I Tried New Balance’s Chunky Golf Sneakers

There is a lot of cool gear in the golf equipment world that doesn’t always fit neatly into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised.

What We Tried:

The New Balance 550 Golf Shoe. Exclusive to Malbon, the 550 is one of my most anticipated shoes of the year.

Who Tried It:

Connor. Managing Editor and resident sneakerhead. The New Balance 550 is one of the hottest sneakers of the 2020s and the fascination for chunky sneakers is still relevant. I’ve had my eye on a few pairs for a while but when I heard that a 550 Golf shoe was on the horizon, I knew I had to have them.

To my wife, they look like normal shoes so it was pretty easy to get away with it. These non-golf-looking golf shoes are just as easy to wear off the course as on. More on that in a minute.

The History

In my First Look piece, I commented extensively on the history of the New Balance 550. If you haven’t read that, I’d suggest you do. For those who haven’t, here’s a quick synopsis: the New Balance 550 originally released as a low-top basketball shoe in the early 1980s.

Thanks to stiff competition from NIKE, Reebok and others, the shoe quickly fizzled out. It was “retroed” and reborn in 2020 and has had a cult-like following in the sneaker community ever since.

Malbon has been known to collaborate with New Balance on golf shoes. This one, while not “officially” a Malbon-branded shoe, is available exclusively through Malbon.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about the New Balance 550 Golf.

Looks

I’ve said it before, but the reason I love our “We Tried It” series is that it allows me to take off my “datacratic” cap for a second to talk about the more subjective things, like looks and style.

While style has no bearing on performance, it’s a big piece of my personal golf shoe puzzle and something that I believe should be at least a consideration when you’re looking for a new pair.

In this regard, the New Balance 550 Golf shoes are a winner. I’m a big fan of the chunky silhouette, bubbly logo and old-school vibes. Call me basic, but the 550 is every bit deserving of its cult following and various acclamations.

I say this with the knowledge that it’s really a love-it or hate-it design. You either love the New Balance 550 Golf or you don’t. Just know that I’m fully on #TeamChunky (yes, they make my cankles looks a little thinner).

Outside of the slightly beefed-up traction, the New Balance 550 Golf shoe is a carbon copy of its casual counterpart.

On-Course Performance

Now for the meat of my review: Performance.

I’ll get it out of the way now as to avoid any confusion. The New Balance 550 Golf shoe is not a performance-centric golf shoe. This casual golf shoe is just that, for casual use.

It’s not overly comfortable but not uncomfortable. It’s not a shoe that I would walk 18 in but it’s perfectly good for riding (or even cart path only). Heck, I wore my pair around the office and they were plenty suitable for that as well.

The traction is there but isn’t anything to write home about. It’s your typical, run-of-the-mill traction story. They took the normal NB 550 sole and accentuated the design with larger rubber lugs. It works decently on dry ground but won’t do much under more lubricated conditions.

And the overall stability you’re looking for in a golf shoe exists, in part, because of the rubber cup sole.

Outside of this, the New Balance 550 Golf shoe is very much a basic golf shoe. That’s the best way I can describe its performance. It’s not going to blow you away but it objectively will not stop you from having a fun time on the golf course.

Which brings me to my final point: Not everyone is looking for a golf that helps them be a better golfer.

Golf=Fun

It took me a while but we’ve finally reached the thesis of my piece. Golf SHOULD be fun. And if having a cool looking casual golf shoe makes golf more fun, then the New Balance 550 Golf is the perfect shoe for your game. I, for one, think it does.

Looking for top-level performance or a shoe that’s going to make you better? You won’t find that here. You’re better of checking out our Most Wanted Spiked and Spikeless shoe guides.

The New Balance 550 Golf is indeed a golf shoe. It’s one of the most basic golf shoes you can buy. And that, friends, is its superpower. The new wave of golfer doesn’t want to look traditional and, frankly, doesn’t care as much about performance.

If shoes like the New Balance 550 Golf are what it takes to help golfers have more fun, I’m all for it.

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