Tread and sole failure in golf shoes!

[ChipNRun]

Just finished a two-day Senior Championship tourney in St. Louis area. Both days we played cart path only on a damp, very hilly course.

 

On day two, a playing partner had the front-left sole of his left shoe start coming loose. Fortunately, he had some surgical tape in his golf bag, and was able to stabilize it with a few wraps around toe area.

 

Post round in the clubhouse, another player walks in and it sounds like the flip-flop of shower shoes. In his case the entire tread and spike layer back to the instep had come loose on both shoes.

 

When I got home that evening and was washing the mud off my shoes, I noticed similar trouble on the Day 2 left shoe: the forward tread and spike layer was coming loose at the outside edges of the instep. The next day I took it to the shoe repair guy. He sold me a tube of Barge all-purpose cement and said it should stabilize the loosening layer.

 

These are Adidas that I got on clearance. This was maybe Round No. 7 for them.

 

What about the rest of you...

* Are you having tread failure mid round, or worse mid-swing on hilly lies?

* How many rounds / seasons do you get out of golf shoes?

* Should we assume that golf shoes costing less than $100 are one-season and done?

[gioguy21]

i can't honestly remember the last time i had a pair of shoes fail on me - regardless of price.

 

i had a pair a long time ago of FJ icons; they replaced them without a big deal. (the toe on the them separated from the leather a bit, but were still structurally ok.

[sharkiesj]

A lot of times, this can be due to extreme temp changes. Too hot or cold can cause premature failure of glues keeping the upper attached to the sole. It can also lead to the sole crumbling away and not supporting the weight of the golfer. If you keep your shoes in the trunk of your car during the summer or winter, this can easily happen.

 

On a side note, I find it sad many shoe repair shops are going out of business. We live in a throw away society where no one gets to fix things anymore. Just throw away and buy a new one.

[puttingmatt]

If not to old, I would check the warranty. Take them back to point of purchase, and exchange

[ckay]

My golf shoes don't stay in rotation long enough to develop failures like that.

[setter02]

I think only pair I've had fail on me were a $300 pair of Eccos. Sole stiching just seemed to melt away and the whole toe was just flapping within 2 months (not to mention dystroying my heels...). Sent them back and got a different style. Never had any issues with my Icons or Adidas runner styles.

[mjbfyb]

I’ve only had one pair of shoes fail on me and guess where it was...St. Louis! It must be something in air.

[stryper]

I’ve had it on a couple of pairs of golf shoes and pair of New Balance cross-trainers.

 

Gorilla glue fixed the problem.

[Socrates]

> @ChipNRun said:

> When I got home that evening and was washing the mud off my shoes, I noticed similar trouble on the Day 2 left shoe: the forward tread and spike layer was coming loose at the outside edges of the instep. The next day I took it to the shoe repair guy. He sold me a tube of Barge all-purpose cement and said it should stabilize the loosening layer.

>

> These are Adidas that I got on clearance. This was maybe Round No. 7 for them.

>

> What about the rest of you...

> * Are you having tread failure mid round, or worse mid-swing on hilly lies?

> * How many rounds / seasons do you get out of golf shoes?

> * Should we assume that golf shoes costing less than $100 are one-season and done?

 

I would take them back to where you got them. If they tell you to get lost, then they likely know they are counterfeit and Adidas won't touch them.

Even shoes on clearance, unless they are 5+ yrs old, should last 100+ rounds. I walk and get 100+ rnds out of my shoes and they still have lots of life left in them. Now these a top quality shoes, but even inexpensive Adidas should last 1-2 seasons.

[DFS PFD]

Never had a pair of golf shoes fail ( walk 70-80 rounds a year) .

[kcsf]

Funny this thread was started today as I was just thinking to myself yesterday how annoying as hell the squeaking has become on my Ecco's. Started mid round last week, I thought it was the insoles so I replaced them, only to return yesterday louder than ever. I think an email to Ecco is in order.

[Stanks]

The newest Puma Ignite (non spike) just didn't work well for me. I was slipping and sliding all over the course with those but, they never really "failed" on me. Just bad traction and I didn't trust them when using them.

[sirukuma]

> @mjbfyb said:

> I’ve only had one pair of shoes fail on me and guess where it was...St. Louis! It must be something in air.

 

I have a bunch of golf shoes that I rotate thru frequently. Only ones that failed on me recently are a pair of Puma PWRADAPTs where the glue that holds the red circular spikes into the sole of the shoe seemed to suddenly let go all at once. I bought them last year and used maybe a dozen rounds. I packed them on a trip this spring to visit and play golf with a buddy of mine. On the last day, it had rained overnight before we played so they were damp when I packed away for my return trip. When I unpacked, a half-dozen or so of the spikes fell off in my hand. The kicker..... I was playing in St Louis area! There must be something in that water there (LOL)!

 

I do have to give Puma rep that services the pro-shop where I bought the shoes kudos. They took them back and replaced them with an upgraded leather pair with no questions asked.

[North Butte]

> @ChipNRun said:

> Just finished a two-day Senior Championship tourney in St. Louis area. Both days we played cart path only on a damp, very hilly course.

>

> On day two, a playing partner had the front-left sole of his left shoe start coming loose. Fortunately, he had some surgical tape in his golf bag, and was able to stabilize it with a few wraps around toe area.

>

> Post round in the clubhouse, another player walks in and it sounds like the flip-flop of shower shoes. In his case the entire tread and spike layer back to the instep had come loose on both shoes.

>

> When I got home that evening and was washing the mud off my shoes, I noticed similar trouble on the Day 2 left shoe: the forward tread and spike layer was coming loose at the outside edges of the instep. The next day I took it to the shoe repair guy. He sold me a tube of Barge all-purpose cement and said it should stabilize the loosening layer.

