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How to Find the Best Golf Shoes to Perfect Your Game

The #1 most overlooked piece of any golfer’s kit is their golf shoes. They’re the key difference-maker when it comes to amplifying your distance off the tee, maintaining accuracy from difficult lies, stabilizing your stroke on the green, and making sure you have the endurance to attack the 18th hole with the same intensity that you approached the 1st.

Golf shoes play a crucial, often neglected role in shaping your performance on the course. But what technologies are most decisive for your game? How can spikes, BOA®, or gel-based cushioning affect your score and send you to the top of the leaderboard?  

Let’s break down the most important features to look for when you’re choosing your next pair of golf shoes, and why they matter.

Spiked vs Spikeless Golf Shoes

Spiked

Spiked golf shoes deliver specialized golf performance, with unbeatable traction and stability on the course. Skilled golfers with fast and aggressive swings see major benefits from the grip of spiked shoes, helping them hold their stance on powerful drives. If you often play in wet conditions or on golf courses with difficult terrain and uneven slopes, spiked golf shoes will help you maintain your balance and ensure you stay locked in during your swinging motion.

Of course, because they’re designed for pure golfing application, spiked golf shoes generally aren’t made to walk off the course, making them much less versatile than spikeless shoes. But many spiked shoes feature removable and replaceable spikes, giving you a higher level of control over your preferred traction.

To replace traditional metal spikes, today’s spiked golf shoes utilize soft spikes. These modern spike systems are made out of soft, durable plastics or rubber, engineered for reduced weight and increased flexibility. Naturally, they’re far more comfortable (and green-friendly) than classic metal options.

Top shoe manufacturers like Nike, Adidas, and Asics use SoftSpikes® on their golf shoes, a brand that offers a wide variety of replaceable, disc-like cleats with varying levels of traction, comfort, and durability, so you can find the setup that perfectly matches your needs on any golf course. Other options offer unique profiles, like Puma’s Flexspike technology—larger, dual-injected pods made to improve weight distribution with expanded surface area—so no matter what kind of experience you’re after, a soft spike solution exists.

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Spikeless

Whereas spiked golf shoes offer dedicated golf performance at the expense of off-the-course wearability, spikeless golf shoes are made to be worn on and off the turf. These shoes provide maximum comfort and convenience, crafted with traction designed for golf but often versatile enough to double as street shoes.

Spikeless golf shoes come in a wide variety of traction styles. From larger lugs that simulate cleats to low-profile traction patterns that are nearly indistinguishable from the outsoles on your casual sneakers, you can easily find the style that’s right for you.

Adidas Spikemore technology, for example, gets you closer to the spiked experience with more performance-oriented, blade-like lugs. When it comes to more casual designs, the possibilities are endless, with plenty of unique options, including sawtooth traction from G/Fore, the wavy, quilted shape of FootJoy VersaTrax, or OluKai’s waffle-like Wet-Grip Rubber®, all of which are crafted for use on and off the golf course.

Whether you want full control with spiked golf shoes, versatile spikeless designs that still perform well on the course, or anything in between, golf shoes with your preferred level of grip are out there.

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Waterproof Golf Shoes

A more straightforward but still important choice for your golf shoes is waterproofing. Depending on the conditions you typically play in, waterproof golf shoes may be an essential component of your kit or something that’s simply nice to have.

For golf shoes, waterproofing isn’t just about protecting your feet from rain; depending on your typical tee time, you may deal with morning dew, and the course can stay muddy even long after a storm has passed. Waterproofing can even shield you from colder temperatures and wind. Most importantly, waterproof golf shoes help boost your stability and traction in those wet conditions.

In addition to full waterproofing, there are water-resistant golf shoes. These shoes still shed water to give you enhanced grip and keep your feet dry, and they’re usually more breathable than waterproof shoes, but they aren’t as impervious to water.

If you want the best of the best, look out for GORE-TEX® golf shoes. GORE-TEX® is the ultimate high-performance waterproofing technology, built to deliver complete protection against the elements while ensuring optimal stability in all conditions.

Golf Shoe Cushioning

When it comes to golf shoes, finding the right cushioning is essential because it not only affects your level of comfort and support on the golf course, but it also drives your performance by improving rebound, response, and stability, amplifying key characteristics of your swing to make you a more effective player. 

Cushioning technologies vary wildly by material, and the type of cushioning you should look for in your golf shoes depends greatly on your needs at the tee.

FOAM

The most common shoe cushioning material is foam. Golf shoe cushioning technologies like Adidas Lightstrike and Puma ProFoam utilize ultra-lightweight EVA foam to provide a responsive feel, dampen your step, and support your feet for balanced, all-around performance on the course. Because foam can be designed with different levels of firmness, it’s a highly versatile cushioning material, but it also tends to lose its softness and bounce over time.

