Soft Spikes Establish Foothold On Market
Golfers are going soft.
Players across the U.S. are giving up their metal-spiked shoes for new soft cleats. In many cases, the change isn’t voluntary - many top courses are banning metal spikes.
The change is noticeable. Players don’t clickety-clack across tile locker room floors, and greens don’t look like the previous foursome played a quick game of Twister before going to the next tee.
“Basically, this represents an evolutionary step in the game of golf,” said Norm Hitzoth, head pro at the National Golf Club of Canada in Woodbridge, Ontario. “We think this will make our golf course even better for the players.”
Nonmetal cleats are popular with club owners and course managers because they cause less damage than metal. While metal spikes have single pins that dig into the turf, nonmetal cleats are designed to give traction with less damage. Some cleats are just a series of nubs, others are spiral-shaped.
Caught in the change was MacNeill Engineering Inc., the Marlboro, Mass., company that dominated the market for metal spikes since 1931, when it patented the spike-anchoring device that’s built into every golf shoe.
“We have never had to do any advertising or marketing in the past,” said Marty Greenwald, the family owned company’s head of marketing. “We simply did not need to because we were so dominant.”
Not anymore.
Some 400 courses banned metal spikes in 1996, Greenwald said. Now there are more than 2,000.
Among them are some of the most prestigious in North America: the Congressional County Club in Bethesda, Md., site of this year’s U.S. Open; Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course, in Cornelius, Ore., site of the 1997 U.S. Women’s Open; Winged Foot Golf Club’s West Course in Mamaroneck, N.Y., site of 1997 PGA Championship; as well as the National, just outside of Toronto.
The new leader is Softspikes Inc., a Rockville, Md., and Boise-based company that was founded in 1993. It has 70 percent of the nonmetal spike market.
MacNeill, which is the U.S.’s top maker of traction cleats for athletic shoes, has shifted gears. It now produces nonmetal spikes, and has marketing and public relations people to help sell them. It’s putting most of its efforts in selling the spikes to major shoe manufacturers.
Closely held Softspikes, meanwhile, targets course owners, golf shop operators and grounds keepers. They have given away their product at some courses, confident that golfers will see the advantage of their soft cleat.
“We know once a club has seen the benefits of Softspikes, they will not go back to metal spikes,” said Kelly Elbin, Softspikes’ vice president of marketing.
Cost isn’t much of a consideration. Softspikes’ top line goes for $7.99 a set while MacNeill’s line of products are between $5.95 to $6.95 suggested retail. That is only slightly more than a replacement set of metal spikes.
Softspikes also has targeted the Senior PGA Tour. Last year, it offered a $10,000 bonus to any player who won a tournament wearing the company’s product. This year, that pool has been expanded to the top 10 finishers at each event.
While the nonmetal spikes are more popular than before, they have some detractors. Some say that they can be slippery when the course is wet, which could cause more problems than bad golf scores.
“What is a concern is liability,” said Mark Allen, assistant pro at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif. The picturesque course is on the Pacific Ocean, so it’s often moist.
“We have had players with nonmetal spikes slip and injure themselves,” Allen said. They simply don’t hold as well on an uneven, wet surface as metal spikes.”
Chewed up greens aren’t much of a problem at Pebble, Allen said. It’s not a public course, and $250 greens fees help keep traffic down.
Even Softspikes’ Elbin said his company’s nonmetal spikes don’t grip as readily as metal spikes, although his company hasn’t been held liable for any accidents.
While the new cleats may not grip wet turf to some golfers’ satisfaction, they’ve established themselves with the people who run the sport.
“It’s really an economic decision,” Elbin said. “Metal spikes take their toll on the clubhouse, on golf carts and on the condition of the greens.”
xxxx SOFTENING UP In Spokane County, soft spikes are not required on either city or country courses. Several courses, including Downriver, do request that golfers use them. Soft spikes are required at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course.