Three men’s majors have been played in 2026. Three different champions have lifted each trophy. Yet, all of them had one thing in common.
The game’s top professionals are always on the look-out for those incremental marginal gains in performance. It’s part and parcel of top level sport.
Perhaps the latest trend in the pursuit of this level of excellence lays with replaceable spikes. They have been present under the feet of this year’s major winners, lifting the game’s most prestigious trophies.
The winners of the Masters, PGA Championship and U.S. Open all wore Softspikes on their way to major glory, continuing a trend that has become somewhat impossible to ignore for the regular club golfer.
It is quite the remarkable run that reflects a wider change in the professional game.
Could the most important bit of golf equipment be the one golfers pay least attention to?
Why traction still matters
Golf may not look like the most athletic of sports, but as golf swings continue to be more explosive and packed with speed, stability is a big demand on players.
With the average PGA Tour professional hitting the ball over 300 yards off the tee, having a strong base can be key.
It’s for that reason, choosing the right golf shoes for you can be imperative to improved on-course results. As most golfers know all too well, even the slightest loss of grip can skew the quality of strike.
According to Softspikes, 45 of the top 52 finishers at this year’s U.S. Open chose replaceable spikes over spikeless or trainer-style golf shoes. For a tournament renowned as one of the toughest tests in golf, that’s a striking statistic.
