SQAIRZ golf shoes will always garner a reaction among golfers.
And your reaction will depend largely on how you view golf shoes. If you consider them to be a vital part of your overall equipment package, you’ll have one reaction. If you view them as a mere covering for your feet that need to be comfortable and decent-looking and nothing else, your reaction will be quite different.
The new SQAIRZ golf shoes for 2024 are lighter and, based on some on-course testing, more comfortable than previous models. They also include something that’s all the rage in golf equipment right now.
An artificial intelligence design.
Let’s dig in, shall we?
2024 Sqairz Golf Shoes Photography in Naples, Florida USA.
SQAIRZ Golf Shoes For 2024: Balance and Stability
If you ever get the chance to talk golf footwear with SQAIRZ owner Bob Winskowicz, be prepared to go places you never thought you’d go.
“Once you put something on your body, it becomes part of your performance,” Winskowicz tells MyGolfSpy. “For someone selling footwear to say shoes are one of the most important pieces of equipment you have, people will automatically put up a wall between them and me.”
It’s easy to scoff at someone saying shoes will make you a better golfer or make you hit the ball farther and straighter. On the other hand, if you threw a club, a ball and a pair of shoes on the ground and asked “Which one of these will help you create swing speed?”, you might have something to think about.
“Your only connection to the ground is your footwear,” says Winskiwicz. “If we can optimize that footwear to improve your balance, your stability and ground connection, you will hit it farther and straighter.”
Let’s apply a little deductive reasoning to that statement and read it backward. You will hit it farther if you improve your balance, stability and ground connection. If you play golf at all, that statement is kind of hard to argue with. The first part says footwear can be optimized to improve your balance, stability and ground connection.
Ever since arriving on the scene in 2019, SQAIRZ golf shoes, featuring a wide toe box and square toe, has been all about stability and balance. The 2024 lineup features three new models, each one lighter than previous editions and, according to SQAIRZ, with added structure, comfort and something called an AI-Generated Smart Traction System.
AI-Designed Golf Shoes?
Have you had enough of AI talk this year? Every club manufacturer is using AI to – deep breath – optimize/maximize positive performance and minimize/mitigate negative performance. But the SQAIRZ AI-Generated Smart Traction System appears to be the first time AI design has extended to footwear.
“On a SQAIRZ shoe, there are over 290 points of contact with the ground,” explains Winskowicz. “All the protruding nubs on the sole are at different heights. The computer says you need to have them higher around the cleat area.
“The amount of pressure you exert on the bottom of the foot in certain areas is greater, and we can see it by pressure mapping.”
Pressure mapping will show where pressure points are, or aren’t, during the swing with different types of shoes. SQAIRZ is using AI to optimize a traction pattern based on an optimized swing.
“With any land-based sport, you need to use the ground,” Winskowicz says. “If you’re balanced and stable, you can develop consistency. One of the major differences between a Tour player and an amateur is what they call ‘postural control,’ which is a fancy word for stability, and consistently controlling your body through a motion.
“Without balance and stability, you can’t effectuate a motion efficiently, effectively and consistently.”
The three new SQAIRZ golf shoes for 2024 – the Velo, the ProS2 and the Speed2 – all feature the new AI-Generated Smart Traction System.
Three Shoes For Three Types of Golfers
According to Winskowicz, there are three types of golfers.
“You’re either a lateral golfer, a rotational golfer or a combination of both,” he says. “A rotational golfer may not need as much support in certain areas as a lateral golfer.”
The new SQAIRZ Velo is for the lateral golfer who, as the saying goes, tends to “swing out of his shoes.” That means aggressive swingers over 95 mph. The Velo features a new stability technology SQAIRZ is calling NRG-Direct.
“It’s a proprietary material we found that was being used in another application,” says Winskowicz. “It’s like titanium in that you can make it thinner and stronger while staying very lightweight.”
The material, he says, provides enough structure to reduce energy loss on the lateral side of the front shoe, where pressure mapping shows the greatest amount of pressure is exerted.
