It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Adizero moniker in golf. Adizero’s name is more famous for the brand’s groundbreaking lightweight running shoes, which were first introduced in 2004. We saw the Adizero for the first time in golf in 2013 – and it was an inauspicious and brief run at the time. Indeed, the spike system was deemed so aggressive that it was banned by some courses for making too many indentations on putting surfaces. With that particular episode very much in its history, the story for Adizero and golf in 2025 is sleek, lightweight and performance-built. This is a spikeless golf shoe that looks to give everything a spiked shoe can – I was excited to take them out on the course for a spin.
We’ll start with looks, as this is where every experience with a golf shoe begins. It’s a very similar silhouette to the Adidas ZG23 golf shoe launched at the start of 2023, which is a lightweight spiked golf shoe. As was the case with ZG23, the looks of Adizero ZG are not my favourite on the market right now. This is mostly because, to me, the Tour360 24 shoes are so good-looking that any other of the best Adidas golf shoes simply don’t tickle my fancy quite like they do. So, I’ll leave you to make your mind up on the silhouette and, for what it’s worth, the red colourway looks sharper in my opinion next to the white/silver I was testing.
The view from the top down (which is where you’ll see them the most) is a pleasing, athletic silhouette.
(Image credit: Future)
Where this shoe ultimately shines, and where we should all be making the important decision before investing, is in its performance. The new outsole is superb and matches the grip and security you get from a conventional spiked shoe almost identically. I’ll never say a spikeless shoe can offer more grip than a spiked shoe as spiked shoes ultimately still prevail, but this isn’t far off. The aggressive lugs on the perimeter of the outsole do most of the heavy lifting in terms of lateral grip and I am confident these will provide ample grip in all possible conditions. It only takes one slip on a tee box to lose confidence in your shoes and the Adizero ZG does one of the best jobs of any spikeless shoe I’ve tried at instilling this confidence in all conditions.
The outsole is quite significant, with the lugs around the perimeter doing most of the work during the golf swing and the smaller lugs in the middle helping grip when walking.
(Image credit: Future)
The lightweight build is another feather in the shoe’s cap. Wearing just a lightweight yet powerful shoe on your foot certainly helps when walking 18 holes. Lightweight though they are, they still feel solid and premium. The materials are soft to the touch and the moulded heel cushion inspired by the running shoe category provides targeted padding to a key area of comfort. The support is superb too. It locks your foot in place in the right areas (specifically very comfortably around the heel) yet allows the foot to move through the swing as it is naturally supposed to do in the forefoot area. I barely noticed them while I was playing, such was the confidence they inspired in my performance.
I’m not a huge fan of the exposed Lightstrike foam at the front of the foot – I fear this could get dirty and stay dirty too.
(Image credit: Future)
The likes of Ludvig Aberg and Collin Morikawa have already put these into play on the Tour. Yes, they’re Adidas athletes so they’re being paid for the privilege of wearing the shoes, but they could’ve chosen the Codechaos 25 or Tour360 24 and have instead traded in their ZG23s for the new Adizeros. This is yet another strong offering from a brand making significant waves in performance footwear and apparel in golf. A fast, sleek and lightweight golf shoe that hits all the right notes in terms of comfort and performance, those after a lightweight, all-year-round performance shoe will be well served by the Adizero ZG.
