Adidas Puremotion and Crossflex Golf Shoes

Adidas Puremotion and Crossflex Review: Anyone checked out the shoe section of a local golf store lately? It’s insane. What was once 1 standard wall of Foot Joys, Etonics and Nikes has exploded into a – well, a big-ass section full of all kinds of styles, colors, etc.  The Three Guys have already made it clear that we are fans of this movement – finally the footwear is catching up to the rest of golf attire by shaking things up a bit. And as golf continues to get hip to what the rest of the footwear world is up to, it is only a matter of time until the newest advances in running shoe and cross-trainer technology make their way into our golf kicks.

According to Adidas, that time is now, as they roll out their Puremotion and Crossflex models. The Adidas Puremotion incorporates the same “natural motion” concept that you’ll see in a lot of cutting edge running shoes – basically, the idea is that the more a shoe allows your foot to behave as though you are barefoot, the better off you are, as your toes and natural foot contours can help out with balance, force, etc. The Adidas Crossflex is more like a proper running shoe, but a super-lightweight version that allows for more connection with the turf than the standard golf shoe-and Sergio Garcia is now wearing the Crossflex.

Very good. Once I understood all the science, I had to give the Adidas Puremotions a try. From a looks standpoint, they were right up my alley – I like a little funk, but I also want to look like I’m playing a sport, not plotting my next graffiti mission. The Puremotions are athletic at heart with some disco thrown in – primarily with the bright blue color but also utilizing some neat little trim touches to funk things up.

Once I put the Puremotions on I knew Adidas had a winner. They are just flat-out comfortable – they seem to be a bit wider, which works out great for my dogs. Even the toe area is squared off a bit, retaining that width all the way to the end of the shoe, as opposed to coming down to a point (whose foot does that anyway?).

The Adidas Puremotions are spikeless, instead utilizing hard rubber ridges (for lack of a better term) on the sole to provide grip. I recently indicated a curmudgeonly skepticism towards anything other than spikes on golf shoes, but these suckers have made me a believer. These soles feel so legit that, for the first three rounds I played in them, I kept worrying that I was leaving marks on the greens just based on a nagging feeling that I was sinking in and causing some kind of damage. That sounds cheesy, but I’m serious. Oh, and something my playing partners would point out at least once during a round as I posed off another velvety pull-hook – these things look crazy!

“Sir, we think Bigfoot has been in the bunker on 8.”

More on the soles – the truth is, I wouldn’t be able to survive in shoes that really made me feel like I was barefoot. I have plantar fasciitis so bad that I can only do barefoot for about half an omelette in the morning before the running shoes have to go on. So I can see how Adidas is shooting for the natural foot concept by allowing room for the toes to move, having different channels on the sole for each toe, etc., but ultimately it’s actually a very substantial sole that provides a good amount of support. Now, there are some shoes on the market that hype the “you can feel the contours of the earth”, and while the Adidas Crossflex are low profile, the ony word I can think of for these soles is “substantial” – on the ground side the ridges feel hard and durable while the human side provides support and what I believe to be a ton of stability.

Moving on – these suckers are waterproof. The fact that they say so on the side of the shoe is my only bone of contention with Adidas on this one (seems a bit much), but I have played several rounds in wet conditions and they have certainly lived up to their own billing. The uppers are made of breathable mesh, so they’ve got that going for them, which is nice, but not something I ever really notice one way or the other.

“Excuse me, sir, are these waterproof?”

Bottom line review- I have several pairs of nice shoes now, and conventional wisdom tells me to mix things up from round to round. Once I got the Puremotions, however, they’ve been the only shoes I’ve worn for all subsequent rounds, including a 36 hole tournament. I figure, why wear anything but the best, right?

You can check out the whole line of Adidas shoes on their website.