Fortunately/Unfortunately (depending on how you look at things) I was born with an affliction known as “sneaker addiction.” To this day, I feel bad for my poor parents and the nagging and negotiating they had to deal with for sneakers that I didn’t need and weren’t worth the money. While my parents still treated me to some cool kicks in my life, they rightfully limited the feeding of my addiction. Fast forward in my life when I started making my own money and sneaker hype was nearing its peak, the flood gates opened. There were all nighters on the computer waiting for limited releases of Jordans and Nike Dunks to drop. There was waking up early to go into the city and wait in line at Nike Town (no, I never camped out for a shoe – I only care so much). The game was fun, it was hard work, and it felt like you were part of a weird underground culture.
Like most cultural movements, the sneaker hype grew too much and the “shoe game” got super diluted. The general quality of the shoes was bad and the prices were outrageous. The release numbers were awful. It just wasn’t fun anymore. Fast forward a few years, and the limited “hype” sneakers hit the golf world. At first, this was great. Picking up releases was easy because they were either off the radar, or too “different” for the traditionalist golf world. Well, soon enough, this came to an end too. The hypebeasts had arrived in golf shoe world.
The Golf / Sneaker Hype Issue
My issue with golf sneaker hype has nothing to do with “being the cool kid” or “having exclusive shoes that no one else has.” I don’t care about that…at all. I never have. My issue is the amount of people that don’t “play the game.” (I don’t mean the game of golf, I mean the game that is shoe wrangling.) For instance, on a very popular golf forum, there’s usually a discussion thread about these limited releases. I have ZERO problem with that. It reminds me of when NikeTalk was ruled by FlintGrey in its heyday. Those years were the best. My problem is that all these guys just come in asking everyone to do the legwork for them so they don’t have to grind, dig, and hustle to reap the reward they seek.
Then once one of these guys finds a source, they cannibalize their own efforts by putting it in the spotlight. They think they’re being helpful by listing every place in existence that could have them. Aka – blowing up the spot. Pro tip: don’t do that! Being helpful is nice, and there’s a way to go about it, but this is a hustle. You have to earn your shoes.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the point of a good community and helping people out. But there’s a sneaker code/etiquette here, people! Learn how to play the game and stop ruining it for everyone! Then there’s the inevitable “rookies” who don’t come from the “sneaker culture.” Sneakerheads are used to the slow loading pages, bot fights, and failed payment processing. They’re used to having pairs scooped out of their carts and missing out on a release. Post after post either ends up being the guy bragging about getting a thousand pairs and he’s gonna flip them, OR guys complaining about how they struck out and “this is all such bullshit.” Relax, fam, learn how the process works or get out of the game. It’s not a matter of fairness, it’s about knowing what you’re doing! Oh, and they’re just golf shoes at the end of the day. It isn’t personal.
The Sneaker Hype Resale Debacle
Sneaker resale – a tale as old as time. Listen, reselling is unavoidable, and frankly I think it’s a good thing. Maybe you work a shift where you can’t be online during a release. Maybe you live in an area where none of the local shops will have the shoes. Your only option is to “cop” on the aftermarket. Unfortunately, that also means paying astronomically high prices.
What drives everyone nuts are the amount of people buying a dozen pairs to flip at a profit. Even more frustrating is that the profit is RARELY worth the effort of the resale. (Shout out Grass AM1 Gs, that resale continues to go HUGE.) I’m not going through the effort of selling six pairs of shoes to make my one pair almost free. My time is worth more to me. However, these guys are also taking away availability of pairs for the people that legitimately just want their pair or two to actually wear. “Let them eat,” I say! It’s inevitable though. The resale battle has plagued the sneaker game for decades so it was only a matter of time before we saw the same with limited golf shoes. Especially with Jordans in the mix.
Final Thoughts
I don’t begrudge anyone of getting any of the cool golf sneakers that are coming out. Frankly, I’m stoked these sneaker/lifestyle classics are making their way into golf culture. Trust me, I know, this is very much a first-world problem. So are most “golf problems.” It just sucks that the sneaker hype made its way to this corner of the world too. Being able to get classics from my past with ease and wearing them on the course was great! Now, unless you have a hookup, you’re competing with a bunch of hypebeasts that just want to be the cool kid in school. Am I drawing false conclusions? I’m sure I am, there are exceptions to every rule.
Before you start commenting that I’m just bitter or jealous because I’m striking out, just stop. I know the shoe game well enough to know that if you want something bad enough, you can hustle and get it. My only point is that this used to be a fun, relatively easy, niche community of the golf world. Now it’s gotten totally blown out of proportion and has just become frustrating and lame. Don’t worry though, I won’t turn down a good Air Jordan golf shoe.
