|
MARCH/APRIL 2007
The key to a great golf game may not be hidden behind that hot new driver with the square-shaped head. If you ask Paul Raddatz, the secret is in the shoes. “An average golfer swings the club and torques his body to create 90 to 100 mph of clubhead speed,” Raddatz said. “Your feet are the basis of that entire torque motion. So if your feet move inside of the shoe, you’re not going to consistently hit the ball where you think you should, regardless of how good your swing is.” Raddatz, 48, is the owner of Par West Custom Golf Shoes in Delafield. The system he uses to create one-of-a-kind golf shoes includes taking foam imprints of the feet and measuring them in a number of different places. By doing so, he is able to create a pair of shoes that is made for one, not millions. What sets Raddatz’s shoes apart from the standard store-bought golf shoe isn’t what’s in the shoe, it’s what’s left out. Most shoe manufacturers put extra foam inside their shoes, Raddatz said, and that’s why a standard size nine can fit 8 million people. Over time the foam breaks down and allows the feet to slide around inside the shoe. “You don’t have to use a lot of foam to create that perceived comfort,” Raddatz said. Instead, Raddatz uses his precise measurements and quality materials – American buffalo hide on the linings and a number of different skins on the outside – and creates a custom “last” or mold of the foot so he doesn’t need foam fillers. The last is kept at Raddatz’s warehouse in Delafield, so repeat customers only have to call for another pair. Customers can choose from a variety of leather and skins – like American alligator, Nile crocodile, African elephant and South African ostrich – for the exterior of their shoes. The materials Raddatz uses conform to the foot and don’t stretch out, he said. The shoes are available in almost any color, and he can also make them for women. Raddatz got his start in the shoe business after working for his father’s leather company and selling leather to manufacturers in the Western boots trade. While doing that, he developed an understanding of how custom boots were made. After a decline in the leather industry that coincided with the production of shoes offshore, Raddatz decided it was time to move on. But he wanted to stay in the leather industry by creating a niche.
“I thought, ‘Nobody’s doing custom golf shoes the way they’re doing custom cowboy boots’ ” he said. So Raddatz took his knowledge of the industry and combined it with advice from business associates. Par West’s business plan was put together in 2000, and by late 2001 Raddatz had made the first pair of shoes he was comfortable marketing. “I went into this with the idea that (I was) either going to make the Lamborghini or Rolls-Royce of golf shoes, or I don’t want to be in it,” he said. So far, Raddatz has done what he set out to do. While major golf shoe manufacturers turn out upward of 20,000 pairs of shoes a week, Raddatz is proud of the 20 pairs weekly that come out of his factory in Leon, Mexico. From start to finish, a pair of Par West shoes for a first-time buyer takes eight weeks to make. Raddatz doesn’t make golf shoes for many PGA Tour players because most of them are on contract with companies like Nike or FootJoy. However, his list of clients includes Jerry Kelly, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Barry Alvarez, Ted Turner, and Matthew McConaughey. The first pair he ever made, in 1991, were for the late Payne Stewart. Par West Custom Golf Shoes start at $850 and can cost as much as $2,400. However, Raddatz said, they will last 20 years when properly taken care of.
|
