Is your golf shoe the most overlooked piece of equipment in your bag? In this Life At The Turn Live Q&A, we sit down with Bob Winskowicz, Founder & CEO of SQAIRZ, to break down the science behind golf footwear—and why it might be the key to unlocking more distance, better balance, and improved consistency. From swing speed gains to spiked vs spikeless performance, this conversation dives deep into the biomechanics of the golf swing and how your connection to the ground impacts everything you do. As Bob puts it: “If I can improve your balance, your stability, and your ground connection, you will hit the ball farther and straighter.”
🔍 What we cover: Why golf shoes may be the most important piece of equipment The truth behind square toe design & toe box geometry Swing speed gains backed by real testing & data Spiked vs spikeless: what actually performs better Comfort vs stability (and why most golfers get it wrong) The evolution of SQAIRZ shoes + 2026 lineup preview How footwear impacts ground force & biomechanics 🔗 Learn more & get involved:
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About Life At The Turn
Life At The Turn is a community built by golfers, for golfers—focused on connecting you with brands, gear, and people that are pushing the game forward. We don’t just talk about gear… we test it, review it, and put it in the hands of real golfers. If you enjoyed this, make sure to 👍 like, 💬 comment your thoughts, and 🔔 subscribe for more Live Q&As, gear reviews, and community-driven golf content.
The New SQAIRZ PRO S2
SQAIRZ Live Q&A recap: why Bob thinks your golf shoes matter more than you think
Some Live Q&As are about a new product. This one was really about a full way of thinking.
When Bob Winskowicz from SQAIRZ joined us, the conversation started with golf shoes, but it pretty quickly became about biomechanics, stability, ground force, comfort, design, and why he believes golfers still do not pay nearly enough attention to what is on their feet.
And honestly, whether you came into this call already sold on SQAIRZ or still a little skeptical of the square toe look, Bob gave people a lot to think about.
Bob still sees the shoe as the most overlooked piece of equipment
Bob introduced himself as the founder and CEO of SQAIRZ, but he also made it clear pretty quickly that he is still deeply involved in the product side. Not just running the company from a distance. He is still obsessing over how to improve the golf shoe itself.
That part came through all the way through the conversation.
He talked about his background in golf, including time with McGregor and Arnold Palmer’s company, and explained that when he started studying ground force production, he kept coming back to the same question.
Why were golfers giving so much credit to the golf ball and the golf club, but barely talking about the shoe?
That question basically became the foundation of SQAIRZ.
Bob’s central belief is pretty simple, even if the science behind it gets deeper in a hurry. If you can improve a golfer’s balance, stability, and ground connection, you can help them hit the ball farther and straighter.
That is the whole game for SQAIRZ.
The square toe is not really about being square
This is one of the most important parts of the whole conversation because I think it clears up a misconception some golfers still have.
Bob explained that the shoe is not actually “square” in the way people sometimes picture it. It is not some giant box at the front. What SQAIRZ did was open up the toe box so the toes can sit more naturally and splay under pressure.
That matters because, as he put it, the foot works like a three-legged stool. Big toe, little toe, heel.
If your toes are compressed inward and pushed on top of one another, you lose the ability to really press into the ground. And pressing into the ground is how golfers create force.
He also made the point that SQAIRZ is not just a wide shoe. Width and toe shape are not the same thing. The width is only slightly increased in a very specific part of the outsole, and the real goal is to let the toes function naturally instead of cramming them together.
It is one of those things that sounds obvious once you hear it explained, but most golfers probably never think about it that way.
Stability keeps coming up for a reason
One of the big themes of the call was that the first thing golfers tend to notice in a SQAIRZ shoe is stability.
And that lines up with what I have felt too.
Bob broke down a few of the design elements that create that feel. The heel stabilizer is a big one. It helps prevent torsion, and he was blunt about it. If you can hold a shoe by the heel and toe and twist it, do not play golf in it.
That is a very Bob answer, but it gets the point across.
He also talked about the lace system, which honestly deserves more attention than it gets. If you have worn SQAIRZ shoes, you know exactly what he means. The lace system is one of those little things you do not think about much until you go back to normal shoes and remember how annoying normal laces can be.
The anti-slip insole was another part of that whole stability package. Bob described it in a really simple way. Your foot wants to move inside the shoe. Left, right, front, back. That movement creates inefficiency and eventually foot fatigue. So if the shoe can help lock the foot in place comfortably, you eliminate a lot of wasted motion.
That is where a lot of the comfort story really starts too.
The company has evolved because they listened
One of the better parts of the conversation was hearing Bob talk honestly about where the shoes have changed over time.
Jamie brought up the jump from some of the earlier models to newer versions, especially around weight and breathability, and Bob did not dodge any of it. He pretty much said, yeah, you have to listen.
If consumers keep saying a shoe is too heavy, not breathable enough, or needs improvement in some area, you better pay attention.
That is one of the advantages of being a smaller company. Bob said they can “ride the bike and fix it at the same time,” which was a great line. Bigger brands do not always have that same agility.
And the weight change has been massive. Bob said they went from around 590 grams in earlier shoes down to about 424 grams in a spiked performance shoe now, which puts them lighter than a lot of major names golfers would not expect them to beat in that category.
Still, he made it clear that reducing weight is not simple. Weight and structure fight each other. The lighter you go, the easier it is to lose the structure that makes the shoe perform.
