Puma has always been a brand that excels when discussing the best golf shoes. From the four or five models I’ve tested over the last few years, they have always been comfortable, high quality and, above all, stylish. It’s latest offering in the spiked golf shoe space is the Phantomcat Nitro, a shoe that is boasting one of the most unique outsoles I’ve ever seen and a big departure from Puma shoes gone by. Has the risk paid off? Well, I took them out onto the golf course for a couple of rounds to see what it was all about.
The headline new tech comes on the outsole which has debuted a totally new Flexspike integrated cleat and some flash colors to boot. This has been re-imagined by Puma from the ground up and there’s no arguing it is a unique design like no other I’ve ever seen on the best spiked golf shoes before. Sure, we’ve seen integrated cleats on the likes of the Adidas Tour360 22 before, but this is the first time in a while a brand has taken the plunge again.
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They have been engineered to increase surface contact with the ground as well as improve weight distribution across the foot. The design has also allowed Puma to make the shoe much lighter than before and in turn more comfortable. Another byproduct of the new cleats is how low profile this shoe is compared to other spiked shoes. Is it as convincing for grip as other ‘conventional’ spiked shoes? The jury is still out on that, but I was very impressed overall with the grip especially on the wet and muddy days I tested them on.
The Flexspikes also feature multiple elements of traction from the spikier elements you can see in orange which offer ground penetration while the longer lines of traction on the black segment offer lateral support. Secondary traction that can be seen in the majority of the green on the outsole offers more grip especially while walking, but I did find this clogged with mud and debris quite quickly.
The outsole really pops as you gold the follow through
(Image credit: Future)
Also new in this shoe is the nitrogen infused foam that has been injected into the heel area. It’s certainly as comfortable, if not more so, than the Puma Ignite Articulate that this shoe is replacing. There’s not as much arch support as I’d like in a golf shoe (I’m slightly flat footed) but overall the sensation underfoot is one of…
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