>

> These are Adidas that I got on clearance. This was maybe Round No. 7 for them.

>

> What about the rest of you...

> * Are you having tread failure mid round, or worse mid-swing on hilly lies?

> * How many rounds / seasons do you get out of golf shoes?

> * Should we assume that golf shoes costing less than $100 are one-season and done?

 

In all seriousness, if three guys had similar shoe failures (of a fairly unusual type) in the same two days I'd worried there was something really nasty on the golf course. Like a spill of some kind of solvent maybe. Pretty unlikely event otherwise.

[maxilim]

I'm going through the same issue, left shoe sole separation, with a pair of addidas Tour 360. I came to this thread looking for recommendations on shoes designed to combat this problem (yes, I know it's my swing), but I figure I share my experience. I bought these shoes about a year ago and have played about 30 rounds with them.

 

Adidas warranties this shoe model for 2 years against defect and waterproof. I completed the Adidas RMA process and have shipped them with their packing label. Now I'm waiting for them to complete their process. They've said that once they receive it, it would take another 20 - 30 days to review the RMA. Afterward, they will provide a gift card totaling the MSRP. I won't know for a couple more weeks.

 

 

 

[ChipNRun]

> @Socrates said:

> Even shoes on clearance, unless they are 5+ yrs old, should last 100+ rounds. ...

I took a look at my shoes, and these Adidas it turns out are from several years back. Maybe I expected too much.

 

 

[Wriggles]

I've never had a pair of golf shoes come apart, but the "waterproof" pairs I've bought in the last couple years are NOT waterproof. I've returned several pairs within a few rounds of walking. Maybe, because walking is no longer the norm in golf, shoes are warranted waterproof, to be worn only to and from the cart. A moderate dew leads to soaked feet. I'm currently waiting for an online retailer to answer me about recently purchased "waterproof" shoes.

I think I'm going to get some hunting boots, and use them for golf.

[maxilim]

Update:

After Adidas customer support received my shoes , they sent me a gift card at the full MSRP value!!! Thank you Adidas!!!

[Bill Broderick]

A couple years ago, I decided to take golf up again after not playing for nearly 15 years. I found my old golf shoes in a closet and went to a driving range.

 

After about 5 swings, this is what my shoes looked like.

 

 

[RickK]

I have only had this happen a few times over the years. Each time, it was pretty easy to figure out the "Why" this happened. I live in SE Texas so our summer temps can be up around 100 several days in a row or several times each summer. I had a pair that I kept in the bed of my truck (under a cover) for that "just in case I get a chance to go play". The extreme heat basically caused the glue to turn loose. Ok, quit keeping shoes in the bed of the truck. Then when I moved, I had several pairs of shoes I put on a rack in my garage (not air conditioned). Had same thing happen to 2 pair of them. Now, all of my shoes remain indoors.

FWIW, I have a lot of Dryjoys and I have only ever had 1 pair of them fail me and my feet get wet. That pair must have been 10 years old when that happened. Hated to ditch them because I really liked that particular style of Dryjoy.

 

[TheMagicStinger]

About three weeks ago I played a wet round in my 2007 Ecco saddles. I've worn them for hundreds of rounds. On the tenth hole they started falling apart. The soles began to fail... Rubber chunking off everywhere. I ended the round and submitted a warranty claim to ecco with little to no hope of getting anything.

 

Just this week I got an email from Ecco with a $150 coupon code. The shoes were 12 years old...

[smashdn]

I had a similar problem earlier this year as shown with the nikes above. I had a nice looking pair of black on black saddles I wore on a day that was cool and wet. This pair was probably ten years old and the bottom just disintegrated as I was hitting balls on the range. At first I started seeing black foam and plastic on the range and thought it was from the bottom of a golf bag or something. Then I noticed I started really feeling the spikes in the sole of the shoe in my foot. Took a look and the sole was only half there.

 

I trashed them though the uppers were still in really nice shape.

[Duncan13]

I’m afraid I have a golf villa in Barbados and 20 pairs of tour 360 mainly with different colours. They last on average 4/5 rounds each before the glue vanishes and sole falls off the upper. They do not like being left 4 months between visits to the island . These have zero wear but I’ve never found any glue that holds once they fall apart 

[Ghostwedge]

5 hours ago, Duncan13 said:

I’m afraid I have a golf villa in Barbados and 20 pairs of tour 360 mainly with different colours. They last on average 4/5 rounds each before the glue vanishes and sole falls off the upper. They do not like being left 4 months between visits to the island . These have zero wear but I’ve never found any glue that holds once they fall apart 

You've got some voodoo island magic stuff going on there buddy. I walk over 100+ rds a year with soft spike and no spike both Tour 360's with ZERO sole separation or other problems.

[Socrates]

On 3/8/2025 at 5:59 AM, Duncan13 said:

I’m afraid I have a golf villa in Barbados and 20 pairs of tour 360 mainly with different colours. They last on average 4/5 rounds each before the glue vanishes and sole falls off the upper. They do not like being left 4 months between visits to the island . These have zero wear but I’ve never found any glue that holds once they fall apart 

 

On 3/8/2025 at 11:50 AM, Ghostwedge said:

You've got some voodoo island magic stuff going on there buddy. I walk over 100+ rds a year with soft spike and no spike both Tour 360's with ZERO sole separation or other problems.

Failure like that in multiple shoes is an indication of poor storage.  Poor conditions and maybe put away without being clean and dry.

 

I had a pair of Ecco dress shoes that were used only a few times a year.  I wasn't storing them in a good place and the soles came apart.  My bad.