That balance seems to be a huge part of what they are chasing.
The performance claims are not just marketing copy
This was another big moment in the call.
Jamie gave Bob the chance to talk about the studies and outside testing, and Bob did not have to lean on vague claims. He brought up names and specific results.
He talked about SuperSpeed’s Mike Napoleon picking up around 3.5 miles per hour of swing speed and about 16 yards of distance just by changing shoes. He talked about Dr. Scott Lynn at Cal State Fullerton seeing similar gains in testing as well.
And then there is the University of Arkansas study happening now with their golf team, which sounds like it is going to dig even deeper into exactly where and how the shoe is influencing the swing.
That is the part that separates SQAIRZ from a lot of brands in the category. Bob clearly knows the science side of this and loves talking about it. This is not just “trust us, it helps.” They are actively trying to show where the gains come from.
Comfort is not just softness
There was a good exchange about comfort that I think a lot of golfers will relate to.
Someone in the community asked whether SQAIRZ are comfortable enough to walk in, especially as a spike shoe, and Bob gave a pretty thoughtful answer.
He basically said golfers have been conditioned to think spikes and comfort cannot go together. That if you want real walking comfort, you have to go spikeless.
His argument was that this is not really true. You can solve for both, but only if the shoe is structured correctly.
He also made a really good point about why feet get tired. It is not just because a shoe is heavy. It is often because the foot is moving around inside the shoe over and over during the round. That subtle movement adds up.
That is where his whole “make the foot one with the shoe” idea comes back again.
And honestly, that lines up with how SQAIRZ feels. It is not the same kind of comfort as a soft sneaker. It is more stable comfort. More supported comfort. Especially once you are on grass and actually swinging.
The spikeless move was not exactly Bob’s first choice
This might have been my favorite answer of the whole call.
When asked about going spikeless, Bob said he went “screaming and kicking” to the design table because he did not want to do it.
That is such a perfect answer for him.
He is clearly a spike guy. He flat out said the difference between spiked and spikeless is roughly eight yards, and he pointed out that a huge majority of tour players still wear removable cleats. To him, that tells the story.
But he also knows where the market is. Spikeless shoes now make up the majority of golf shoe sales, and in women’s golf that number is even higher. So even if he did not love the idea at first, he knew they had to do it.
The result sounds like a compromise he can live with. Get as close as possible to spike-like traction and stability, while also making something that works for simulators, driving ranges, indoor use, and everyday golfers who simply want spikeless.
He still said if he is playing on the course, he is choosing spikes. But if he is just going to hit balls, he will wear the spikeless version.
That felt very honest.
The 2026 line looks like a real step forward
Another really good part of the conversation was hearing Bob talk about style.
He admitted that over the last several years SQAIRZ did a good job, but not always a great job, with styling. That was a pretty candid thing to say, and it made the preview of the new 2026 line feel more meaningful.
The big takeaway is that they clearly put more focus on looks this time.
New materials. More interesting colorways. More premium looking detailing. More variety. Still performance-first, but with more attention to what Bob called the “eye candy” side of it.
Jamie seemed especially into one of the new models, and honestly, it was easy to see why. A few of the 2026 shoes looked cleaner, sharper, and just more complete from a style standpoint.
That is going to matter. You can be right about performance all day, but if people do not want to wear the product, it makes the whole sell harder. It feels like SQAIRZ knows that and is taking it seriously.
The women’s line sounds like it got real attention too
Bob also spent a good amount of time on the women’s side, and it was interesting hearing how intentionally he was thinking about that customer.
He said women often want a shoe they can leave the house in, wear to the course, play in, go have lunch in, run errands in, and not have to change out of. That led SQAIRZ to lean more into a lifestyle look for the women’s line this year.
The suede and ripstop model he showed sounded like one of the bigger examples of that shift. He also showed a more classic women’s style that looked really clean.
That whole section felt like another sign that SQAIRZ is broadening what it can be without losing what made it different in the first place.
SQAIRZ is now much bigger than just golf
Toward the end, Jamie shifted the conversation a little and got Bob talking about the other sports SQAIRZ has moved into.
Baseball was a big one.
Bob said they launched the baseball shoe about a year ago and already have close to 80 Major League Baseball players wearing them this season. He also dropped some impressive numbers about exit velocity and pitching velocity gains just from switching shoes.
That is wild to think about, but it makes sense when you realize the same principles are carrying over. If balance, stability, and force production matter in golf, they matter in baseball too.
Pickleball was the other one, and again, the logic is similar. Lots of players are getting hurt. Footwear matters. Stability matters. Movement patterns matter.
Basically, if it is a land-based sport and you are using the ground to create force, Bob sees a role for better footwear.
And yes, curling got a shout too.
Final thoughts
This was one of those conversations where you leave understanding the brand a lot better.
Not just what SQAIRZ makes, but why Bob is so committed to it.
He is not just trying to sell a shoe. He is trying to convince golfers that they have been overlooking one of the most important parts of their setup for years. Whether you agree with every part of his argument or not, you can tell he believes it completely and has done the homework to back it up.
That is part of what made this Q&A so good.
It was not surface level. It was not just “here are the new colors, go buy them.” It was a real explanation of the thinking, the science, the evolution, and the future of where SQAIRZ is going.
And with the 2026 line looking better than ever, plus community lab pairs on the way, it feels like there is going to be plenty more to talk about very soon.