FROM CLEATS TO CLEAN KICKS: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO GOLF SHOES

Published: 09/06/2026 | By: Alex Courbat

Your shoes are the one piece of kit that connects you directly to the course – to the turf, the dew, the slope of a fairway, the give of a soft green. Every other piece of equipment is in your hands. Your shoes are where the game literally meets the ground. And yet for most of golf's history, barely anyone gave them a second thought. That's changed in a big way, and if you haven't kept up, you might be surprised by what you're missing.

Whether you're a weekend warrior getting out a couple of times a month or a serial range rat obsessing over your handicap, the right pair of golf shoes genuinely matters – for your grip, your comfort, and increasingly, your sense of style. But to understand where we are now, it helps to understand where it all started.

WHERE IT ALL STARTED

Before dedicated golf shoes existed, players just wore whatever sturdy footwear they had. Leather brogues, work boots, the sort of thing that wouldn't look out of place tramping across the Scottish Highlands – which, in the earliest days of the game, is pretty much what they were doing.

The first real shift came with metal spikes. As golf spread to softer parkland courses with wetter, more demanding turf, golfers needed grip, and the solution was straightforward: drive metal studs into the sole of a leather boot. Brutal on your feet, brutal on the course, deeply unpleasant for anyone nearby, but effective. You stayed upright. You didn't slip through your swing.

By the early 20th century, purpose-built golf shoes had arrived – stiff, heavy, leather, and about as fun to wear as they sound. They looked, frankly, like something a Victorian banker would consider a bit formal. Function was everything. Comfort didn't get a look-in.

Metal spikes ruled for most of the 20th century. That distinctive click-clack on the clubhouse floor had a certain authority to it, and there's no question they delivered serious grip. The problem was they were catastrophic for greens – gouging the putting surface, leaving spike marks that could knock your putt off line, requiring constant greenkeeper attention. By the 1990s, soft spike alternatives started to take over. Traditionalists moaned. Then they tried them. Then, quietly, they got on with it.

HOW MODERN GOLF SHOES WERE BORN

The move to soft spikes wasn't just a technical tweak – it blew the whole category open. Without the constraints of long metal studs, uppers got lighter, materials diversified, and waterproofing technology borrowed from hiking and outdoor sports found its way onto the fairway.

Nike's arrival in the late 1990s accelerated everything. When Tiger Woods started winning majors in shoes that looked genuinely athletic rather than orthopedic, the whole game shifted. Golf shoes no longer had to look like golf shoes. They could look cool, and people noticed. FootJoy, who'd dominated the traditional market for decades with their classic saddle shoes, responded with serious new performance lines that actually moved with the times. Adidas brought their running shoe DNA across, engineering stability and energy return into designs that sat closer to a proper trainer. Puma arrived with colour and attitude. The competition was fierce, and golfers were the beneficiaries.

SPIKED VS SPIKELESS: WHICH ONE'S FOR YOU?

This is the big question modern golfers face, and the honest answer is that neither is universally better. They're just different tools for different conditions and different kinds of golfer.

Spiked shoes – with soft plastic or rubber cleats rather than the old metal ones – remain the gold standard when conditions get tricky. Early morning dew, a coastal links in a crosswind, a hilly parkland course with significant elevation changes – in all of these situations, spikes give you a level of security that's genuinely hard to replicate. They dig in, they hold, and when you're loading into your back foot and unwinding through the ball, that planted, stable feeling makes a real difference. It's no coincidence that tour professionals still overwhelmingly reach for spiked shoes on tournament day, where fractions of a shot matter enormously.

Spikeless shoes have closed the gap massively, though. Modern designs use integrated rubber nubs and cleverly engineered outsoles that provide solid grip in most conditions, and where they genuinely win is versatility and comfort. You can walk off the 18th, get in the car, go for lunch, and nobody needs to know you've been on a golf course. No changing shoes in the car park. No lugging a spare pair around. Nike’s Infinity G24 a brilliant example – spikeless shoe that performs well without sacrificing the kind of everyday style you'd actually want to be seen in. Adidas' Retrocross 25 does the same job, sitting closer to a proper trainer while still delivering on the course.

The simple rule: wet conditions, hilly terrain, competitive golf? Go spiked. Decent weather, casual round, or you want a shoe that works off the course too? Spikeless is a perfectly serious choice, and anyone still raising an eyebrow at them hasn't tried a good pair recently.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN YOU'RE BUYING

Waterproofing is non-negotiable, full stop. Most of the major brands – Nike, FootJoy, adidas, Puma – most brands do that well but do your research and take it seriously. There is nothing worse than wet socks by the 8th hole. Nothing.

Fit matters more than most people ever consider. Golf is miles of walking on uneven ground, and a shoe that feels fine in the shop for five minutes can become genuinely painful by the back nine. Look for a snug heel, enough room in the toe box, and solid lateral support through the midfoot and thank us later.

Weight is worth thinking about too. Modern golf shoes are significantly lighter than they used to be, and that matters when you've covered seven or eight miles by the time you walk off the 18th. The best options today weigh barely more than a trainer, which would have seemed extraordinary to a golfer from the 1980s hauling around their half-kilo leather brogues.

LOOK AFTER THEM AND THEY'LL LOOK AFTER YOU

A good pair should last several seasons with basic care. Brush off mud and grass after each round, let them dry naturally away from direct heat – never next to a radiator, which damages both the upper and the structural glue – and replace spikes before they wear completely flat. Worn spikes provide no grip and can damage greens, which makes you unpopular with greenkeepers, and eventually with everyone else on the course.

If you're playing regularly, rotating between two pairs extends the life of both and means you always have a dry option ready when conditions are against you. It's a small investment that pays off over time.

From hobnailed leather boots on the links at St Andrews to Gore-Tex uppers, carbon fibre plates, and Boa dials, golf shoes have come an enormous distance. The best ones now are comfortable enough for a full day on your feet, grippy enough for whatever the course throws at you, and stylish enough that you might actually want to wear them off the course too. Whatever your game, there's a pair that fits it. The only question is which one.

READY TO FIND YOUR PAIR?

Golf shoes are one of those purchases that genuinely repays a bit of research. Get the right pair and you'll barely notice them – which is exactly the point. You'll be focused on your swing, your course management, your playing partners, not on whether your feet are wet or your footing is off.

At Sports Direct, we carry the full range from Nike, Adidas, FootJoy, and Puma – spiked and spikeless, performance and lifestyle, whatever your budget. Whether you're stepping onto a course for the first time or you're a seasoned single-figure chasing those last few shots off your handicap, we've got something that fits your game.

Have a browse and find the pair that gets you going and see you out there!