If you’re anything like me, when you heard the news of Max Homa signing with COBRA PUMA Golf, your first thought wasn’t “What clubs will he play?”, it was “What shoes will he wear?”
Just me? Yeah, I’m a little weird. But just as PUMA seems to bolster their PGA Tour stable, they’ve put in some work to bolster their spikeless shoe offerings with the addition of the all-new IGNITE ELEVATE 2 and IGNITE ELEVATE X.
You’ve heard some of this story before. Both shoes rely on PUMA’s decently comfortable IGNITE foam for underfoot cushion and energy return. The new tech story this year, though, has to do with stability in the form of what PUMA is calling the FLOATPLATE. Basically it’s a new shank plate designed to give the shoes more stability.
WTF is a shank plate?
You’re probably wondering what the big deal is about this shank plate. No, it won’t stab you and, no, you can’t eat off it. Commonly found in basketball shoes (and starting to become commonplace in some more sporty-style golf shoes), a shank plate is rigid material in the midfoot area to keep a shoe from twisting.
In short, a shank plate adds to the overall stability of a shoe through torsional rigidity. They’re often made from TPU or even carbon fiber. I’m not exactly sure on the materials in this case but it looks to be your standard TPU (you can see it through two little windows in the sole of the shoe).
Two pairs, two styles
Outside of the new FLOATPLATE, both shoes feature similar setups: full-length IGNITE foam cushioning, engineered mesh uppers and TPU layers for waterproofing. Each pair is rounded out with a carbon-rubber spikeless outsole with more than 100 lugs.
The difference in the two comes in styling. The IGNITE ELEVATE 2 is more traditional while the IGNITE ELEVATE X has a more outdoorsy look and feel with more minimalist branding. The ELEVATE 2 also features PUMA’s TPU PWRSADDLE that aids in lockdown as you choke down on the laces.
While I’ve yet to test either pair, I’m optimistic about the performance upgrades made here. The spikeless shoe category is often short on stability and the new PUMA IGNITE ELVEATE offerings more than fit the bill as performance spikeless golf shoes.
You can shop both pairs now at PUMA.
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