Golfer Jordan Spieth didn’t win the 2016 Open Championship in Scotland this past weekend. But he did manage a feat that none of his rivals matched: he wore “smart” golf shoes.
Spieth, who turns 23 later this month, has generated a lot of praise early in his professional career on the PGA Tour by notching wins at a speedy pace for a man his age. With all those achievements come key endorsements, including most critically his deal with Baltimore-based Under Armour UA 0.59% . Under Armour outfits Spieth on the course under a 10-year endorsement deal signed in January 2015 (the pair first began to work together two years earlier).
Data collection is a big part of getting better. I want to be smarter about how I train.
But Under Armour also happens to be an athletic gear company that is betting big on connected fitness, envisioning a world where athletes—both professional and casual—can track their movements, workouts, sleep and other metrics to boost their performance.
That information can be invaluable for elite athletes like Spieth, but there’s a catch. Pro golfers aren’t allowed to track their movements with wearable tracking bands, like the UA Band, during competition. So Under Armour took the sensor technology it uses in the company’s recently launched “smart” Speedform Gemini 2 Record Equipped shoe and applied it to the brand’s first-ever, custom-made smart golf shoe.
Throughout the four days of competition, Spieth walked around 54,000 steps, averaging 13,500 steps per day during The Open. (Fitness trackers generally recommend 7,000-10,000 steps per day for optimal activeness).