A New “Icon?” – adidas Tour360 Boost

Written by: John Barba

Can a golf shoe be “iconic?”

Well, if you’re in the business of making golf shoes, then yeah, I suppose it can.

To be considered iconic an item must, according to Merriam-Webster, be “widely recognized and well established,” and “acknowledged for distinctive excellence.” Nowhere does it say “by others”, so I guess it’s technically acceptable for a company to declare one of its own products iconic.

Iconic is exactly what adidas is calling its Tour360 golf shoe and, given its 10-year run, I can understand why it feels that way. Athletic-looking golf shoes were still a bit of an oddity back in 2005 when the Tour360 made its debut. It wasn’t a sneaker, but it wasn’t an Oxford-with-brogue, either.

By the time the Tour360 LTD version came out in November of 2008, adidas’ market share had climbed to 15% and the company had succeeded in establishing a $200-and-up price point for a premium athletic golf shoe.

“That,” says Denison, “was the death of the dress shoe.”

Since 2005 adidas has sold more than 2.5 million pairs of Tour360’s, and adidas’ Tour Staff has piled up 38 Tour victories in 10 years of sporting 360’s.

So, ICONIC?

Sure, why not?

Which brings us to the newest, latest and greatest iteration of the line: the Tour360 BOOST.

The Shoe As Equipment

Do you lump golf shoes in with apparel? Lots of folks do. It’s a shoe, right? You want it to be comfortable, last a while and look bitchin’.

Adidas, however, wants you to think about golf shoes the same way you think about wedges, irons and drivers.

As equipment.

Crazy, you say? It’s a freakin’ shoe. It goes on your feet.

End of story.

But…adidas makes $200 golf shoes, so it stands to reason it’d like you to think about shoes the way Tour Pros think about shoes.

As equipment.

If you want to think of your shoe as equipment, then the Tour360 Boost has 3, maybe 4 things you should consider.

What’s The 360 Buzz?

The first item isn’t new, but it bears a mention: the “360” in the Tour360 line denotes the 360 Wrap designed into the three adidas stripes that is pulled together by the laces. It literally wraps 360 degrees around each foot to keep both feet laterally stable through the swing. It’s why the Tour360 line has always had a 2-piece outsole. The wrap dictates that the forefoot sole and heel sole must be independent.

Key word there – must.

So Item 1: The 360 Wrap, increased lateral stability.

The 2-piece outsole, however, has what you might call traction envy when compared to a 1-piece outsole. So what the previous Tour360’s giveth in lateral stability, it taketh away in overall traction.

So the second item you should care about is the “Torsion Tunnel” – a gap between the 1-piece outsole and the bottom of the 360 Wrap. It keeps the 360 Wrap independent from the sole, theoretically providing the traction of a 1-piece sole with the stability of the 360 Wrap.

If you’re a lower swing speed, less aggressive swinger, this probably isn’t a very big deal to you – but then again you’re probably not the intended demographic.

If you’re a guy who swings out of your shoes, well…

Green Friendly

We know there are more than a few of you worried about how those spikes will affect greens, adidas says a benefit of the Torsion Tunnel is increased “green friendliness.” Denison says the design team worked with the superintendent at Pebble Beach, which has some of the softest greens in the west, to make sure the Tour360 Boost wouldn’t be a garden trowel.

“Any spiked shoe is going to leave a mark,” he says. “The key is how quickly the green recovers. Pebble was pretty happy with the results.”

During a 9 hole round on fairly soft greens, the new 360’s definitely left tracks, but on that day spikeless shoes would have, as well.

So Item 2: Torsion Tunnel.

What In The Name of Al Bundy is Boost?

Boost is a special adidas foamy compound found in the company’s basketball shoes, running shoes, soccer shoes, tennis shoes and…well, you get the idea.

Boost is made from synthetic crystals treated with steam to turn into energetic little foam pellets. These pellets are bonded together to form springy, foamy midsole cushions that, according to adidas, are more compressive with 60% more energy rebound (the spring-back opposite of compression) than anything else on the market.

Boost made the jump to golf shoes with last year’s AdiPower Boost spikeless shoes. This year adidas added Boost to the Tour360 in both the heal section and the front section to provide as much cushion as possible. It’s not quite like walking on pillows, but while walking 9 holes the comfort is pretty apparent and you can definitely feel both the compression and the rebound.

So Item 3: Boost

Now About That 4th Thing…

How did you learn to tie your shoes? Were you a “loop it-swoop it” guy or a “bunny-ears” guy?

Back in the 90’s a guy named Gary Hammerslag invented the Boa Closure System, which basically eliminates looping, swooping and bunnies from the whole nightmare of shoe tying in sports. The Boa system is common in cycling, snowboarding and other sports. While golf companies have dabbled with BOA in  the past, it’s really just beginning to gain, pardon the pun, a foothold in golf. FootJoy’s DNA and several of last year’s adidas models use Boa, and it’s a $30 upcharge option in the Tour360 Boost.

So what is Boa?

Boa uses a dial – in the case of the 360Tour it’s placed right where the bow of your laces would be – to tighten and loosen the shoe. The cable – you really can’t call it a “lace” – interlocks with the 360 wrap for a precise fit.

How precise? Well, each click of the dial gives you 1 millimeter of adjustment, so you can incrementally tighten or loosen the shoe until you’re fit-smitten. To take the shoe off, you simply lift the dial to completely disengage the Boa system.

Can I  Catch a Bass With That Lace?

Your first thought when looking at the Boa cable might be “fishing line,” and your second thought might be “what a pain it’ll be to re-lace when the damn thing breaks.” Well, that fishing line is really 49 stainless steel strands wrapped in a nylon coating. Boa says it would take roughly 600 lbs of force to break the cable, while your foot can only take about 5 lbs of pressure. And if you’re worried about back and forth stress on the cable, Boa says you can bend it back and forth 500,000 times without breaking.

Apparently someone counted.

So Item 4: Boa Closure for fit, comfort and stability.

Is The Tour360 Boost The Shoe For You?

At a $200 price tag ($230 for the Boa version), the Tour360 Boost certainly isn’t entry-level. It’s for the techno-golfer who takes footwear seriously, and looks at shoes the same way he looks at his clubs.

Can a shoe really help your golf game? Again, Mr. 95 MPH driver guy probably won’t see a huge benefit from the Tour360 Boost other than comfort (Boost does perform as advertised – it is cushy!) and style, if the look is your cup of tea.

The more aggressive and faster you swing, you may find something tangible in all the 360 Wrap/Torsion Tunnel/1-piece outsole/Boa marketing lingo. If stability during the swing matters to you, and if you believe a shoe can realistically help nail you to the ground and help you play better, then the latest creation from Adi Dassler’s company is definitely worth a look.

The adidas Tour360 Boost is made from premium Full Grain leather with a high polish waterproof finish. It comes in 6 different color combinations, and can be pre-ordered now on the adidas website. Full release will be January 8^th for the laced model, February 1^st for the Boa Closure System model.

MSRP is $200 for laced, $230 for Boa.