Admittedly, I had never heard of Founders Club before, but after receiving thir spikeless golf street shoe for review and exploring the website further it looks as though it would be a brand golfers of all calibers would be well suited to check out.
They seem to place a lot of their chips on the notion of Quality and Value, advertising more than reasonably fair prices, like $379 for a set of forged irons and $34.95 for these golf shoes.
Quick disclaimer, they run a little bigger than average as I typically wear a size 11.5 and because they didn’t have that in stock I took the size 11’s. My left big toe is slightly crammed but overall these are some of the most comfortable golf shoes I have ever put on since I started playing.
When it comes to shoes for whatever reason I gravitate towards Nike and Adidas, more so because of their design than the comfort and playability. These Founders Club shoes blend the two worlds of style and performance quite well. The jet black, sleek, high gloss finish adds a nice hip and modern flare. A shoe you can easily walk off the golf course and still wear throughout the rest of your day. Super comfortable and less than $40 retail! If you slapped the stripes on the side of the shoe with an Adidas logo, these could easily retail for at least double this price tag. Even my wife, who I consider to have great taste and is very particular, saw these come out of the box and had an “Oooh, I like those” type reaction.
Most importantly I feel sturdy with my weight very well balanced when addressing the golf ball; not too much on the heel, not too much on the balls of my feet, simply evenly distributed all around. For a spikeless golf shoe that markets itself as a street shoe, that is a necessity not to ignore and according to their site it’s partly due to the fact that they outsole the shoe with 83 molded studs.
The padded tongue and ankle supports additionally help comfort your feet and the cushioned insole furthers confidence when readying for impact and weight shifts during the swing.
I haven’t played in these long enough to test them in weather conditions but the claim is that the shoe features a water-resistant “upper”, just not sure if that assumes the entire shoe above the sole or a particular upper part of the shoe. They also note that it has an ‘odor resistant sock liner’.
My one recommendation would be to rework the Founders Club font and/or logo, I thought that while the shoe has a modern, hip feel, the brand name and design comes off a little dated.
Overall, this is a very nice golf shoe in the spikeless category that is visually appealing and extremely comfortable, all for a price that I consider a few drops in the bucket – considering the typically overpriced golf retail market for new products.