| To be sure, other inventions have progressed | | | | them from those made for men. The decade also |
| more impressively than the golf shoe. Airplanes | | | | saw the rise of FootJoy and Charles Eaton - later |
| and automobiles, for instance, or the modern | | | | known as Etonic - as the leading brands among |
| computer. That said, be grateful the golf boot is | | | | golf professionals and amateurs. |
| an extinct species. | | | | Not much happened over the coming decades, as |
| You can thank Field and Flint for that. In 1923, the | | | | golfers were content to wear Oxford-style shoes |
| company took William Park's patented, 1917 | | | | and manufacturers were happy to crank them |
| version of the golf boot, lopped off the top and | | | | out. Finally, in 1970, R&D caught up with the |
| voila - the American golf shoe was born. Not just | | | | times and developed rubber soles for shoes - a |
| any shoe, mind you, but the FootJoy shoe. | | | | quantum leap in comfort and flexibility. Etonic |
| Name ring a bell? | | | | would pioneer waterproof treated leather, another |
| Actually, golf-specific footwear dates to at least | | | | important innovation, in the 1980s. |
| 1857, when "The Golfer's Manual," a Scottish | | | | The next decade brought the golf shoe ever |
| publication, referred to shoes "roughed with small | | | | closer to its athletic cousins built for tennis, jogging |
| nails or sprigs" that enabled golfers to "march | | | | and basketball. Breathable fabrics and lightweight |
| comfortably and safely over the most slippery | | | | polymers replaced thicker, heavier materials and |
| ground that can be turned out by the meridian | | | | made golf shoes more comfortable and durable |
| sun in the dog days." | | | | than ever. |
| (That same year, the Burt and Packard Shoe | | | | As the 20th century turned, the metal spike met |
| Company was founded in Brockton, Mass. It | | | | its demise in the form of the plastic cleat -- to |
| would later become, you guessed it, Field and | | | | the delight of greenskeepers everywhere. |
| Flint.) | | | | Companies that had long dominated the athletic |
| In 1891, the removable metal spike was born, to | | | | shoe trade, like Nike and Adidas, applied their |
| the chagrin of greenskeepers everywhere. Not to | | | | existing technologies to golf shoes and made a |
| mention golfers, who sometimes felt the prongs | | | | serious dent in the market share of the |
| poking through their heavy soles. Talk about a | | | | entrenched manufacturers. |
| death march. | | | | The increased competition sparked an explosion |
| Skip forward to 1927, when Field and Flint's | | | | of innovation as companies jockeyed to make |
| FootJoy was named the official shoe of the very | | | | shoes ever lighter, more comfortable and - no |
| first U.S. Ryder Cup team, helmed by the | | | | small step - more aesthetically varied. Today, |
| fashionable Walter Hagen. Still, the stylish spikes of | | | | consumers can choose styles ranging from |
| Johnston & Murphy were preferred by | | | | conventional saddle oxfords to golf shoes that |
| statement-making country clubbers in the Roaring | | | | resemble athletic models, or even sandals. |
| '20s. | | | | And female golfers no longer are stuck with |
| In 1940, FootJoy introduced its first line of ladies | | | | manly footwear. |
| shoes. Unfortunately, there was little to distinguish | | | | |