We Asked 100 Golfers If Golf Shoes Make a Difference

Do golf shoes really matter?

My wife, who’s tired of me bringing home a new pair every week, would argue that they don’t make a difference.

However, I’m of the opinion that a good pair of golf shoes, like a properly fitted club, can be a real help to your game. But that’s coming from someone who lives and breathes golf shoes every single day. It’s my job to test and review shoes.

For the everyday golfer, though, the golf shoe may not be seen as a legitimate tool with which they can improve their game. That’s my hunch, anyway. Which side of the fence do you sit on?

I asked 100 golfers if golf shoes really matter. Here are my findings.

Demographics

Respondents to the survey (conducted via the MyGolfSpy Forum) ranged in handicap from 0 to 36. The majority of respondents (57.1 percent) reported that they play golf several times per week, with 36.5 percent playing multiple times per month.

Besides being asked general demographic questions, the survey also asked golfers to share their preference (spiked or spikeless) and their current go-to golf shoe brand.

Can a Golf Shoe Improve your Performance?

We asked 100 golfers whether a golf shoe can improve performance. After collecting the responses, I parsed through the data using a Natural Language Toolkit via Python. From here, I was able to filter responses to extract the words that appeared most frequently across all responses.

In this case, the majority of respondents felt a golf shoe could improve performance. The words I was able to parse directly correlate to how/why a golf shoe might help.

The Top Answers Are on the Board

Golfers made it very clear that a shoe that is “comfortable” and “stable” would ultimately help improve performance. The words “grip” and “traction” were also used very often.

Respondents were also concerned about wet weather performance, as denoted by the frequent appearance of words “wet” and “dry”, and a large portion of golfers cited golf shoes as a something that can add “confidence.”

If a golf shoe promised more distance, would you buy it?

I’ve had a hunch for a while that a golf shoe that promises more distance would be seen as valuable for the everyday golfer. I asked survey respondents this question and the results are somewhat surprising.

What’s your No. 1 consideration when shopping for a golf shoe?

Based on the question above, it’s clear that golfers are thinking about distance but might need some convincing that a golf shoe can actually add distance. I also asked golfers to share their top considerations when looking for golf shoes. The answers are very telling and line up with our philosophy here at MGS in how we go about testing and grading golf footwear.

Practice in polarity

After scraping respondents’ answers for their thoughts on golf shoes, I also conducted a full sentiment analysis in Python using a Sentiment Intensity Analyzer. This tool assigns each response a polarity score of 1 (positive) 0 (neutral) or -1 (negative) based on its contents. Most answers are not fully positive, neutral or negative. Often they contain a combination of the three.

For example, one respondent said that “it’s probably placebo or superstition but I swear spikes make me play better.” The Sentiment Intensity Analyzer assigned this response scores of 0.075 (negative) 0.522 (neutral) and 0.403 (positive). The scores are then compounded (0.7684 ) and assigned the polarity score based on the following equation: > 0.2 = 1, < -.02 = -1.

Once all responses were analyzed for overall sentiment, I placed them in a graph to provide an overarching look at the sentiment. The graph gives us a simple picture of whether golfers really feel their footwear can have an impact, positive or negative.

Sentiment Analysis: Golf Shoes

Convinced you need some new golf shoes? Check out our buyer’s guide for spikeless and spiked golf shoes.