ASICS GEL-KAYANO Ace Golf Shoes – Key Takeaways

New spikeless shoe from ASICS/Srixon alliance Updated waterproof upper and ankle padding Four colorways $169.99. Available April 1

The new ASICS GEL-KAYANO Ace golf shoes are the third wave of offerings from the new North American ASICS/Srixon footwear alliance. The two companies have a long history of sympatico relations in Asia and, in the last two years, have established a golf shoe foothold in the northern half of this hemisphere.

ASICS and Srixon joined the North American golf shoe fray in December of 2019 with two models: the spiked GEL-COURSE Duo BOA and the spikeless GEL-COURSE Glide. The spikeless GEL-COURSE Ace was added to the lineup last year.

ASICS clearly knows what it’s doing with athletic shoes in general. And all three shoes have been top-half performers in our recent spiked and spikeless shoe Buyer’s Guides. And if first looks tell us anything, the new GEL-KAYANO Ace should continue that trend.

ASICS: For Body and Soul

The ASICS story dates back to post-war Japan. It started as the ONITSUKA Company in 1949 with the simple goal of making athletic shoes for Japan’s youth. ONITSUKA’s first offering was a Chuck Taylor-inspired high-top basketball shoe in 1950. The company released its first golf shoe in 1955.

Over the years, ONITSUKA expanded into all types of athletic shoes for everything including running, wrestling, soccer, baseball, fencing, even ski-jumping. By 1977, ONITSUKA merged with two other like-minded companies to form ASICS. And if you’re ever on a game show, it might be helpful to know that ASICS comes from the Latin phrase Anima Sana in Corpore Sano which means “pray for a sound mind in a sound body.”

With 2021 sales totaling nearly $3.5 billion, ASICS certainly isn’t in the same league as adidas or NIKE but it is nearly three times bigger than ECCO.

ASICS GEL-KAYANO Ace: The Details

As with the previous ASICS/Srixon golf shoe offerings, the ASICS GEL-KAYANO Ace is very much true to its roots. It’s a non-traditional, athletic-looking golf shoe with several long-standing ASICS technologies built in for both comfort and stability.

The GEL

in GEL-KAYANO is ASICS’ silicone heel cushioning material. Introduced in 1986, GEL was developed by the company’s in-house think tank, the ASICS Research Institute of Sports Science. It’s placed under the heel for comfort and shock absorption. You don’t need to be a seismologist to know the amount of shock that needs absorbing during a round of golf is considerably less than the shock that needs absorbing during, say, a marathon. But, hey, comfort is comfort.

FlyteFoam® offers additional cushioning in the midsole. Developed by ASICS in 2016, the company says it’s 55 percent lighter than a traditional ethylene-vinyl-acetate midsole (EVA). Its closest comp might be the BOOST material used by adidas.

As long as we’re on the comfort theme, ASICS says it has added extra padding around the ankle and on the tongue because, hey, comfort is comfort.

And dry is comfort, too. The GEL-KAYANO Ace includes a thin polyurethane lining under its flexible mesh upper, a feature we first saw in last year’s GEL-COURSE Ace. Does it work?  We can tell after a season with the GEL-COURSE Ace that puddle-jumping is out. But for golf, the shoe is waterproof enough.

Stability and Traction

So, yeah, they’re comfortable. But comfort means nothing without a measure of stability. And getting the right combination of stability, traction and comfort in a lightweight shoe is the golf footwear Holy Grail.

In last week’s Spikeless Shoe Buyer’s Guide, we rated the GEL-COURSE Ace as a middle-of-the-pack shoe. It was rated slightly below average for stability, about average for comfort and slightly above average for elements and traction. The new GEL-KAYANO Ace features an enhanced heel cradle along with additional ankle padding. That, in theory, should improve stability.

ASICS says its FG Traction Sole Pattern places the sole studs strategically for both traction and stability. From what we can tell, however, the GEL-KAYANO’s sole pattern appears fundamentally unchanged from previous versions. Anecdotally, last year’s model seemed stable enough for my own 94-mph swing speed. We’ll see how the GEL-KAYANO Ace stacks up once the snow clears.

ASICS GEL-KAYANO Ace Colors, Options, Price

As mentioned previously, ASICS knows what it’s doing when it comes to comfortable athletic footwear. And it’s certainly no novice when it comes to golf shoes. The first ASICS shoes performed decently in our testing last year, but this year not so much. The GEL-KAYANO Ace missed the deadline to be included in this year’s Buyer’s Guide, so we’ll have to wait to see how it stacks up next year. However, there’s no reason to think the company is taking any steps backward with the new edition.

The ASICS GEL-KAYANO Ace will be available in four colorways: white/white, white/midnight, Metropolis/Gunmetal and Glacier Grey/Pure Silver.

They’ll be available in a men’s version only as of now, in half sizes ranging from 7 through 12 as well as full sizes 13 and 14.

They’ll retail for $169.99 and will be available starting April 1.

For more information, visit Srixon.com.

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