We all know the importance of comfort and fit when it comes to your shoes. Not only in golf as the foundation to your swing, but in the day to day where you have some type of shoe on your feet most of your day. Most of us think stability and static when it comes to insoles, however, to AIRfeet it is all about dynamic support.
I was able to get a couple pair of the companies outside the box insoles and they were most definitely eye opening.
Quick Take
The AIRfeet embrace the reality that these insoles are outside the box of normalcy for most of us, they know they’re weird at first, and they truly are. Over time, however, things went from weird to informative, ending in a recognition and analysis of balance in my swing. Real, tangible feedback throughout the swing from an insole, now that is weird.
The Design
AIRFeet call their insoles “The best weird you will ever feel!”, and they are not lying.
While most insoles live in a static world, AIRfeet prefers a dynamic take on foot comfort and fitness. At the core of their insoles is “Active Gel”, which as its name suggests is an internal application of a gel which moves and shiftsinternally. This material combined with the visual ridges, channels, indentations, and the likes have allowed AIRfeet to create an active arch support system.
Initially, the focus for the company was solely finding ways to use ergonomics and physiology to simply reduce pain and increase recovery. However, as testing was conducted AIRfeet quickly realized that their design could very much be engineered to maximize performance for specific activities and lifestlyes. By altering firmness, thickness, and the length of dynamic motion (gel flow) the company has created a plethora of different insoles.
Now, some of you may at this point have a bit of a presumption that this might be just another flash in the pan or fad type of thing. To that I would point to the fact that not only have they achieved notable success in the world of marathon and running, but that they have hundreds of thousands of pairs in use across the world, including working with the military to create a specific design for soldiers as well.
But what about golf? After all, this is a golf website. Well, despite having its roots all the way back to 2009, it hadn’t been until an appearance at the 2022 PGA Show that AIRfeet really started to capture the golf segment. What was quickly realized is that in the case of the golf swing, the Active Gel provided additional feedback as to how the wearers weight shifts through the swing, and thus giving insight to balance as well. Given all the revelations on efficiency of using ground force in the swing and how it allows more speed when done efficiently, AIRfeet has possibly found a very nice additional niche.
Installation and Performance
Although most of us are familiar with how to install an insole, like the design itself, these are different in that regard. With the AIRfeet, you actually install them on top rather than removing the standard inserts, this also means that they can be used in combination with orthotics. While it means you have to keep an eye on the overall fit of the shoes you’re putting them in as it could make things too snug, most won’t see that issue come up, I know that I tried them in 6 different pairs of golf and athletic shoes with no issues. The fact that these are an enhancement rather than a replacement will surely make them much more appealing to many.
As for this review, I was sent the AIRfeet Classic O2 and the AIRfeet Sport O2. As the name implies, the Classic is the baseline option from the company and is 1.7mm in thickness while offering 80% of dynamic motion with the Active Gel. The Sport is a bit thicker at 2.2mm with the same 80% motion standard, the main differentiator is that the Sport is designed for playing, running, jumping, and competing.
I rotated the two different insoles pretty heavily using them on and off the course in a variety of shoes. I was fortunate in that my acclimation to general wear was pretty quick, but it should be known that AIRfeet is adamant that there is a very real break in period. It is important enough that there is even an hours-per-day chart to follow as you break in the insoles.
I’ll be honest, I read all the materials from the company as I got ready to put the insoles into use and chuckled at their comment that the initial reaction would be the feeling that there is no way I could golf in these. After going right to the course, I wasn’t chuckling as much because I literally said just that out loud to my high school kids.
That is not a negative though, it is actually much more of a recalibration for the user. I went from those initial reactions to quickly re-framing and thinking about the insoles in terms of them being a provider of feedback. From there, the realization became that I could use where the gel was shifting in my swing and how it was impacting my balance as an indicator of how well (or in my case, how inefficiently) I was using the ground. The attentiveness it gave me to balance and shift not just in full swings, but even greenside wedge work was promising to say the least. Enough so that I plan on continuing to use them.
