Nike Golf reveals Brooks Koepka's Air Zoom Infinity Tour golf shoe
Take a closer look at Brooks Koepka's new golf shoe for 2020...
Nike has collaborated with Brooks Koepka to bring life to the company’s most innovative golf shoe yet, the Nike Air Zoom Infinity Tour.
With golfers walking, on average, 4 miles on the course, comfort should be king on the green. Inspired by the Koepka's habit of chipping and putting in Nike Running shoes, the Nike Air Zoom Infinity Tour was designed to provide speed and comfort to golfers, leveraging maximum energy return from the ground up.
The idea started back in November 2017 when Nike was asked by Koepka to make a running shoe that he could play golf in. Challenge accepted.
The prompt generated by Koepka — who has one of the fastest swing speeds at up to 128 mph — quickly put Nike Golf designers to work on how to blend the comfort and style of a running shoe while enabling one of the best golfers in the world to generate as much power as possible from the ground.
“Golfers look at their clubs and golf balls as pieces of equipment, but never really their footwear,” says Matt Plumb, Nike Golf Product Line Manager.
"Brooks was instrumental in the Air Zoom Infinity Tour iterative process, helping us get to the point where we can now help golfers look at their footwear as part of their equipment on the course."
Nike’s Air Zoom Infinity Tour golf shoe releases April 1 on nike.com.
The source of a golfer’s kinetic energy comes from the feet, and every time a golfer swings, they lose some of that energy. This is where Nike Air Zoom Infinity Tour steps in, re-harvesting and redistributing some of that lost energy.
Analyzing data from pressure maps, Nike designers looked at where traction elements need to be positioned on the shoe for an ultimate return on movement. Developing a holistic system that transfers more power up the kinetic chain, Nike obsessed the areas of fit (to reduce in-shoe movement), ride (for maximum energy retention) and traction (for zero slip in any direction).
Koepka was forced out of the Presidents Cup last month after needing extra time to overcome his recent knee injury.
The World No.1 looked to be heading back in the right direction with a fast start at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship last week, but his game proved inconsistent thereafter and he finished in a disappointing tie for 34th.
