Innovation, comfort and durability makes the Biom Hybrid 2
one of the best golf shoes in its category.
If you’re a walking golfer, the Ecco Biom Hybrid
2 has to be on your short list of must-have
shoes for the season.
I almost feel foolish listing out reasons to
back up what I think is frankly, an irrefutable
argument. The original Biom Hybrid, which
Ecco released in 2012, was pretty much
universally acknowledged as one of the premier
performance golf shoes in the spikeless
category. With the latest edition, Ecco took a
somewhat big risk tweaking what was an
excellent golf shoe over the course of three
years.
“At the time of the change, the Biom
Hybrid was the number one selling hybrid style
in the Ecco line. So, needless to say, retailers
and golfers were a little concerned,” says David
Helter, Ecco USA’s Specialty Sales Director.
“Golfers felt the original Biom Hybrid was the
‘most comfortable’ and ‘best performing’ hybrid
shoe in the market. But, Ecco is innovative and
always looking to improve its product, both in
style and function.”
The changes Helter alludes to were subtle
upgrades to an already solid product design.
The new Biom
Hybrid 2 ($195 MSRP) sits lower to
ground, is 15 percent lighter than its
predecessor thanks to the creation of an extra-
thin midsole, and is a little less sportier. The
best word to describe the vibe of the new shoe
is “relaxed”.
But it isn’t just the look of the shoe that
seems laid back. There’s an approach to the
design that enables the wearer of the Biom
Hybrid 2 to feel comfortable walking and
playing golf. Ecco calls it Natural Motion
technology. Starting with the company’s Biom
Golf shoe in 2011, Ecco began developing an
anatomically-shaped shoe design based on
scanning the feet of 2,500 athletes. The end
result is a shoe that features a wide toe box,
comfortable arch support and plenty of
flexibility to really involve your feet in the golf
swing.
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The Biom
Hybrid 2 features traction bars molded from
highly durable TPU material. |
To say the Ecco Biom Hybrid 2 has an
impressive list of features is an
understatement; and there’s a lot of them, so
much so, that at times I’m not sure if I’m
reading through a brochure for a shoe or a
luxury automobile. You can learn more about
the key technologies in an article I wrote previously, but
here’s a few innovative features that deserve
additional coverage.
All Ecco golf shoes are made with a
Direct-inject-technology (DIT) using
polyurethane as a midsole. All other golf shoe
brands use a cement construction and some
form of EVA as a midsole. Ecco’s shoe
construction bonds the leather upper and
outsole as a single piece, without the use of
glue or stitching. That means you can expect a
pair of Biom Hybrid 2 shoes to last longer and
remain water-tight over a greater length of
time than many other brands.
The construction of the shoes, while
impressive, is something I believe most golfers
won’t think about much once they purchase a
pair. Kind of like a car’s breaks or power
steering, you just expect it to work. Comfort,
on the other hand, is something every golfer
notices about a pair of shoes - whether good or
bad. The great thing about the Biom Hybrid 2 is
that there’s no break-in period whatsoever.
Some of that has to do with both the design
and construction. But it also helps that the
shoe’s upper is made from Yak leather which is
stronger than cow leather and is very soft and
supple. From my on-course testing, I’ve noticed
that the upper flexes naturally when I walk or
swing a club but still manages to look almost
brand new even after multiple rounds of golf.
The other thing worth noting is the
traction; it’s as good as it gets for a shoe
representing the hybrid category. The Biom
Hybrid 2 uses a patented outsole design that
was first introduced on the now famous Golf
Street model Fred Couples wore to The Masters
in 2010. The dynamic traction system on the
shoe bottom consists of approximately 100
molded traction bars made from wear-resistant
material. The bars themselves are divided into
two colors representing what Helter describes
as dual density zones.
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The new
Biom Hybrid 2 is 15 percent lighter than its
predecessor. |
“The material on the outside or lateral
part of the shoe is firmer than the inside or
medial side of the shoe,” he says. “This dual
density provides additional support as the
golfer goes through the swing motion.”
The traction bars, which are set at
different angles to each other, provide excellent
control in all turf conditions, wet or dry. They
also assist with comfort, helping to disperse a
golfer’s weight more evenly across the shoe’s
outsole.
I know from interacting with other golfers
on social media and trolling way too many golf
message boards that the biggest concern
recreational players have about hybrid shoes is
performance and durability. I would even
suspect that most players by now have realized
that the on-course performance of hybrid shoes
have been validated. Durability, on the other
hand, seems to vary from shoe to shoe. With a
traditional pair of cleated shoes, you can
always change out the spikes when they wear
out. But when an outsole wears out on a
hybrid, you chuck them. The Biom Hybrid 2,
like any other shoe in this category, is
susceptible to this problem. But for what it’s
worth, the traction bars that Ecco uses sets the
gold standard for durability.
About the biggest problem any golfer is
going have with Ecco’s Biom Hybrid 2 is
wanting to wear them all the time. They look
just as great on the course in a pair of shorts or
trousers, as they do worn in the office with a
pair of designer jeans. But I humbly suggest
you save them for the course as much as
possible, where a terrific pair of comfortable
and water-repellent shoes matter most to your
game.