tiger woods and tobie hatfield discuss the NIKE TW15

NIKE TW15 golf shoe

the NIKE TW15 golf shoe is designed to meet the demands of one of the world’s greatest golfers: tiger woods. it features a unique combination of some of NIKE’S most advanced technologies: a FREE outsole paired with FLYWEAVE and FLYWIRE in the upper. the result is an ultra-lightweight shoe (2 ounces lighter than the TW14) that has zones of support and flexibility exactly where they are needed.

the outsole is inspired by NIKE FREE and is designed to offer a natural range of motion. to provide the ultimate level of stability and fit, the TW15 integrates our proven dynamic FLYWIRE and dynamic fit technologies. FLYWEAVE is a revolutionary advance in upper design. it offers incredible strength and support, but is also incredibly light and flexible.

tobie and tiger discuss the NIKE TW15 golf shoe

to learn more about the new TW15 designboom spoke to tiger woods and tobie hatfield, the shoe’s designer.

designboom: what was the design brief you gave to the NIKE team at the start of the project?

tiger: I asked for more flexibility and more stability – which are counterintuitive… but tobie’s solution of the FLYWEAVE technology managed to achieve that, which I’m really happy about.

the first versions of this shoe that I tested were too flexible and I was rolling over on my ankle a bit but as we developed the technology further we were able to tighten up the shoe and make it more stable.

importantly we were able to stabilize the shoe without adding much weight – keeping the shoe light is also very important because of the amount of time you are wearing them and walking around.

designboom: what makes the new shoe better than the TW14?

tiger: it’s a lot more stable and it’s lighter, which in turn has helped me generate more speed in my swing.

NIKE TW15 golf shoe – metallic silver colorway

NIKE TW15 – detail of the upper

designboom: tobie, which of the design challenges were the most difficult to overcome?

tobie: the design brief was tough because flexibility and stability are somewhat polar opposites, so we had to understand where and when the shoe should feel flexible and when it should feel stable. the introduction of FLYWEAVE really helped us solve this problem because, we can control the flexibility of the weave very accurately. it’s almost like an equaliser where you can dial in and gauge just how rigid or flexible the material is.

NIKE TW15 – detail of the upper

designboom: how does FLYWEAVE compare to FLYKNIT?

tobie: the process is really what makes them different – it’s like the difference between a knitted sweater and a pair of woven denim jeans. in a weave the fibers are closer together and it’s much more precise and easier to manipulate. you also end up with a much smoother finish with FLYWEAVE.

designboom: what made it the right solution for a golf shoe?

tobie: initially I loved the idea of using FLYKNIT but FLYWEAVE this is much more suitable because of the types of conditions that golfers face. I just felt that the FLYWEAVE would be much more robust and result in a better product for golfers.

NIKE TW15 outer sole

designboom: what were some of the influences on the aesthetics of the TW15?

tobie: we definitely wanted to add texture and give it more dimension than the previous shoe – which we did through the upper, at the same time we didn;t want a design that was too busy and distracting.

the traction elements on the outsole reference tiger’s love for underwater activities like free diving and spearfishing. we looked into how we could reference tentacles, starfishes and octopus beaks for the tractional elements.

NIKE TW15 outer sole – with FREE technology and traction elements inspired by sea life.

designboom: tiger, how does the shoe you wear influence your game?

tiger: golf starts from the ground up, if your feet aren’t working then you can’t transfer the energy from the ground through your body effectively. being able to push off and have a both stability and mobility in your shoe gives you a huge advantage.

one of the reasons that I asked tobie to incorporate the NIKE FREE technology into my shoe is because I could feel the benefits in training. with the first FREE inspired golf shoe I was amazed at just how much my speed increased and that was because I could feel more and use my feet as a platform to push off with more accuracy.

the other benefit of the FREE sole is that it started activating other muscles in my body and they started reacting and becoming stronger.

designboom: what do you think golfers will notice when they try on this shoe?

tiger: the weight: they are very light, 2 ounces lighter than last year’s. 2 ounces is a lot of weight when you are out there walking all day. people are also going to like the pattern on the upper and the fit, they feel nice and supportive even though they’re so light.

NIKE TW15 – black colorway

NIKE TW15 – black outsole

FLYWEAVE

FLYWEAVE is nike’s latest step in taking shoe design in a totally new direction.

unlike traditional shoe design, which is based on cut and sew, FLYWEAVE allows us to use strands of yarn to precisely engineer – stitch by stitch – shoes for maximum performance.

in the TW15, FLYWEAVE allows us to achieve two goals at once. we can make an incredibly strong shoe that at the same time is incredibly lightweight. put simply, the strength to weight ratio of the TW15 is impressive.

because weaving is such a precise process, we can tune the TW15 and engineer its performance characteristics in a truly advanced way. FLYWEAVE allows us to place zones of support and flexibility exactly where tiger needs them.

with its performance weave, the AIR JORDAN XX9 was our first shoe to take advantage of weave’s incredible properties.

with the TW15, we’ve extended the power of FLYWEAVE to golf.

NIKE TW15 – university red colorway