I have been known to like gadgets. It's true. New innovations that make things easier or faster are always interesting to me. When I saw this shoe come up for review, I was excited because I knew it had something different than I had ever seen before.
The Footjoy Reelfit Golf Shoes are from a company that has been making shoes that the pros have worn since the 1940's, and I have been a big fan of theirs for a long time. My very first golf shoes I ever received were Footjoys, and I remember playing in some very nasty weather and having my feet be comfortable the entire time.
The heel in this shoe had the same GelCollar that was first introduced in the Gel Fusion shoes and allowed my achilles tendon to feel snug and comfortable. The uppers are made from a leather which is extremely water resistant -- even waterproof. It was flexible and comfortable.
Now for the gadget. It included a very non-traditional lacing system known as the Boa technology, with which you can literally "dial" your shoes tighter. Just as the snake would squeeze a baby monkey for its late night snack, the Footjoys constrict on our tender pink feet to hold them in place so we don't swing out of our shoes. The company brags that it's easy to dial in and dial out of the shoes.
I found it a little cumbersome. I'm packing a little extra weight, but believe it or not, it wasn't my gut that made this task tougher than advertised. The dial is on the heel of the shoe, and you have to sort of maneuver your hand behind your ankles, push the dial in, and turn. It wasn't terribly hard, but I kept wondering why the dials weren't on the side. It also looks a little dorky on the heel in my opinion. Sorry, but I'm not looking to pay as much as they're asking for these to have what looks like two growths coming out of my heels.
I also kept wondering: what happens if the mechanism fails? What happens if the dial breaks and you can't tighten (or worse, loosen) your shoes? The answer? Either A) you've got shoes that are sliding around on your feet for the entire round, or B) you're wearing these shoes everyday until you cut them off. I did some research on the FootJoy website, and it appears you can't really find these anymore. They did come out in 2006...
Did FootJoy give up on these? A bad memory of the failed and abandoned "Reebok Pump" comes to mind...
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