t the idea of planned obsolescence start here?
I just didn’t think anyone would actually take it serious and apply to a product.
Here’s something you don’t see much in The States:
Always like when confirmation lightbulbs get reaffirmed while passing thoughts to others on the practice tee. How’s that for near redundancy. 
Used this analogy the other day. A spike nail will only hold, or fasten, if it is driven down into something like a piece of wood. Without pressure down and through, the spike nail as a fastener is useless, it might as well stay on the store shelf.
Same with transition and the spikes we wear…down into the ground to hold so we can be any which way but loose.
advancedballstriking.com/steel_spikes.pdf
Here is a scientific study on why steel spikes are superior for swinging a golf club. Good players know this from feel, but this interesting study shows why from a more clinical perspective.
[size=150]Janzen disqualified for wearing metal spikes[/size]
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) – Two-time champion Lee Janzen has been knocked out of U.S. Open qualifying for wearing metal spikes at a golf course that doesn’t allow them.
Janzen was at Woodmont Country Club for a 36-hole qualifier and opened with a 75 on the North course when it was discovered he was wearing metal spikes.
All players were informed in a May 20 letter from the Michael Cumberpatch of the Mid-Atlantic Golf Association, the official in charge of the Woodmont qualifier. The second item - right before the item that says shorts are allowed - said steel spikes were not allowed for the qualifying rounds or even the practice rounds.
Cumberpatch later said in an interview with Golf Channel that all but two sectional qualifying sites ban metal spikes for the qualifier. The exceptions were in Columbus, Ohio, and Memphis, Tenn., where the majority of PGA Tour players were competing. Metal spikes are allowed on the PGA Tour and the major championships, even at the U.S. Open.
Janzen said on Twitter he received the spikes rule in an email. ‘‘More concerned about my game. 71 1st round put me way back anyway,’’ he tweeted.
Only eight players from the Woodmont qualifier advance to the U.S. Open next week at Merion in suburban Philadelphia. Janzen won the 1993 U.S. Open at Baltusrol and the 1998 U.S. Open at Olympic Club.
Asked if there might have been confusion about the spikes because Janzen played a Web.com Tour event in the Washington area, Cumberpatch told Golf Channel, ‘‘The only confusion would be you didn’t read the documentation you’re required to read.’’
‘‘You’re responsible for knowing the conditions under which you’re playing,’’ Cumberpatch said.
Janzen was disqualified for the metal spikes nearly eight years after a short-lived debate about spikes on the PGA Tour. A petition in August 2005 sought support from the Player Advisory Council to get rid of the metal spikes. Janzen was quoted in a story in USA Today as saying, ‘‘It’s got no chance. You can’t ban metal spikes.’’
Not much can get my blood boiling over more than this…
How can shoes that are legal to wear by the USGA not be allowed to be used in their own national championship?
Show me one other sport where you are not allowed to play in legal shoes and I will shut up.
I hope he sues the USGA.
This is a two time US Open Champion who won both of those events wearing metal spikes. He’s not even on the senior tour yet. This absurdity needs to stop.