PGA Touring Pro Geoff Ogilvy and I have a lot in common.  He’s from Australia, I like Koala Bears.  He’s made millions of dollars on the PGA Tour, I’ve made millions of dollars on the PGA Tour (EA Sports Tiger Woods 2004 for XBOX).  Week in and week out he plays with and against the best golfers in the world.  I follow LPGA star Christina Kim on Twitter.  Geoff plays a fade, I play a slice (which is basically a bigger, more powerful form of the fade).  He’s got a sweet endorsement deal from Cobra, and I once hit my buddy Jay’s Cobra driver.

Yeah, me and Geoff, we’re practically the same guy, which is I why I wasn’t surprised when I found out that Geoff Ogilvy is wearing the very same Swing Crown GTX golf shoes that PUMA just sent me.  Is it just my delusional imagination, or is Geoff Ogilvy my total doppelganger?

There are countless (zero) eery similarities between myself and Geoff Ogilvy, but even though our games, and in many (by many I mean probably none) respects we lead parallel lives, it’s clearly the PUMA Swing Crown GTX that makes us practically the same guy.

First Impressions

Normally the soles aren’t the first part of a shoe I look at, or even care about.  That’s a bit like starting your search for a new car by looking at tires, but since PUMA is talking up their Smart Quills something fierce, I figured it was probably important that I take a look.  For those of you not yet in the know on the Swing Crown sole design, here’s what PUMA has to say about their Smart Quill Technology:

It all started when we set out to design the first tour-grade shoe with non-replaceable cleats.  We wanted to create on that performs like the styles from back in the day.  The kind with nails that were all about traction.  At the same time, we wanted to bring a more modern look and feel to golf – with comfort, style, and lightweight materials.

And what did we come up with?  Smart Quill technology.

Here, ultimate traction meets modern style.  Multi-directional Quills are unique positioned for traction throughout your swing, while also creating a spike system that is comfortable and lighter in weight.

If I didn't know better, I'd swear some guy at PUMA attached the Smart Quills at random.

Before the Swing Crowns arrived, I had looked at several pictures but didn’t have any hands on experience.  I half expected the quill patterns to be mirror opposites, but in fact the placement looks accidental, almost random.   Traction doesn’t happen by accident, however; so my guess is somebody at PUMA spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out exactly where to place the individual Smart Quills.

Moving to the top of the shoe, it’s hard not to notice the large microfiber upper, and relatively small vamp which help to give the Swing Crown its distinctive looks.  With only 4 pair of eyelets for lacing (my current shoes have 7); if not for the sliver PUMA stripe, and PUMA logo on the back, the Swing Crown’s could pass for a pair of stylish white dress shoes.  Unless you’re a real trend setter,  you probably won’t get away with wearing the Swing Crown’s to your next black tie event, but it’s hard to image you won’t have the freshest kicks on the course.

Only 4 loops...now that's just crazy.

The Fit

When talking sizing with my contact at PUMA, I was originally concerned by the lack of a wide option in the Swing Crown GTX.  I’ve got pudgy feet, and have never had much success finding a pair of comfortable standard width golf shoes (the 3 pair of golf shoes I’ve owned have all been wide).  Of course, the only other pair of PUMA shoes I’ve ever owned (a pair of cleats I’ve played softball in for the last 4 years) have fit comfortably from day 1, and they’re not wide either, so I was hopeful the Swing Crowns wouldn’t bind my feet tighter than a Han dynasty concubine (channeling my inner Dennis Miller).

Sure enough, the Swing Crowns fit great.  There’s plenty of room for my chubby little feet, with plenty of wiggle room for the Vienna sausages that pass for my toes.  Bottom line, if I were reviewing the PUMA Swing Crown GTX for Zappos, I’d say they fit true to size.

The Accidental Indoor Traction Test

While trying the Swing Crown on in my living room, I got an unexpected introduction to the gripping power of the Smart Quills.  Now how valid of a test this really is, I can’t say because as general rule, I don’t wear my golf shoes in the living room very often (much to my wife’s dismay,  it does occasionally happen).  What I can say with certainty is that the Swing Crowns are the first shoes (golf or otherwise) I’ve ever had grab on to my Berber carpeting.

Freeing the shoe from the carpet was a bit like pulling a kitten off a sweater, minus all the screeching.   All that gripping got me wondering if my old shoes have the same ability to rip up my rugs.  So like any thorough product reviewer with too much free time on his hands would do, I quickly put a brand new set of spikes on my current shoes and set up a simple and admittedly unscientific grip test.

First with the Swing Crowns, I planted my left foot firmly on one of the floor mats in our entry way, and tried to twist it free (my front foot has a tendency to twist open during my golf swing).  The Swing Crown barely budged, although I think I heard some fibers tearing lose from the rug.  Rather that risk ripping the mat at apart (and a subsequent lecture from the wife about what constitutes proper indoor behavior – and in a more general sense, what I giant ass I am), I took off the Swing Crown and tried the same test with my regular golf shoes.   While the shoes I’ve been wearing did grip a little, they certainly don’t have the claws of the PUMAs.

