Tiger Woods’ first-ever golf shoe under his newly formed Sun Day Red label is finally ready for consumers.
First seen on Woods at the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. in February, Sun Day Red’s new high-performance golf shoe was designed and developed to meet his high standards of fit, comfort, performance and style.
According to Sun Day Red executive creative director Charley Hudak, the new model, dubbed the “Pioneer Cypress,” is the result of nearly 20 prototypes and design adjustments that were made to fit Woods’ exacting specifications.
“When we first flew down to Jupiter [Florida] to meet with Tiger, the objective was simply to build the greatest golf shoe of all time,” Hudak, who joined Sun Day Red from FootJoy earlier this year, told FN. “Tiger wanted to focus on performance, aesthetics, and minimal distractions with this first style. He really sees footwear as equipment and does not want to be distracted by footwear that isn’t comfortable or doesn’t perform.”
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The designer added that while the typical footwear design to production pipeline can take anywhere from 18 to 24 months, Woods wanted the shoe as quickly as possible. “We hit the ground running almost immediately,” Hudak said. “We went over to Asia and found some factory partners and literally pushed as hard as we could so that we could strike while the iron was hot.”
All throughout the design process, Woods personally tested out each prototype and gave his feedback on what needed to be improved. Indeed, the shoes were tested right in front of our eyes, most recently seen this summer on Woods at the 152nd Open championship at Royal Troon in Scotland.
Hudak noted that Woods gave him the blueprint as they obsessed over every material and every detail of the shoe – getting the finished product to his exact specifications, all the way down to the stitch count in under one year.
And there are plenty of details to discover in this shoe. It starts with a premium full grain leather upper pattern that is accented by a French cord detail that frames in the micro-perf quarter panel and a signature Tiger Stripe deboss pattern in the heel counter of the shoe.
Other distinct features include Woods’ signature hidden in the sock liner along with two motivational expressions from his World Golf Hall of Fame speech including “Do the work” and “Put in the time.”
What’s more, the spike design provides a tiger-like claw effect in the ground. Hudak said that the spikes are formed by three concentric circles around each hexagonal-shaped lug which leans into the idea of the rule of thirds, four claw marks in the front and one in the heel mimic a tiger’s footprint.
Hudak, who got his start in the golf shoe design world at Puma, added that one of the key differentiators in this shoe was Woods’ insistence on getting lower to the ground to have as much stability, control and feel for both powerful drives and surgical putts.
The Pioneer Cypress also comes with two different sock liners-one with a massage footbed – inspired by a coral reef because of Woods’ love of diving and spearfishing – as well as a flat sock liner giving the user a choice to customize their footwear.
Looking ahead, Hudak is working diligently to build out Sun Day Red’s footwear category. While the new Pioneer Cypress shoe will remain Woods’ signature model while playing, expect to see the company dabble in athletic-driven and lifestyle shoes in the future.
“We plan to create shoes that are needed for everything around the game of golf,” Hudak said. “I’m talking like recovery and training to even something Tiger would need to wear when he is collecting an award. So, we are currently working towards a place now where we’re going to be on a consistent release calendar with the rest of the brands in the space. And, I think by 2026, we’ll have a lot of silhouettes out in the market.”
This launch comes less than a year since Woods’ surprising break up from longtime footwear sponsor Nike. Woods and Nike confirmed their split in January, marking the end to their iconic and fruitful 27-year relationship.
In February, Woods announced the launch of Sun Day Red as its own standalone company via a new joint venture with TaylorMade Golf. The relationship between the two developed in 2017 when Woods started playing with TaylorMade clubs when Nike Golf exited that area of its business.
Sun Day Red’s new Pioneer Cypress golf shoe, which retails for $250, will be available in five colorways including Black/Silver, White/Silver, and Grey/Navy on Dec. 4 at Sundayred.com, just ahead of Woods’ Hero World Challenge tournament in the Bahamas.
Sun Day Red will also launch a limited-edition Pioneer Cypress shoe which Woods himself selected featuring a red tread plate outsole along with other red detail hits for $275.
