Adidas ZG23 Review - I know. I am late to the party.

[taylormade113]

I hate spending money and I am very picky about shoes. This is not a good combination. 

 

I have had a rotation of golf shoes for the past few years and they are all finally spent. So I had to start the process of finding a new platform that I liked and fit my swing. 

 

Yes, I am of the belief that the right platform can hurt/help your game. I am sensitive to heel drop in a shoe and find I tend to struggle with flatter platforms. 

 

Now to the ZG23.  I had tried on the new Tour 360 and was extremely impressed.  IT reminded me of older versions, which imo were better than these past iterations. 

 

But the price....Did I mention I hate spending money. 

 

SO the search continued. While searching Amazon I came across the ZG23 and thought the looks were clean and it was spiked, and the price was on sale!  Plus the reviews were amazing, both here and on other forums. So the purchase is made. 

 

Got them in and man they look better in person.  Just clean. Subtle but not bland. I was sold on the look.  

 

Fit. Perfect. Same sizing as the Tour 360 I tried on. And the cushioning was honestly, on par with the 360, different, but equal. My honest worry was the stability. Nope. This thing is locked in. The wing thing, locks your heel in and the traction is as good as it gets. 

 

Of to the range. Honestly, there were many factors, but this was my best range session I have had in 2 years. It has honestly been since I owned an early pair of 360's that I have felt this stable and locked into my swing. And it just produced confidence. I tend to struggle with a sway off the ball and could feel and correct it with how stable my set up was in the shoe. Wow. 

 

Platform makes the swing. You can steal that if your want, its so accurate for my swing. 

 

I will be buying the all black pair as my rain day pair and this is saying alot!  Remember, I dont like to spend money!

 

Thanks for the read, 

Kris

[bellken]

The ZG23 is a great shoe, and, easy to keep clean. 

[taylormade113]

2 hours ago, bellken said:

The ZG23 is a great shoe, and, easy to keep clean. 

 

 

 I pretreated them with Crep. Mainly for the tongue and laces. Should help even more keeping them like new.

[jmar87]

I have a bad habit of buying golf shoes that are not totally a good fit for me, figuring they would break in later.

 

This year I went in to the golf store and tried on lots of different brands. Adidas in the past have not been the most comfortable for me, but have not tried them on in the past 5-6 years, mostly sticking to Nike.

 

I tried on the 360s and was immediately impressed. So impressed I tried the other Adidas models as well. I walked out with white 360s and black zg23s. The ZGs were very light and comfortable and look forward to walking a majority of my rounds this year.

[scousejon87]

Best spiked shoes out there at the moment 

[taylormade113]

4 minutes ago, scousejon87 said:

Best spiked shoes out there at the moment 

And for the price, they are silly!

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YX3W2HX/ref=twister_dp_update?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&th=1&psc=1

[bcc69]

I loved the ZG21, but the ZG23 is just as good if not better.  I was a loyal Tour 360 guy, but it's very tough to go back knowing how light, comfortable, and stable the ZG23 is.

 

[JLP_GOLF]

These are literally the perfect golf shoe pretty much.... the only thing i can remotely say that's negative is that the inner heel lining starts to fray and eventually rip a hole in after about 20 rounds of walking.  Not sure if that is specific to my foot as i seem to have issues in the heels with all shoes wether it is ripping or blisters.  the ZG 21 had the same issue for me and though the material used might be better this time around, it still happened

[Need4spd]

Great shoe by all accounts, but I have a weird gripe with them. I don't like the shape when I look down at them. Not symmetrical enough and it bugs me every time I wear them. Sounds crazy but it bugs me so much that I feel like it effects the way I play, which is never good when I wear them.

 

I also have a pair of Nike Air Zoom Victory's and feel the exact same way about them. Go figure.

Edited May 16 by Need4spd

[Minarets]

I agree with all.  Great shoes.  I was selected to review these by Golfwrx.  I typically would have never bought these and stuck with a more premium looking shoe like the 360.  
 

since being given the pair to review, I have bought 2 additional pair of ZG23. I like them that much. Thanks Golfwrx. 