“The force wants to come out the side and the upper material wants to give,” Winskowicz explains. “We can pick up speed just by reducing the expansion in this area.”
The other two new SQAIRZ golf shoes for 2024, the Speed2 and ProS2, are updates to previous models. Both feature stability-enhancing features that are more subtle, but also more suitable for the less aggressive swinger.
“Nothing here is for show,” says Winskowicz. ‘”The carbon film on the Speed2 is a heel stabilizer that helps with arch support and anti-torsion, tying the arch to the heel. The side embossing on the ProS2 and Speed2 helps with stability. When you emboss, you pull the material a little tighter. That provides a little more structure.”
Comfort and Weight
SQAIRZ has earned a reputation for stability, having been named MyGolfSpy’s Most Stable Spiked Shoe in 2022 and 2023 (the FootJoy Tour Alpha won this year). Where it has fallen short, however, is in perceived comfort and weight.
“Comfort is a delicate balance,” says Winskowicz. “A really thick insole might be more comfortable but it also absorbs energy. You have to find that balance between comfort and energy exchange with the ground.”
For 2024, SQAIRZ is introducing its new SQAIRZ NRG-Foam midsole. It’s similar in design and function to adidas Boost and many other rebounding foam midsoles. Winskowicz says it adds a little more cushioning while cutting about two ounces of weight. That may not sound like much but it adds up to a shoe that’s 12 percent lighter than before.
“We also added more cushioning to the tongue so it can fit your heel perfectly,” says Winskowicz. “You do have to be careful. When you move out weight, you move out structure.”
The SQAIRZ ProS2 features a waterproof, lightweight upper made from ComfortFlex microfiber. The new Speed2 and Velo feature a waterproof synthetic leather upper.
Back To That Toe Box Thing …
If you’re a style-first golfer, SQAIRZ golf shoes probably won’t be your thing. If that’s you, then you have my eternal gratitude for reading even this far. But if you view golf shoes as part of your equipment arsenal, then it’s important to understand the whole square toe box thing.
SQAIRZ isn’t the first square-toed golf show But it is the first and, so far, the only company to make it the essence of its very existence.
“Some shoes may help some people, and they may not help everybody, but the fact is shoes make a difference,” says Winskowicz. “There are things you can design into a shoe to optimize performance.”
The wide toe box and resultant square toe are all about letting your toes splay naturally. In theory, that gives you better balance and better stability. That’s no SQAIRZ theory, however. That’s chapter and verse from NIKE founder Phil Knight’s memoir, The Shoe Dog.
But after balance and stability, you’re on your own.
“It’s all about checking off inefficiencies,” says Winskowicz. “If we can reduce inefficiencies in several areas of the shoe, those inefficiencies become efficiencies. And efficiency is an attribute.”
Our on-course experience is limited to the ProS2. It is noticeably lighter and more comfortable than previous editions. It’s not walking-on-kittens comfortable but it is comfortable enough. Walking 18 is no problem.
As for performance, the better you are at using the ground, the more benefit you’ll see. A recent study by SuperSpeed Golf at Utah Valley University showed a five-mph ball speed improvement with SQAIRZ.
“The results and overall feel of stability and control I personally got when swinging in the SQAIRZ Velo were unlike anything I have felt before in a golf shoe,” wrote SuperSpeed co-founder Mike Napolean.
SQAIRZ Golf Shoes 2024: Price and Availability
The new line of SQAIRZ golf shoes is available now on the SQAIRZ website. As of last fall, SQAIRZ is also now available at retail in most Worldwide Golf shops. Those include Golfer’s Warehouse, Edwin Watts Golf, Roger Dunn, The Golf Mart and others.
The new Speed2 retails for $180 and is available in five colorways. The ProS2 comes in four colorways and sells for $200 while the Velo runs $220 and is available in three colorways.
For more information, visit the SQAIRZ website.
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