Shoes and Cleats

I just bought myself a pair of Lotto turf shoes. The shoe has a uniform sole with 85 studs, all of equal length at about 6mm. They're very light and I find them very comfortable (YMMV on this one). The sole has a slight slope to it. The multitude of golf shoes I've seen anywhere have either a high heel, a heavily sloped sole or both. Few are comfortable to any degree let alone for 5 hours of walking on grass.

The Lotto shoes I bought is a football boot. In America, we call that sport soccer for some reason. Anyway I don't see why I'd have a problem with them except perhaps because of the cleats for some reason. Even then I checked my golf shoes' cleats and those are about 12mm and much fewer in number. If there's an argument about how much my soccer shoes can damage the greens, I'll try the reasonable physics argument.

My golf shoes have 7 removable cleats, each with 6 individual cleats. They have very little cleat profile elsewhere so the brunt of the weight will rest on those 42 individual cleats. I weigh about 200 so that would come up to about 4.7lbs per cleat.

My soccer shoes have 85 cleats and all are in contact with the ground. They are also shorter than my golf shoes' cleats so they wouldn't dig in as deeply in any case. For the same weight, each cleat would be loaded with about 2.3lbs. About half that of my golf shoes. A much better weight distribution across twice the number of cleats, don't you think? It would reduce any potential damage I could do to any golf green.

An argument that those shoes could damage the greens more than "golf" shoes has no weight, so to speak.

My golf shoes: 4.7lbs per cleat.
My futbol boots: 2.3lbs per cleat.

Now this discussion would take quite a different turn if my soccer shoes were 6 stud Copa's.

Do you play with cleated shoes not intended for golf and what problem, if any, have you encountered at the clubs you play at?

I wear both types of shoes that you discribed when I do wear cleats. It just depends on the moisture content of the playing surface. The wetter it is, the longer the cleat. On a very dry course I usually just wear tennis shoes with out cleats. My swing balance is still sufficient that I don't worry to much about slippage.

As for damage to the surface of the green, the only time I see any damage that is caused by a shoe is when a player, while walking will turn their feet with out picking them up all the way. If they do not pick up their feet completely, their cleats tend to scratch, or tear into the surface of the green. I see this type of damage most often in a close radius around the cup. Again, the softer the putting surface, the more prevalent this type of damage will be. GJS

You forget the one and only rule...My golf course, my rules...lol...so your speaking to the chour so to speak. The ones you need to convince are the rules official for your local golf course or the course you intend to play using these shoes. I love the old steel spikes, love the sound they made walking on the cart path, love the traction, but alass, most courses these days don't allow them anymore.

So for the potential damage it's more a matter of the walk, then? That's what I think too. I'll see how it goes next monday.

You're on the right lines, and your point is still probably valid, but I believe what you're seeking is Pressure = Force / Area, not Mass / No. of Contact Points. This is why the pressure applied on a DJ's stylus is several tonnes per square metre, even though the mass is only 2.5 grams - the area is tiny.

That said, I assume the area of your 85 cleats will be much larger than the other 42 contact points, though if they're plastic points, more of the cleat, I suspect, than you think will be in cntact with the ground.

I fear the only the way to test this is to ink the soles of both shoes and go and stand on a piece of paper to assess contact area.

Enjoy!

__________________
~_~_~_~_~
Personal bests 2007;
Best 18: 78 (+12)
Best 9: 37 (+4)
Best Stableford: 45 pts
Best total putts: 28
Best total length sunk putts (ft): 54

Club tourney history this year: Captain's Day - 1st; Club foursomes - 2nd; Dimex Stableford - 2nd; Club Championship - 13/28 gross, joint 5/28 nett; Ferebee Shield - 2nd; Sept Medal 2nd; Autumn Stableford - 1st

I played this monday so I have a better idea of what to expect.

The cleat pattern on my soccer shoes is very distinctive and very visible. My golf shoes don't produce that kind of effect. I think we notice regular patterns more easily than non-regular patterns for some reason. It doesn't make my golf shoes cleat marks any less deep or my soccer shoes cleat marks any more deep. It's just that one makes more noticeable marks.

Were they leaving noticeable marks on the greens?
My golf shoes dont leave marks at all (unless Im walking in the sand...)