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More and more, golf shoes are being seen as important pieces of equipment – and much more than footwear designed largely to make a fashion statement.
Consider, for example, Athalonz. Founded in 2018 by Tim Markison, an Arizona patent attorney who also holds a degree in electrical engineering, these shoes use something called EnVe technology, with EnVe standing for “generate more energy to increase velocity.” The idea behind it came from a drill that a former major league pitching coach demonstrated to Markison at an adult baseball camp 10 years ago.
“Baseball was my game as a teenager,” said Markison, 59. “And I still love it all these years later. So much so that I attended this camp, and this drill was designed to improve the stance and drive of a pitcher, putting a rosin bag under the outside of the foot of the drive leg and another under the heel to shift the knee inward.
“After working with a number of top pitchers over the years, the coach had discovered that as different as their individual motions may have been, they all had one thing in common. That was an incredibly balanced, powerful and efficient lower half with their knees inside what he called the ankle-to-groin line.
“Even at the major league level, that was not a natural position for most players,” Markison added. “Knowing my business and educational background, the coach asked whether the rosin bag idea could be incorporated into a shoe. I thought it could, and a few months later Athalonz was born.”
Initially, Markison produced footwear for baseball and softball. Then, he moved into golf. The shoes became a big hit among several competitors on the World Long Drive circuit in 2019. That same year Athalonz signed Bernhard Langer to an endorsement deal, and after that Fred Funk and Ken Duke. Langer was wearing the shoes in November when he became the oldest to make the cut at the Masters at age 63.
Currently, Athalonz has one model of spikeless golf shoes available, with other versions, both spikeless and spiked, due to be released down the road.