AIR

Some athletic shoe brands utilize air-based cushioning in their golf shoes for active energy return, explosive rebound, and a dynamic, bouncy feel. Nike Air and Adidas Boost are classic, brand-specific versions of air cushioning found in basketball and running shoes that manufacturers have adapted to bring the same level of speed, response, and athletic performance to the fairway. Air cushioning in golf shoes can help you use your energy efficiently to maximize your power and swing speed while giving you the stamina to propel you through all 18 holes.

GEL

Gel-based cushioning, like Asics GEL™, is noticeably thicker, firmer, and heavier than other cushioning options, which helps absorb shocks, disperse impact, and improve stability. If your feet are particularly prone to fatigue, or if you prefer a more static stance, you may see lower scores using golf shoes with gel-based cushioning.

Golf Shoe Lacing

BOA® Fit System

A modern favorite, the BOA® Fit System offers a new level of convenience and precision for your golf shoes. In place of traditional laces, the BOA® system utilizes an easy-to-adjust dial that tunes your fit in an instant. And because it’s micro-adjustable, you can tweak the tightness of your laces to the perfect level at any time, blending convenience, ease, and truly locked-in performance.

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Traditional Laces

Golf shoes with traditional lacing options are the classic choice for a reason; they provide the standard foot wrap that you’re used to, allowing you to target specific levels of tension in different areas of the foot for a fully tuned fit. Another big advantage of laced golf shoes over BOA® is that they’re more cost-effective, and when the laces break, they’re easy, simple, and cheap to replace. Of course, they come with all the drawbacks, too: laces are inconvenient to tie, less durable, and they loosen up as you walk, requiring more frequent adjustments and maintenance.

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Golf Shoe Uppers

While upper material may not have the biggest direct impact on the performance of your golf shoes, it’s still crucial to consider how it affects your comfort and overall aesthetics when you’re addressing the ball on the green.

Leather Uppers

Leather is the most common upper material for golf shoes, beloved for its robust structure, durability, and premium look and feel. Golf shoes can be made from genuine or synthetic leather, and common features include waterproofing and perforations for airflow. Whether your style is more sophisticated and classic or sporty, modern, and casual, there are countless leather golf shoes out there to match your personal clubhouse look.

Mesh & Textile Uppers

Golf shoes with mesh uppers are extremely breathable, ideal for keeping your feet cool and comfortable during those hot and humid tee times on sweltering sunny days. If you walk the course, deal with sweaty feet, or often play in high temperatures, mesh golf shoes could save your day (and your score). While mesh and fabric golf shoes have the drawback of reduced water resistance, they’re often combined with leather uppers to give you the best of both worlds.

Other Golf Shoe Features to Look Out For

In addition to spikes, waterproofing, cushioning, lacing, and upper material, there are tons of unique, state-of-the-art technologies available in golf shoes that could make the difference in helping you score above or below par.  

Struggling with stability during your swing? Lock in with stabilization plates like Nike Flyplate and Puma PWRPLATE, rigid inserts integrated into the outsole of your golf shoes to enable flexibility where you need it most during your swing, while firming up the zones you need to remain steady. Or consider the Adidas Torsion system, which bridges the forefoot and heel through individual sections of the sole to allow your foot to flex naturally while stabilizing your stance for optimal control. 

Searching for all-day comfort that can keep you playing through the back 9? Look out for memory foam cushioning, odor-resistant and antimicrobial linings that keep your feet feeling fresh through those heavy, humid mid-day rounds, and anatomical, molded constructions that conform to the shape of your feet, like ECCO FLUIDFORM™. G/Fore even offers massaging insoles in their golf shoes, designed to actively stimulate and revitalize your feet as you walk, and they can be fully removed and washed. 

Of course, it doesn’t end there. Want that extra touch of protection, durability, and structure? Toe bumpers and heel counters help your golf shoes maintain their shape, protect your feet, and elevate your fit. Or what about more casual features for spending time off the course? Kick back and relax at the clubhouse with OluKai’s Drop-In Heel® for effortless slip-on ease. In short, each manufacturer offers their own brand-specific technologies that could make or break your round, so it’s always worth checking in on what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s coming up next. 

No matter what your needs are on and off the grass, the perfect golf shoes are out there waiting to support your swing. The process of choosing your next pair of golf shoes can feel daunting, but if you consider your strengths and weaknesses as a player, the conditions you tend to golf in, and your own individual style, you’re sure to find the ideal pair to advance your game.

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