It took just a few short weeks for our team of reviewers to get on the course and find out why two of Nike Golf’s newest shoes for Spring 2014 are sure to win you over. They are nothing less than impressive and certainly are rivaling Nike’s off the course shoes.
Our first look at the Nike Air Clayton, we fell in love with the look of the shoe. Nike Golf continues to amaze with their desire to bring back the classic feel of old world golf, but ensure each golfer has the freshest new up to date look on the course. Do you want a wing-tipped dress shoe that rivals Nike’s Cole Hahn dress line; well then this is your shoe.
We took the shoe to Florida during our Annual Florida College Bowl trip, simply because we had no place to test the shoe in the D.C area this past month. While we are sure the shoe would have withstood many element tests, as it did later in our testing in Florida, out bodies simply couldn’t handle the frigid temps.
For starters the Air Clayton is equipped with the Lunarlon cushioning, which features a soft, yet resilient foam core encased within a supportive foam carrier for lightweight, ultra-plush cushioning, springy response and support. This innovative foam, invented at Nike and 30 percent lighter than traditional Phylon, allows the force of impact to be more evenly distributed and helps reduce painful pressure points on your foot. This will come in handy if you plan on walking the 18 holes.
“Handmade, Italian leather shoes are the essence of premium footwear,” said Ryan Bucci, Nike Golf Footwear Product Line Manager. “We saw that there was an opening in the marketplace for a high-quality, handcrafted golf shoe that we could marry with Nike technology to make it lighter, more comfortable and more wearable.”
We do like this shoe for multiple reasons. It is a great off the course shoe and water resistant. It was part of our rainy day Gator Bowl outfit, which surprisingly held up to four quarters of wet football and they still looked new. We did find the yellow trim to dirty very quick, but a quick wipe down of the shoes after the game, showed a still brand new look afterwards. This shows how well they will hold up on a wet grassy course.
The next day, we played 18 holes and they dried all around from the day before and we really liked the grip on the grass the shoe provides with no worries about dragging cleats into the clubhouse.
The Lunar Clayton is part of Nike Golf’s S/S ’14 collection and is available online and at select retailers starting January 1, 2014. Suggested retail price for the shoe is $249.
Next up was the Lunar Empress for women and they again are making this like stepping out of the gym and on to the course with this selection.
Made with a no-sew upper and Dynamic Flywire support, the Nike Lunar Empress Women’s Golf Shoe helps keep you comfortable while locking down the foot with an adaptive fit.
This shoe not only is extremely light, at just 7.4 ounces, we found that the harder construction makes the shoe a little more water resistant and extremely breathable for a warm day. Luckily, the temperatures were a little better the second day and we could see how breathable these shoes were on a 75 degree day. We also found the traction to be impressive. They feel as comfortable as a running shoe. Our staff knows a lot about running after some miss hit balls to speed up the pace of play.
“We’ve loaded up the new Lunar Empress with performance features designed to benefit golfers of all levels who want a flexible yet supportive shoe with amazing comfort,” says Lee Walker, Nike Golf Global Footwear Marketing Director. “It’s been fun working with golfers during product testing for the Lunar Empress and seeing their reactions to the shoe – how excited they are to welcome the fresh, sporty design to their ensemble and also their surprise at just how light it is.”
From the look of the current Women’s Golf lineup, we expect the Lunar Empress to be a hybrid of the Summer Lite and the Embellish.
The colors available for women are as follows: Laser Crimson/Red Violet-Hot Punch, White/Dark Grey-Pure Platinum, Violet Shade/Polarized Blue-Deep Royal Blue and Turbo Green/Lt. Lucid Green-Nightshade. The Empress retails for $99.
Again, the Nike Golf products continue to impress our staff. We continue to say the next shoe won’t match the last one but, once again they have outdone their previous shoes for both men and women. We wonder what is in store for the fall of 2014?
For more information the Nike Golf shoe collection, visit their website at www.nikegolf.com