The NCAA News - News and Features

April 14, 1997

Stomping out spikes

Following a trend among courses mandating spikeless shoes, Division I golf puts its foot down on cleats at men's championships

By GARY T. BROWN
Staff writer

There will be an extra hush this year at the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships. The sound you won't hear will be the familiar clicking of spikes.

That's because last summer the Division I men's subcommittee of the NCAA Men's and Women's Golf Committee decreed that spikeless shoes will be worn at championships beginning with the 1997 tournament at Conway Farms in Evanston, Illinois.

The decision follows a trend in golf where more and more courses are requiring players to go spikeless. It is estimated that of the more than 15,000 courses nationwide, about 2,000 have hopped on the spikeless bandwagon.

For agronomy buffs, it's a no-brainer. The holey warfare waged by traditional metal spikes can damage turf and increase labor and course maintenance costs. For the pro shop staff, it's less wear and tear on the facility. And for the players -- well, that's where some say the spikeless policy loses its grip.

"It's all about player acceptance," said Jeff Bollig, director of public relations for the Golf Course Superintendents Association. "We can prove all the agronomic advantages, cost savings, whatever, but if we can't prove that golfers want or like spikeless shoes, it's a moot point."

But the dominoes appear to be falling. The Division I men's subcommittee is just another in a growing line of groups opting to follow the spikeless trend.

Paramount to the subcommittee's decision was the recognition that more and more courses that host collegiate events are banning cleats.

Willie Miller, golf coach at Furman University and subcommittee chair when the decision was rendered, said the growing link between quality venues and spikeless shoes did not go unnoticed.

"That was something the subcommittee looked at," he said. "In order to get quality courses, we knew we may have to make spikeless shoes a requirement. We felt that now was the time to go ahead and make the change. Players are going to have to play at certain courses that have a spikeless-shoe policy during the season, so we felt that if we announced the decision early, it would give the kids a year to play with the spikeless shoes."

If there is resistance, it may be from coaches who feel they didn't have enough input, or from players who think spikeless shoes don't afford them the traction necessary to play to their abilities.

Either way, the naysayers appear to be in the minority.

Subcommittee member and Oklahoma State University golf coach Mike Holder said some coaches believe they should have been apprised of the subcommittee's intentions and allowed an opportunity to express their opinions.

"I think the timing was the main thing that may have upset certain people," he said. "But we as a subcommittee felt that after the championships last year, it was pretty obvious that spikeless shoes would have made the quality of the greens a lot better there. And we looked at the trends in golf and where things were headed, and we felt it was in the best interests of the championships to just go ahead and commit to go spikeless.

"From the players' standpoint, a lot has to do with the fact that the PGA Tour hasn't adopted this policy and some of the touring professionals have expressed some negative comments -- most prefer metal spikes. Most of your premier amateurs are going to mirror the same attitudes they see expressed on the PGA Tour, so that's the primary stumbling block."

The subcommittee's decision wasn't made off the cuff. A primary factor was the United States Golf Association's (USGA) announcement that it had adopted a spikeless policy for its qualifying tournaments in 1997.

The USGA, whose rules of play govern NCAA events, will require that metal or traditionally designed spikes be prohibited at the qualifying level for any of its 13 championships at clubs that have such a policy.

Jeff Hall, USGA manager of the rules of golf, said the USGA uses about 700 different golf courses in qualifying for its championships, and nearly 30 percent of them now require spikeless shoes.

"It was becoming increasingly difficult to ask those who are doing work on our behalf at the qualifying level to go and find a golf course where we wouldn't have to adhere to that kind of a policy," he said. "And with the other things we ask with respect to no fees and permitting practice rounds -- and then to say you've also got to waive your spikeless policy -- well, we've had to adjust our position that if a club has a spikeless policy, we will adhere to it."

It's welcome relief to the superintendents, who have favored a spikeless policy for a long time. Bollig said that from an agronomic standpoint, there's little doubt that alternative spikes promote healthier turf and in turn result in far less expense for course upkeep.

"I don't think the superintendents' association or the superintendent profession itself was the guiding force behind it," he said, "but they have always been very much in favor of anything that will protect their greens.

"We as an association urge our members to strongly consider the spikeless policy, but I don't think any association can force upon its members -- especially when they're not the owners of the course -- to say they must require spikeless shoes."

Certainly the advocate pool for spikeless shoes seems to be growing. The remaining holdouts appear to be the touring pros -- in particular the big hitters who worry that the risk of slipping increases with spikeless shoes.

"There are a lot of players who would probably wear football shoes if you let 'em," quipped Stanford coach Wally Goodwin, "because they swing so hard they need football shoes to maintain some semblance of balance. But if they'd just play more in sneakers, they'd probably learn how to swing a golf club a little bit better.

"I haven't seen any kids not responding to it (spikeless shoes). And the greens certainly grow better -- we've noticed here at Stanford that since we went spikeless, our greens have taken off."

Holder is another who thinks that spikeless shoes are waning as an issue in the collegiate ranks. He said that most players in the tournaments his Cowboys have played in this year have already gone spikeless.

And Miller thinks it's a huge advantage for the entire field, particularly in light of the college rule that prohibits players from tapping down spike marks on the greens.

"I can't see a negative other than occasionally there may be a tendency to slip just a little bit more," Holder said. "But there's plenty of traction without metal spikes and I don't think anyone can question that it's better for the greens."

Perhaps by the time the Division I championships have come and gone, the spikeless issue will be as quiet as the sound of the players striding to the first tee.