Sole Purpose

Over 12,000 rounds have been played on this year’s PGA Tour. As you’d expect, most of them were pretty good. But one stands out as being just a bit better than all the rest. The seven-under 65 that Ken Duke shot in the third round of the Players Championship on a firm and crusty TPC Sawgrass was 10.8 shots better than what the field averaged that day. OVER TEN SHOTS BETTER! It was so good the best player in the world, Jason Day, asked if Duke had been playing a different course to everybody else. “To be able to shoot that score is better (pause)…I think that should be the course record,” the Aussie added.

Thanks largely to his huge Players paycheck, Duke has already won about the same amount of cash in 14 2016 events, as he did in 30 last year when he struggled with foot pain caused by something called plantar fasciitis – inflammation of a thick band of tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes. Duke did what he could to ease the pain – rest, massage, ice, stretching and exercise, pain medication, and even stem cell injections to spur new tissue growth.

Some of it worked, some didn’t. What definitely has benefitted the 47-year-old from Arkansas this season, however, is the Aline insole he has been wearing in his Footjoys. Duke isn’t an official brand ambassador, and Aline doesn’t appear on his list of 12 corporate partners, but he does give a quick soundbite about the effect of the insole on his health. “Aline helped me put my foot problems behind me,” he says simply.

Aline’s founder and President Derek Carroll says Duke actually played a significant role in the development of the product. “Ken’s input was extremely important,” he says. “We provided the technical know-how and golf bio-mechanics knowledge, and Ken told us what the golfer needed. He felt the golf insole needed to be firmer than our original insole as that would be critical to power transfer. And it had to be durable and comfortable.”

Carroll and his team used Duke’s feedback to select a top-sheet mesh material that met all of his criteria. The top fabric is impregnated with polymers resisting moisture, and it wears like iron but feels soft, says Carroll. “And Ken felt he lost none of the energy he built up during his backswing,” he adds.

Carroll founded Aline in 2005 since when the company’s insoles have become popular with many athletes, skiers and X Games contestants in particular. A number of NFL players and Olympic medalists have also worn Aline insoles.

To create the golf insole, the company carried out a study with foot doctors and over 2,000 players, and discovered that almost 90% of them had a lower body alignment issue. “The most common problem was an ankle or knee that leans in or pronates,” says Carroll. “In golf, that simple misalignment can impact a player’s rotation. Poor hip rotation reduces shoulder rotation which can lead to a big loss of power, and can also result in injuries. It’s also the cause of a lateral sway and an early extension, neither of which helps with your swing path, or indeed how you feel at the end of the round.”

The Aline Golf Insole features gel in the heal to absorb shock, and is molded to encourage better alignment, natural foot motion, and improved stability and balance.

The original Aline Active Insole has been used on the PGA Tour for ten year’s helping users amass over $20m in winnings. Carroll, and fellow company founders, and sole brothers, Keith Orr and Gordon Hay, decided to build a more golf-specific insole, however, and gave it a soft launch at this year’s PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando where the reaction was entirely positive. Volume shipments begin this month. “We’ve been the secret inside players’ shoes for years,” says Carroll. “We decided to let the secret out.”

More info: aline.com; $90

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