Narrow-minded? No way!
When it comes to golf shoes, those of us with narrow feet get the wide end!
What’s in my closet? Well-worn FootJoy golf shoes in size 13N, a very narrow width. When seeking new shoes, it seems I’m limited to the pricey top brand.
In common: 1. then B.
What do Boxto, Cole Hann Golf, ECCO Golf, PYNTR Golf, and TRUE linkswear have in common? Glad you asked (didn’t you?). Here’s my answer:
Those five golf shoe manufacturers were featured through the website The First Call in the story “5 shoes golfers’ feet will appreciate” as found at the recent PGA Show. The subhead of the January 29 article which does its job of promoting each shoe line says: The recent PGA Show featured all of the top footwear brands, but here are five brands that appear to have stepped up their game this season.
Sort of, but, wait, there’s more in common, so…
B. None of the five are worth a darn for a lot of men golfers, those of us with narrow feet, widths in the “A” and “B” range, to go with our sizes of 13+. So it was a waste of time for me to investigate each of those manufacturers, leaving me stuck with selections from FootJoy, maybe the best golf shoe on the planet but pricey.
The First Call story gave me fuel for today’s post on JIM TALK! so there’s a silver-lining even when there’s nothing there.
Many times, I’ve inquired with some very well known golf shoe providers why they don’t carry narrow widths. The answer is stupid: “We don’t sell a lot of narrow shoes so we don’t make them.” Hah! The same is said when seeking shoes in general.
For golf shoes and every day footwear, that’s just bass-ackwards, if you know what I mean. The reason they don’t sell a lot of narrow golf shoes is because they don’t make narrow golf shoes, so customers go elsewhere, usually to FootJoy. More on pricey (as far as I’m concerned) FootJoy shoes later. But now:
E.O. Edgerton Shoes got it right with narrow widths
Within the walls of Nowell’s Clothiers in Cameron Village shopping center in Raleigh—the store is not there today, but there’s a location on North Market Drive, and Cameron Village has dropped “Cameron” for racists reasons and the shopping center, which at one time was the largest between Washington DC and Atlanta GA, is now the Village District—was a shoe store, E.O. Edgerton Shoes.
It required little of the Nowell’s space, but it brought in a unique clientele, those of us with narrow feet who also purchased shirts, pants, jackets, etc., at Nowell’s.
Mr. Edgerton knew his customers. In Sanford NC, I bought my Bass Weejuns—my preferred penny and tassel loafer of the shagging-to-beach-music clan—at Hubbard’s on Steele Street. In Raleigh, I opted for Edgerton’s when I needed a new pair.
The Weejuns, which were a shoe of choice by President John F. Kennedy (don’t know the size, so don’t ask), were so well built that, just because the leather heels were worn to the “nubbins” (a colloquial term for “nothing remained”) or there were holes in the sole, new shoes were not required.
The leather uppers lasted forever, or longer! Half and/or full leather soles and leather heels replaced the worn stuff at least six (or more) times at ManMur Shoe Shop on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. When the uppers were “done,” I drove to Cameron Village, parked directly in front of the Nowell’s door, and sought the advice of Mr. Edgerton for new shoes.
Mr. Edgerton always greeted me with “13-A” as I rounded the corner and walked into his try-on, fitting area. “Black or Oxblood? What’s your preference today?”
If 13-A, my shoe size, was a little tight, we went for a “B” width. In either case, the shoes would be worn sock less. Mr. Edgerton may have stocked something wider, but I swear “C” width was the widest in the backroom of inventory of any and all shoes he carried. He had a specific clientele and wanted to keep it that way.
However, Mr. Edgerton, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 97, reminded me and his other Weejuns customers that the uppers would stretch, especially if used dancing the night away at Fat Jack’s, the PAD, and the Spanish Galleon among many other shagger delights at Ocean Drive Beach SC or at Elliott’s Nest in the Cameron Village Subway. Never saw President Kennedy at any of those places.
Mr. Edgerton was successful at selling narrow shoes because he stocked narrow shoes. Without the stock, there would be no selling narrow shoes. He got it right when serving his customers.
Oxblood and black tassel Weejuns are my shagging shoe of choice!
This is great customer service
Unfortunately, over the years, Nowell’s closed that shop and with it went Edgerton’s though his shoe store was present at other Nowell’s locations. The Bass Weejuns Company changed hands and along the way, fewer and fewer narrow versions were manufactured. I needed new Weejuns, so I scoured the United States and the Bass shoe outlets seeking 13-narrow Weejuns but none were to be found in the style of my choice. The company today is G.H. Bass.
Next stop involved telephone calls, eventually reaching a company executive in New Jersey and explaining my reason for calling, to tell him of my lifetime love of the shoe, asking where I could find what I needed. He looked everywhere I looked and came up empty.
The shoe exec asked me the style I wanted (simple tassel loafer) and the size I required, 13-narrow. He wanted to know my color favorites: Black and Oxblood. Then he asked that I hold on the phone for a few minutes.
When he returned to the phone, he explained the style I wanted was not made anymore in narrow but he had called the production manager at one of Bass’s manufacturing facilities in Central America, asking that two pair of 13-narrow shoes, one pair in black and the other in Oxblood, be made and shipped to me. Wow!
I offered my credit card to pay for the shoes (see photo above), but he refused to charge me for the shoes or the shipping, saying that I had gone to a lot of trouble and effort to get to someone to help, and that he just so happened to be the head of the Bass division, and he wanted to give me the shoes.
Now that’s great customer service.
As I’ve gotten older since then, 15 years or so ago, I’ve worn the Weejuns less and less, opting for a softer, easy-going shoes such as Skechers—which used to show one style of “narrow” slip-ons on the website but today shows no narrow shoes for men—and Brooks Ghost running shoes in narrow, except for coat and tie events, using the Weejuns as my formal footwear. The shoes need a trip to Ocean Drive Beach before age keeps me from it. I’ll be 72 in May.
Back to narrow golf shoes and FootJoy
Today, on the FootJoy website, you’ll find 15 styles when I filter to Men’s 13-Narrow, though not all 15 are available in narrow. Prices run from $150 a pair to $280 a pair, a little out of my comfort zone because of the wear and tear I put on golf shoes.
Currently, I have three 13-narrow FootJoy styles in use (see photo at the top of this story), none of which are available today. The wear and tear comes from walking the golf courses 95 percent of the time.
So, what do Boxto, Cole Hann Golf, ECCO Golf, PYNTR Golf, and TRUE linkswear have in common? None of those can help me when it comes to golf shoes. And while there are plenty of golf shoe manufacturers out there, offering narrow widths are not their bailiwick, and that’s too bad for those of us who would like a little more choice, actually a lot more choice.
Of course, I could wear my Brooks Ghost or a style of Nike running shoes which I did long before metal spikes were banned. Just slow my swing, and my balance would not suffer.
Golf shoe manufacture’s are narrow-minded when it comes to narrow widths. Those companies prefer to cater to wide and extra-wide feet. Maybe after the next PGA Show, The First Call and other websites will write about minor products such as narrow width golf shoes, if any exist this time next year.
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