Granted, a floor mat isn’t a fairway (not that I have much experience playing from fairways), but my little test did provide the first indication that the Swing Crown could actually deliver on its promise of superior traction.  In truth, I probably would have felt a little weird about intentionally dragging my foot across a rug to test the traction of a golf shoe, but I’m pretty sure Geoff Ogilvy did the same thing when he got his Swing Crowns (lest there be any doubt, I just made that up).

The Golf Test

It’s either a confident man or a complete idiot who endeavors to play 27 holes of golf in a pair of untested shoes.  On course with the Swing Crown GTXs, the two questions I set out to answer were 1). How comfortable are the Swing Crowns, and 2). Does this traction thing PUMA is talking about really hold up.  Over the course of 54 holes (I’m either extremely confident, or I’m an idiot of epic proportions), I answered both of those questions and plenty more.

Comfort

First, let’s talk about comfort, because, I don’t care how much traction a shoe can offer, it it rubs your feet down to the bone, what good is it?  The first time out on the course withe the Swing Crowns, I did in fact play 27 holes.  Granted, I took a cart, but even when I ride, I tend to do a lot of walking (I have a nasty habit of hitting balls where carts can’t go).  By the end of day1, I did start to experience some light rubbing on the outside of my right heel.  I never developed a blister, however; and by the time I got home and conducted a thorough and complete foot inspection, I wasn’t able to find any sort of identifying mark on my foot.  The next day I went out and played 27 more.  This time around I didn’t experience any sort of rubbing.  No blisters, no soreness, nothing.  In fact, when the round was over, my feet felt great.  I wish I could say the same about my shoulder, and my pride.

What I think that all means is that there is a breaking in period for the PUMA Swing Crown GTX, but it certainly doesn’t take long, and there’s a good chance you’ll get through it blister free.  My other shoes still can give me the occasional toe blister, so I’m actually pretty satisfied with how my feet came out of the weekend.

If there’s an instance when I don’t like the feel of the Swing Crown GTX it’s when walking over pavement or a hard-packed cart path.  The Smart Quills and the TPU Studs (those red knobby things in the picture) are noticeably firmer than your average golf spike.  As a result, there isn’t a lot of give over hard surfaces.  If you’ve ever worn soccer or baseball cleats while walking through a parking lot, you know the feeling.  Obviously it’s not a big deal since golf is largely played on grass (or in my case in sand), but don’t expect to enjoy your walk to and from the parking lot.

Traction

I’ve already told you how well the Swing Crown’s grip my carpeting and floor mats, but how does that translate the golf course?  It turns out it translates perfectly.  I didn’t go out of my way to try to force myself to lose my footing, instead my plan was to get out, play my game, and make a note of any slips.  Over the course of 54 holes, my front foot came out on me exactly once.  It happened on a very dry tee box (we had just finished discussing whether or not we should try and find threaded tees), and I had to swing like a drunken lumberjack to make it happen.  The bottom line is that, when it comes to traction, from what I could tell anyway, the Swing Crown GTX with its Smart Quills out performs my current old shoe.

One of the other tidbits to come out of PUMA’s marketing literature is that the design of the Swing Crown helps keep the spikes from getting plastered with mud and other golf course gunk.  Conditions were mostly dry when I played, but I did manage to find time for a couple of hikes through the woods.  Normally I have to clean the mud and pieces of dead leaves off my shoes when I come out, the Swing Crown’s, however, remained mostly debris free (nothing that required any real cleaning).  I also didn’t have any need to clang my shoes together in the parking lot at the end of the day – straight off the course they were clean enough to just toss in the trunk.  I’ll reserve final judgment until after I’ve played in soggier conditions, but there does seem to be some validity to the “stays cleaner” talk.

The Smart Quills without a doubt provide an amazingly stable platform.  Now I’m certainly open to the possibility that I was just having a good…actually great driving weekend and the shoes had nothing to do with it, but over the course of those 54 holes, I hit substantially more fairways than I normally do (and even my misses were playable).  Overall distance was up too; culminating with a drive on the 343 yard 4th at Kingswood (my home course) that stopped a mere 10 yards short of the green.  Like I said, it could all be coincidence, and I’m certainly not going to tell you that wearing the PUMA Swing Crown GTX will increase your accuracy and distance, but since it happened, I figured I’d include it.   Also, I look for any excuse to brag about my monster tee shots.  I like to think the Swing Crown’s give me the confidence to swing out of my shoes, without actually doing it.

