Payntr X 004 RS Golf Shoe Review
Payntr is a relatively fresh brand in the golf shoe space, but it has already made a sizeable impression with its early releases. Its spikeless models, the X 001 F and X 003 F, seriously impressed us with their grip and performance while offering great value for money in a congested market. The new X 004 RS represents the brand's first-ever spiked golf shoe and promises out-and-out performance from a grip and comfort perspective. After being seriously impressed by the grip on offer from the spikeless X-003 F, I was excited to see how the brand tackled its first-ever spiked outsole. Payntr is, "focused on how the golfer achieves more speed through better traction", a mantra I went to test on the golf course at West Hill and Essendon Country Club to see if this was the case.
Let's start with that outsole as it's the highlight of X 004 RS. It is the first golf shoe to use the all-new SoftSpikes Tour Flex Pro spikes in the outsole. Each of these spikes has 10 different points of contact with the ground and, with seven spikes per shoe, the 140 points of contact with the ground certainly keep you well gripped to the turf. The outsole also features a carbon fibre propulsion plate which has been put in place to help golfers take advantage of ground reaction forces to more effectively deliver more speed to the golf ball. While on the course this was hard to quantify, the propulsion plate certainly gives a great sensation of energy return through the foot much like I enjoyed in the adidas ZG23 and FootJoy HyperFlex Carbon, the latter of which also uses carbon fibre in the outsole. This is right up there with the most grip I've felt in a spiked golf shoe, equal to that in the adidas and FootJoy, and this comprehensive outsole certainly lives up to its billing.
Impressively, despite all this technology, this outsole is incredibly low profile and doesn't intrude on the looks or feel of this shoe underfoot. Compare it to performance-spiked golf shoes like the FootJoy Tour Alpha, which you could very much tell was a spiked shoe from its looks, and you can see how impressive it is that Payntr has been able to keep such a comprehensive outsole so compact and somehow feel like a spikeless golf shoe. With this in mind, I think the X 004 RS has a great silhouette and I loved this grey and black colorway in particular.
Aside from the grip, I was pleasantly surprised by how soft and premium the upper of this shoe is. It uses a Clarino Trivela microfibre upper which is a microfiber leather that is incredibly soft to the touch and offers water resistance too. The heel cup is made from a slightly different material to the upper but is also very soft to the touch which means your ankle and Achilles heel don't rub up against it. The PMX-fit heel cup nicely hugs the heels and ankle for the sort of locked-in sensation I look for in a spiked golf shoe. I love the material Payntr has used here and it also gives the shoe a nice contrast aesthetically. Payntr is offering a 'blister-free' guarantee with these shoes and I'm confident with the materials used that that'll be the case for the entire lifespan of this shoe.
Underfoot, the moulded footbed is soft and provides plenty of cushioning, meaning these shoes took no time at all to break in. When compared to other spiked shoes, I'd say it offers the same level of softness as the adidas ZG23, but is slightly firmer than the FootJoy HyperFlex Carbon or Skechers Pro 5 Hyper. It's certainly a lot softer than the Duca Del Cosma Bernardo, which is a very different style of shoe altogether.
As for whether these shoes can help you bring more clubhead and ball speed to your game, I don't have any data for that. What I can say though is that the comprehensive nature of the outsole and locked-in sensation provided by the heel cup create an undeniably grippy golf shoe that does give you the confidence to swing faster in all conditions. Coupled with the premium materials used throughout, this is a difficult shoe to criticise. Indeed, this shoe is like a golfer winning their first PGA Tour event in their first appearance. To think the brand hadn't created a spiked golf shoe before this is amazing and the bar is now set very high for Payntr going forward.
