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- Clever Newsletter #12
Clever Newsletter #12
Greenland is covered in ice, and Iceland is very nice.
If you’re like us, you have those 1 or 2 friends that are usually too cool to golf in regular golf shoes. (cough…Tommy…cough). If they’re sneakerheads, they prefer something more trendy, if they’re lazy, they probably forget their golf shoes at home. But more and more golfers are opting for shoes outside the golf world, and golf brands have been watching closely.
The number of golf shoes that look and feel like running shoes has exploded the last few years. If you remember when Brooks first debuted his Nike Zoom Infinity shoes in 2020, he wanted them to feel like normal running shoes. This was a big departure from the typical golf shoes that Tiger, Nelly, or even Rory wears (though don’t even get us started on Rory’s footwear over the years, could be the reason he can’t win the green jacket…). A lot of folks were excited when Adidas released a golf version of the Ultraboost late last year.
We found a MyGolfSpy article from last year where they tested the most popular spikeless golf shoe (Adidas Code Chaos) vs. one of the most popular trail running shoes (Hoka Speedgoat 5). They scored them across 4 categories and while the two shoes may look similar, (SPOILER ALERT) golf requires a heck of a lot more stability than a trail running shoe.
Great experiment overall, and definitely worth reading if you tend to forget your golf shoes at home.
AI of the week
We asked Gemini to draw us golf shoes inspired by trail running shoes, but with the stability needed for golf. And voilà! Looks like a Cuater x Cole Haan collab 🙂

Brand Highlight
The golf silhouette of the moment has to be the modern update to the classic FootJoy Premiere. In the last few years, we’ve seen a lots of brands release a similar model where the top is a classic white leather with minimal design (think Adam Scott), but with a more athletic sole that makes you not look like a grandpa or Judge Smails. Think the FootJoy Traditions or the G/FORE Gallivanter. The problems with those are you either have to be really good at golf to pull them off (FootJoy), or they aren’t comfortable (G/FORE). Enter new upstart brand Heathlander.
Heathlander’s angle is to target the walking golfer, which we’ve noticed is a big trend for brands right now. They want to market to the purists, the traditionalists. They only have 1 style of shoe at the moment (The Golf Shoe) but we have big hopes for this brand. Footwear is one the hardest products to compete with the big dogs, with all the R&D that goes into a high-quality shoes that don’t hurt your feet. Regardless, the style is clean and the colors are fun. Check them out below.

In Other News

Old Malbon is at it again…
Who else but Malbon to make fashion news again this weekend at Augusta. This time it wasn’t as much for what Jason was wearing, it’s what he was told NOT to wear that made headlines…and allowed Malbon to receive even more attention. Jason wore it Friday morning to finish his first round but then Masters officials him to remove it for his 2nd round later that day.
We love the essence of self-expression through clothes, sure. But for a brand that relies on hype to sell its clothes, it’s almost too predictable to give Jason Day a vest that will cause a stir, knowing it will immediately drive traffic to your site to sell more clothes. It’s the self-inflated hype and scarcity that brands like Supreme and really any brand that has weekly “drops” relies on.
Honestly, the vest was whatever. The real star was his sunglasses.

Scottie’s Winning Clubs
GolfWRX and likely a million other outlets will share what was in Scottie’s bag for yesterday’s winning round. Biggest surprises to us were his Srixon 3 and 4 irons (w/ lead tape, of course). For a man that gets paid A LOT by Taylormade, very surprised they couldn’t get him to commit a full bag to their brand. Can’t imagine the amount of Srixon 4 irons that are selling as you read this.
Poshmark Find of the Week
If you’re looking for a running shoe-inspired golf shoe, the Nike Air Max 1 Gs are an excellent choice. We’re not saying you should spend $200 on these ones, but the colorway is insane. If you live in Miami or you dress like DJ Khalid though…do you, son.
What we’re listening to right now
While listening to a recent episode of Future Disco, we came across a track that stopped us in our….tracks. It was as if the voice of god was speaking directly to us and the rest of the world faded away into the background. That voice was Daoi Freyr and that song is Verum Grimoire’s remix of Think About Things. It has everything you need…a slow build, a hard baseline, an icelandic man signing in English. If you’re in the mood for something uptempo but with a more steady vocal that keeps you bopping at your office cubicle, then njóta (that’s Icelandic for enjoy!)eyr
357 days until the next Masters.

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