Weight

PUMA’s marketing literature also contains several references to the weight (or lack thereof) of the Swing Crown GTX.  They discuss how things like the microfiber upper, and the non-replaceable Smart Quills, make the Swing Crown GTX an exceptionally light golf shoe.  Even before I got out on the course, I tried to compare the weight of my current shoes to the Swing Crowns.  I dangled both off my fingers to see if there was any measurable difference between the two.  I came away thinking the Swing Crown GTX might be ever-so-slightly lighter, but since the shoe I’d been wearing previously is also billed as being lightweight, I wasn’t surprised to find that the difference was less than night and day.

Here’s the thing though, as I was walking back from returning my cart after my 2nd 27 of the weekend, I noticed my feet.  Actually, what I noticed is that I barely noticed my feet at all.  It turns out that a few ounces may not mean much when your twirling shoes from your finger tips, but after a long weekend of golf you might grow to appreciate the difference.  That said, I’ve never felt bogged down by my current (or any other golf shoe I’ve ever warn – although they have felt heavy after a long day of golf), so in practice, if you only play 18 at a time, and only do that every so often, it really won’t matter that much – and weight alone certainly isn’t reason enough to buy a pair of Swing Crown GTX shoes.

Cleanup

Let me just say this: Real men don’t clean their golf shoes.  Having said that, I thought maybe some of you would be curious as to how easy it would to get your Swing Crowns back to their out of the box shiny white selves after caking on a few rounds worth of mud, grass, and whatever else you happen to step in.  Again, not that men clean their shoes.

The microfiber upper, and pretty much every other part of the shoe north of the outsole cleans up very easily.  For the upper I’d recommend using warm water and a non-abrasive sponge.  For the most part I didn’t need any sort of detergent, although something mild probably wont hurt.

After 54 holes and a little soap and water, the Swing Crowns are almost as good as new.

The foam outsole provided a bit more of a challenge.  I managed to stain mine with  a fair amount of reddish-brown mud, and was worried that the foam might stay a light rust color forever.  Warm water and sponge didn’t get much of it off.  Using some dish detergent and a mildly abrasive sponge, however; I was able to get the foam looking almost as good as new.   Of course, having completed my test work, I’ll probably never clean them again, because, as I said, men don’t clean their golf shoes.

Minor Gripes

As much as I love the PUMA Swing Crown GTX, there are a few things that PUMA could conceivably change that would make me love them a little bit more:

• Color Selection – unlike last year’s Swing GTX, the Swing Crown is currently available in white/silver, or white/silver, or, well you get it.  Last year PUMA offered us a choice of white, black, or the über-stylish white/green.  For a company known for its bold style, the lack of color options is both disappointing and puzzling.
  
  

  Ordinary guys like you and me are (for now anyway) limited to the white & silver. When you're Geoff Ogilvy, however, PUMA let's you rock these sweet looking black & whites.
• No wide sizes – As I said, the Swing Crown GTX is not available in chubby.  My personal experience is that they fit my fat feet just fine, but I suspect some others won’t take the chance and will simply look elsewhere.
• Non-replaceable spikes – PUMA says that durability isn’t an issue, and that utilizing non-replaceable spikes helps reduce weight.  Obviously it’s too soon for me to talk about long-term durability, but I have no reason to believe it will be a problem (it’s hard to explain by the design of the spike is such that the edges are largely protected).  That said, my recommendation is to limit contact with hard surfaces as much as humanly possible.  I’d further recommend you keep a pair of Golfskins on your Swing Crowns anytime you’re not walking on grass.  Golfskins are relatively inexpensive and easily slip on and off just about any golf shoe.  Whatever the lifespan of the Swing Crown spikes ultimately turns out to be, Cleatskins Golf protectors should help to extend it substantially.
• Cost – The retail price of the Swing Crown GTX is $275.  I’ve received more than a few winces when I’ve told people what they sell for.  Of course, these are guys wearing $60 golf shoes so…well…you know.  Still, while most definitely not the most expensive golf shoe on the planet, at $275 the Swing Crown GTX is priced a big higher than tour quality shoes from Nike, Adidas, and Footjoy.

Final Thoughts

Let’s be honest here, wearing a pair of PUMA Swing Crown GTX golf shoes won’t make you Geoff Ogilvy.  You won’t gain legions of adoring fans.  And even though you probably won’t win the US Open, you’d look damn good competing in the PUMA Open, and that’s something.  While the superior traction that comes from Smart Quill Technology almost certainly won’t get you your tour card, what a pair of PUMA Swing Crown GTXs can offer is an exceptionally lightweight, and more importantly, comfortable golf shoe, with way more style than you’d ever find in a traditional saddleback.

Listen man, you’re not your grandfather.  You don’t pull your black socks up to your knees. You don’t drive a Chrysler (or a Buick), and you don’t spend your afternoons screaming at whippersnappers and ruffians to get off your damn lawn.  You’re not your grandfather, so why would you wear his golf shoes?  Stay Fresh, kid!

The PUMA Swing Crown GTX golf shoe, and a ton of other stylish, high performance golf gear is available at the PUMA Golf Store.  For the latest happening on all things PUMA Golf, check out the PUMA Golf Blog.