“Those aren’t golf shoes, are they?” gasps my playing partner at Beaupré, Quebec’s Le Grand Vallon a forty minute drive from La Belle Province’s capital city. The word “golf” is emblazoned on the tongue and the outsole but I just nod and lift my heel and flash the SmartQuill spikeless traction sole on the underside to get the point across.
Puma’s splashy entre into the featherweight footwear realm is reminiscent of the debut of the Nike Air Huarache back in the early 1990s, a revolutionary shot across the bow of the shoe store shelf with a design that demands sneaker head attention-a rare feat for a golf shoe.
Barely tipping the scales at 6.8 ounces, even for spikeless, these shoes are stripped down to the core essentials. Minimalistic breathable mesh let your mules breath and corrugated flex groove make swing motion flexion as easy as if you were wearing socks, remarkably without sacrificing the traction the heavier nubbin strewn golf kicks provide. Post initial round test I didn’t feel the compunction to swap them out. They really feel akin to a comfy pair of barely there runners and you can easily wear them a whole day and that feeling held true in subsequent tests. In fact the Faas are a lot like the classic Talking Heads snap-along, they get fa-fa-fa better with repeated plays.
*Note I haven’t played an early morning round in them yet and was bright and sunny everyday I wore them, can’t vouch for their playability in heavy dew or rain.
