NONMETAL WINNERS; LESS-DAMAGING SPIKES TAKING OVER GOLF-SHOE MARKET.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Daily News Staff Writer

If you listen, you can hear change happening.

The clickity-clack of metal-spiked shoes, a long-familiar clubhouse sound at golf courses nationwide, is going the way of the once-prized persimmon-wood driver.

Softer, shorter and circular, nonmetal cleats are growing in popularity from the San Fernando Valley to the fairways of Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., where nearly one-third of last week's PGA Championship field took to the turf without metal spikes - including winner Davis Love III.

``I don't think it's a trend that's coming anymore,'' said Mike Peck, who tracks spikeless courses for the Southern California Golf Association. ``I think it's one that's arrived.''

Of the 375 courses listed in the 1997 SCGA directory, 54 were either recommended or mandatory spikeless, and Peck expects more in '98.

The numbers are increasing more dramatically among players nationwide.

``We're guessing now probably 50 percent of golfers are outfitted with an alternative to metal spikes, where about a year ago it was 25 percent,'' said Jud Sokol, marketing manager for Softspikes Inc., which pioneered the nonmetal cleat in 1993 and has about 70 percent of that market.

Made of plastic or rubber, nonmetal cleats are proving a boon to greenskeepers and golfers alike, leaving putting surfaces and feet in consistently good shape and sometimes producing two endorsements in one:

Howard Thompson, course superintendent at Verdugo Hills GC in Tujunga, said he ``would love it'' if all golfers wore nonmetal cleats, because of the work it would save him and his crew in greens repairs.

``I was against it at first,'' Thompson said of alternative cleats. ``Then I wore some, and I couldn't believe how much better my feet felt afterward.''

Thompson's greenskeeping counterparts at many courses are already reaping the benefits of alternative cleats. Just in the past 12 months, 10 of the area's private courses have banned the use of metal spikes.

``It's the best thing we've done in years,'' said Rob Sherman, an assistant professional at Woodland Hills CC, which went spikeless at the start of this month. ``We don't have any more spike marks on the greens.''

At Porter Valley CC in Northridge, the nonmetal policy has changed minds and produced revealing results:

``When we went spikeless (May 1), I thought this was not going to help,'' said assistant pro Tracy Tartaglina. ``But I have to take a 180 (degree change). It's been a big difference. And the rare person who slips past us and gets out with metal spikes, it stands out like a sore thumb - you can really see it on the greens.''

Area public courses are not likely to follow soon the spikeless mandates of private clubs, according to Craig Kessler, public-affairs chairman of the Southern California Public Links Golf Association.

``There is always a reluctance in the public sector to mandate things,'' Kessler said. ``However I do envision a strong voluntary movement toward encouraging it through an educational campaign to employ spikeless shoes.''

At Antelope Valley CC, where nonmetal cleats are not mandatory but recommended, close to 50 percent of the membership wears them, according to assistant pro Larry Jost. He sees the spikeless trend more and more when he travels for tournaments.

``I pretty much don't bring spikes to tournaments anymore,'' Jost said.

At area courses where spikeless is mandatory, reaction has been consistently favorable.

``Overall it has been very good,'' said head pro Greg Frederick of Glendale's Oakmont CC, where a spikeless policy was promoted for two years before it became mandatory in January.

``The greens are better, but the other factor is we have a lot of people here who are senior golfers,'' Frederick said. ``Walking in nonmetal cleats is a lot better on their feet, ankles, knees and hips. They don't feel they're getting the wear and tear out there.''

The major drawback to nonmetal cleats is that, being shorter than metal spikes, they offer less traction. This can cause problems with slipping on wet, hilly surfaces and especially on wet wood.

But area pros say slipping is hardly a concern limited exclusively to alternative cleats.

``I've had metal spikes before and slipped down hills,'' said Woodland Hills' Sherman. ``It's like anything else - you've got to use common sense.''

With metal spikes, there is more danger of slipping on concrete, which is why Russ Roth, a member of the Griffith Park Men's Club for more than 30 years, prefers an alternative to metal.

Roth, 85, who has undergone surgery to replace both knees in the past 10 years, plays regularly but wears shoes with rubber-nubbed soles - what golf professionals used to call teaching shoes.

They don't always give him all the traction he might like on the course but offer the secure footing Roth needs on concrete paths.

``If I'm going to fall,'' he said only half-jokingly, ``I want to make sure I fall on grass.''

Spanish Hills CC, which went spikeless last October, and assistant pro Roger Murray says, ``We haven't had any complaints,'' said Murray, whose course is probably the hilliest in the area. ``I think it's good and I think it's going to take off nationally if it hasn't already.''

The spikeless trend is heading in that direction, in the view of Sokol of Softspikes and James Latraverse, director of sales for Massachusetts-based MacNeill Engineering, which has dominated the manufacture of metal spikes since 1931, when it patented the spike-anchoring device that's built into every golf shoe.

As of July, in excess of 2,100 courses had banned metal spikes, a total more than double that at of the start of the year, according to Sokol.

``It's no longer just a greens issue, it's a course issue,'' said Latraverse, speaking of expenses metal spikes produce in wear-and-tear replacement of clubhouse carpeting and chairs.

His company responded to the spikeless challenge by adding nonmetal cleats to its manufacturing line and has seen that alternative product account for 60 percent of its golf-spikes sales.

Latraverse says part of that percentage is due to the replacement factor of nonmetal vs. the greater wearing power of metal spikes, particularly his company's ceramic-tipped model, but he expects the popularity of alternative cleats to continue. He also anticipates a future of coexistence.

``I don't think it will ever take over 100 percent,'' Latraverse said of the nonmetal alternative. ``On a wet day, a hilly course, you need spikes.''

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Photo: (color) no caption (Spikeless golf shoes)

Bob Langer/Chicago Tribune

Chart: GOOD SOLES