I’ve been hypercritical at times of NIKE’s inability to make a top-performing golf shoe. Despite my personal love for the brand and the fact that my shoe closet is 80-percent Swoosh, they’ve struggled at times to push the envelope in golf.

NIKE has always excelled at turning famous silhouettes into golf shoes. The Pegasus, the Roshe and the Air Max Plus are among some of my favorites. But when it comes to building a golf shoe from the ground up? Past iterations have struggled.

Some are too narrow. Others have lackluster traction. But after getting my hands on Rory McIlroy’s new shoe, the Victory Tour 4, I’m more optimistic than ever with where the brand is heading.

The new Victory Tour 4 is NIKE’s best golf shoe of this decade.

Here’s why.

The Flyplate is legit

WTF is a Flyplate and why should you care? The short answer: Stability. In the past, I’ve felt NIKE’s signature golf models have lacked lateral stability. The Victory Tour 4 uses a special carbon-fiber plate to provide lateral rigidity while remaining flexible in the other direction.

What does that mean? It’s stable when you swing (when force is moving laterally) but flexible when you walk. This combination makes it a much better walking shoe than previous iterations while adding much-needed twist resistance and overall stability.

It’s legitimate tech that actually works.

Cushlon is comfy

While I’m generally a fan of NIKE’s softer foams, the Victory Tour 4 relies on Cushlong to provide step-in comfort. It’s one of the firmer foams in NIKE’s extensive lineup which pairs well with the added stability of the Flyplate.

The Cushlon midsole is comfortable enough for a walk but it’s not the same pillowy goodness you might find from a shoe that relies on ZoomX or another one of NIKE’s less-firm foams. I’d liken it to a firm memory foam mattress. It has just enough of that “sinking” feeling without feeling overly plush or like you’re bottoming out.

If you want to skip all the tech talk, here’s what you need to know. The NIKE Victory Tour 4 is one of the more comfortable spiked shoes I’ve tried this year. And that’s saying something.

They FINALLY updated the fit

One of the big issues with past NIKE golf footwear has been the fit. Even as someone with a standard width foot (I’m actually closer to narrow than I am wide), I’ve found NIKE’s golf shoes to run narrow.

For that reason, I always buy a half size up from my standard.

I’m happy to report that the NIKE Victory Tour 4 has a much better fit. It’s snug in the heel and more roomy in the mid foot and toe box. I could have easily gone with my standard size in this pair. For those with wide feet, they do still offer this pair in wide which is a nice touch.

Tested traction

I’ve never been a fan of brands trying to build their own spikes. There’s a reason the best shoes in the game use the same spikes. For the Victory Tour 4, NIKE did use a good set of spikes from SoftSpikes and it does provide the level of traction you’d expect from any decent spiked pair of golf shoes.

Two gripes

I have two gripes with the Victory Tour 4. It would be disingenuous of me to call it the perfect golf shoe, even if it is definitively NIKE’s best of the decade. The first thing I would change is the structure of the tongue. It’s too thin and it should have been attached to the upper of the shoe. Instead, it moves all over the place and rubs your ankles. Not incessantly (didn’t cause any blisters) but I did have to adjust it a few times throughout my round.

The other thing I would change is just the overall styling of the shoe. It’s … too boring? Yeah. “Too boring” is the best way to put it. The standard, non-special pairs in black and white just don’t speak to me like other shoes do. Hopefully, we get more fun color options in the future, outside of the NRG pairs NIKE typically does for the majors.

A win for NIKE

Not on the same level as McIlroy’s historic win at the Masters … but NIKE has absolutely stepped up their game and the Victory Tour 4 is proof that when the biggest sportswear brand in the world decides to take things seriously, they can put together a product that works.

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