I prefer the thinner Classic to the Sport, but I also have gigantic feet (14’s) so that might play a role for me. It is admittedly a very odd feeling with the movement from the gel, but at the same time there remains an overall stability within the shoe itself. So, though you get different feedback, there isn’t a fear of losing that connection through the swing. AIRfeet has definitely got something different on their hands, and with a $46.95 price tag, there should be a decent willingness to take a chance on them.
Do you give any consideration to the potential impact of what is going on inside your shoes? Does the science behind AIRfeet interest you? Have your thoughts heard by sharing them in the comments below or directly on the THP Community.
Trust me it goes away. I am a week in and my feet have never felt better! I did run with them in last weekend and I had some tenderness in areas of my legs that I haven’t had before. Maybe it was dude to me focusing on weight placement when each foot hit the pavement. Who knows.
Now I need to order a few more pairs because when I wear shoes without the insoles they feel weird.
Glad to have tried them and hope they continue to have the effect they have in just a couple short days.
That is awesome on the customer service.
Agreed, sent them an email a few hours ago, got a reply about 15 minutes ago, and there will be a second email from them with process details. I wish I did not have to deal with returns, but, that’s life. With the Plantar issues I have, I am very aware of feel and issues in fit. I really was blown away at the difference in fit. As it stands both my wife and daughter tried my shoes with the relief in there and both said weird but nice – exact quote.
It took me about a week and a half to get over the weird feeling. Running with them is still iffy for me. I might need to try a different version.
Played my first round with the AIRfeet insoles inserted into my Puma BOA Alpha cats today and it went well. Had my best round in a while. Can’t say for sure that the insoles caused me to play well, but they certainly didn’t hurt my feet or my game.
It took a little while to get used to the squishy sensation underfoot but by the end of the round I hardly noticed it.
So far so good!
Next test is to walk 9 holes with them in.
I had a bit of an issue in that the toe box on these inserts is so much wider than every pair of shoes I own. The instructions say to avoid trimming the sides and heel at all costs so it was a struggle for me to get them to fit all the way to the top of the toe box. I still feel like they may be crumpled up a bit up there but there is no way for me to see and with the AIR of the sole I can’t necessarily tell by feeling with my hand and I’m not sure I can tell with my feet if it’s the ‘weird’ advertised of the insoles or weird because they didn’t fit in correctly.
It definitely feels ‘weird’ but in a really cool way. I’ve been wearing them around the house this morning. Maybe I need to read more but I need to understand what I’m supposed to feel for when thinking about weight shift of the golf swing. I can tell there could be some feedback there and it could be beneficial but I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to feel and what I’m not. I’ll do more research on that.
I’ll leave these in for my round tomorrow and report back on course feedback I have.
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Funny enough, I also wear them in my Puma BOA Alpha Cats. It’s kind of a hassle transferring them from shoe to shoe so I mostly leave them in those, which I use at the range and during dryer days. That said, I do wear them in my sneakers when I go to a concert or will be walking a lot and always feel great afterwards.
Even though I don’t wear them everyday or in all of my shoes, I feel like I am pretty much completely used to them. They work the arches of my foot a bit which is nice. I’m not sure exactly what I’m supposed to be feeling as far as weight movement during a swing but I do feel it brings awareness to my balance and they’re comfortable regardless. I have less back pain which could have also been mitigated by a swing change, but that swing change happened around when I started using the AIRfeet so maybe some subconscious causation there.
I definitely thought that when I first got them. I thought I may have ordered a wide version or something. Mine had the toes that needed to be perforated and found that I had to cut a little bit extra off in addition to that. After using them for a few days I stopped noticing anymore issues with this, I can’t really explain why.
Just not for me and I can’t see any benefit it serves for my golf game. My feet don’t hurt during a round and I don’t have foot fatigue. The pressure shifting feelings aren’t that beneficial in my opinion. Oh well, at least it wasn’t a super expensive lesson.
They feel weird and wearing them more doesn’t make them feel any less weird. On top of that, the pressure created by these air pockets, creates hot spots on your feet. Not good Bob.
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Hmm, I would say wearing them does make them feel less weird. I don’t even wear them in my regular sneakers because I’m lazy switching them out and most of the time I don’t notice that they’re in after the first few minutes when I just wear my golf shoes a couple of times a week. They do get a little smelly though, and the positive impact isn’t obvious.