New Balance 574 Greens

Hi all, this will just be a short but honest review of my newly purchased New Balance 574's. I have just worn these for a round of 18 holes this morning and am so pleased with my purchase I thought it best to share my findings.

Now I purchased these shoes a little over a week ago from my local Golfworld store after playing 18 holes just a few days prior in my regular everyday shoe. A bit of back story, I usually wear Nike skate shoes to golf as I find them to best very comfortable and practical for my day to day life. Anyway I had worn my trusted Nike's to golf on this Sunday morning and arrived at the course to find it quite wet still from the night before.

I wear these shoes to work everyday so my immediate thought was to try not to ruin them in mud if at all possible. My golf partner arrives a few minutes after and I soon learn that we haven't got a cart for the day. There goes that idea, as you might expect my poor Nike's got very wet and muddy. This was the push I needed to buy a dedicated golf shoe. Afterall I had talked about it for long enough.

Firstly I will cover my decision making, factors I weighed up before buying and what I looked for in a shoe. I am sure everyone has different taste, needs and a different budget so don't race out and buy a pair just because I said so!

My first big factor when it came to buying a golf specific shoe was cost. As I am sure will be the case for many people and not limited to buying golf shoes. More back story, I am a recreational golfer at best, my entire set of clubs was $ 50 off Facebook and I have upgraded to a second hand driver $ 125 and a new putter which I believe was about $ 80- $ 90. So as you can see we are balling on a budget.

I don't play anywhere near as much as I would like to maybe once a month at best, often with a random three month gap here and there. I don't recommend this approach if you actually want to improve but that's for another article. Given this, I gave myself a budget of $ 150. This limited my choices a lot which helped however there where a few sales going on at the time of purchase.

I had a few options I liked however due to the sale I only really had two available in my size. The aforementioned New Balance 574's $134 and the Callaway Balboa $139. The Callaway's are more of a traditional golf shoe, two toned, big logo on the side and cleats. This shoe did appeal to me however what steered me away as a recreational, not very good golfer was the cleats. I am not going to rock up and shoot 104 on a par 70 with cleats. I'm just not that guy. Perhaps you are so consider this shoe as greta priced golf shoe with good grip and a one year waterproof warranty.

The New Balance however looks very much like a regular sneaker, exactly what I was used to with more grip and $5 less. Which brings me to point to consider number two.

Looks. There is no arguing that golf as with most sports, has a hint of fashion involved. I for one love it but am not overly stylish. Skate shoes, shorts and an oversized tee during the week, the same but with thongs on weekends. So I am no expert but the New Balance appealed to me in a big way, perhaps because it looks like all the shoes I already owned or maybe it's the desirable, irresistible grey. I mean grey goes with everything right? Exactly what I wanted.

Last thing I was really worried about was comfort. I have never owned a New Balance shoe before but had heard and read about them being comfortable. The Callaway not so much, not that I've heard they aren't but I haven't heard they are either. That is probably more on me then the shoe so let's not count that against the shoe. After trying them both on and walking around the store like a lost puppy it was immediately obvious which one fit my foot better. Again this will be different for everyone but I found the New Balance to be more supportive especially through the arch of the foot, and cupped the foot more wholesomely throughout. It felt softer underfoot and more flexible. Important for all the trips into out of bounds to see if I could find my ball.

So mind made, paid and left. Also last minute note, you can actually remove the cleats from the Callaway however if you don't have the tool to do it, it comes separately for $6. Anyway back on track, fast forward to today, First wear.

Walking from the carpark to the buggy and my feet feel amazing. these shoes are like walking on a cloud that give your feet a warm hug whilst you do it. Once again the course is pretty wet, we had been warned to keep the carts of the fairway. No problems here, I usually keep my ball off it to. Luckily the man at the store had informed me of new Balance's two year waterproof warranty. With this in mind I fearlessly launched into my round.

I must say coming from a skate shoe just a week ago, I felt powerful! Like I could go anywhere, do no wrong, no terrain was stopping me. The comfort was next level and the shoes were great in all terrain. The grip seemed endless as I regularly tested fate walking up and down wet slopes, gravel banks and even though various puddles.

The shoe flexed well without creasing, deflected water and dried quickly. I was able to play 18 terrible holes 98 strokes on a par 66 with absolutely no complaint from my feet about being in brand new shoes. At no point did I slip, lose grip or even question the shoes ability. The shoes are a tiny bit on the heavy side however if you are coming from a skate shoe you will not notice.

My only disappointment with these shoe's is they didn't instantly improve my game out of sight. Damn, I guess I'll stick to the irregular practice. However these shoes were just so nice to wear I think I will be playing more often in the future. I strongly believe this is a great first golf shoe, you would not be disappointed if you where to buy these. Well actually I am disappointed, disappointed I waited so long to buy them.

Thanks for reading, I am in no way a professional reviewer or golf player (obviously). These shoes really look the part on the course, performed faultlessly and didn't break the bank. Leaving more money for more balls to lose, or if you are better than me at golf (which isn't hard) more rounds.