[mikec3672]

love these, AND my new Tour 24', so nice to be in real leather, expensive, but nothing like it

[Krup]

I too have ZG23’s and couldn’t agree more with the posts on how comfortable they are. They look great too, what else do you want. 

[dcmidnight]

I absolutely love these shoes. They have been my one go to for the last year or so. I have sold or given away most of my other shoes because frankly, I dont switch like I used to, these are that good and that comfortable.

 

BUT.

 

The area on the heels has completely torn out/worn out. Now I have had them for 13 months so they are out of warranty. BUT there is a piece of me that says come on now, these only last for a year before they completely wear out?

 

Just saw they are sub $100 on Amazon though, I will probably replace them for that price. A tiny bit frustrated they didnt last longer considering I paid $199 for them originally.

Edited Tuesday at 11:41 AM by dcmidnight

[taylormade113]

2 hours ago, dcmidnight said:

I absolutely love these shoes. They have been my one go to for the last year or so. I have sold or given away most of my other shoes because frankly, I dont switch like I used to, these are that good and that comfortable.

 

BUT.

 

The area on the heels has completely torn out/worn out. Now I have had them for 13 months so they are out of warranty. BUT there is a piece of me that says come on now, these only last for a year before they completely wear out?

 

Just saw they are sub $100 on Amazon though, I will probably replace them for that price. A tiny bit frustrated they didnt last longer considering I paid $199 for them originally.

 

 

I keep hearing guys mention the heel tearing out. 

 

I used to work for New Balance and we ran into this with many customers. If you are seeing this across brands and in all of your shoes, there is a fit problem, or you are not unlacing the shoe putting them on or off. If it is only with the Adidas, I would recommend adding a piece of mole skin to the inner part of the heel to help make them last longer. 

 

It absolutely could be that they need to upgrade their inner lining material, and for the "original" pricing ($199) the inner heel cup should not wear that quickly.  But for the pricing we are seeing now, for such a quality shoe, a $6 pack of mole skin should keep them almost new for years and not break the bank. 

 

Update:

 

I have now walked multiple 9's and honestly these are the best shoes I have owned. My feet are still fresh after the round, and now that they have settled in, the stability is still rock solid. My hope is that Adidas does not screw with this setup and continues it on in future versions. Not that it will impact me, as I will continue to hunt down this current model at a discounted price! lol. 

 

Have a great week guys and gals, 

Kris 

[optimator]

I got a pair in from Amazon last week. I had some gift cards so I really only paid $24 for them. I figured they'd be my range/practice shoes saving my Biom G5's for the course. Holy crap, they're the most comfortable golf shoe I've ever worn. 

[dcmidnight]

8 hours ago, taylormade113 said:

I used to work for New Balance and we ran into this with many customers. If you are seeing this across brands and in all of your shoes, there is a fit problem, or you are not unlacing the shoe putting them on or off. If it is only with the Adidas, I would recommend adding a piece of mole skin to the inner part of the heel to help make them last longer. 

 

Never seen this wear pattern in the last, I dont know, 20 years or so of buying multiple pairs of shoes a year. And I appreciate your background but in my opinion, no, for $200, you shouldnt have to make modifications to get the shoe to last longer than a year.

 

For under $100 on Amazon, I will replace them - because naturally they are out of warranty. But I would not consider these to be a great long term option.

[taylormade113]

On 5/28/2024 at 6:24 PM, dcmidnight said:

 

Never seen this wear pattern in the last, I dont know, 20 years or so of buying multiple pairs of shoes a year. And I appreciate your background but in my opinion, no, for $200, you shouldnt have to make modifications to get the shoe to last longer than a year.

 

For under $100 on Amazon, I will replace them - because naturally they are out of warranty. But I would not consider these to be a great long term option.

 

 

Yep, totally agree. You shouldn't have to, but that is not the point I was making. I was just recommending, if this is a shoe you like, that you can make them last longer with a 6$ pack of Mole Skin.  

 

I also agree, for under 100$ there is not a better shoe on the market, and I would have no issue replacing them and starting over. I have been very impressed.