Spiked vs Spikeless Golf Shoes: What Juniors Actually Need
The difference between the two, when each is worth having, and whether a growing child needs golf shoes at all yet.
Golf shoes come in two broad categories, and the choice matters more for grip and stability than for anything else. For a growing child there is also a legitimate question of whether specialist shoes are needed at all yet.
Spiked shoes
Spiked shoes have replaceable cleats - almost always soft plastic now, since metal spikes are banned at most clubs for the damage they do to greens. The cleats dig into turf and provide the most secure footing available, particularly on wet ground or sloping lies.
The trade-offs are comfort off the course, a slightly less natural walking feel, and cleats that wear down and eventually need replacing.
Spikeless shoes
Spikeless shoes use a moulded outsole with rubber nubs, lugs or dimples instead of removable cleats. They look and feel much closer to a trainer, are comfortable to walk in all day, and can be worn to and from the course without changing.
They give less grip than spikes in genuinely wet conditions, and the traction pattern wears smooth over time and cannot be renewed.
Which suits a junior
For most juniors, spikeless is the more practical choice. Children play mostly in reasonable conditions, they benefit from a shoe comfortable enough to double as everyday footwear, and they outgrow shoes long before the outsole wears out.
Spiked shoes become worth considering when a junior is playing regular competition in all weather, or plays a course with significant slopes where footing genuinely affects the swing.
Do they need golf shoes at all?
Not immediately. A young beginner hitting balls at a range or playing occasional short-course rounds is generally fine in clean, flat-soled trainers with reasonable grip. Golf shoes become worthwhile once the child is playing full rounds regularly, walking a lot of ground, and swinging hard enough that their feet slipping actually costs them shots.
We look at that threshold in more detail in do kids need golf shoes, or will sneakers do.
Fit notes for growing feet
- Buy for the foot now, not a size up - a loose golf shoe undermines the stability you bought it for
- Check width as well as length; many junior golf shoes run narrow
- Waterproofing is worth having for early-morning dew, which soaks through mesh trainers quickly
Given how quickly children outgrow footwear, this is a sensible category to buy at the affordable end and replace as needed, rather than investing in a premium pair that fits for one season.
Dress codes at some clubs specify footwear as well as clothing, so it is worth checking before a first visit - our guide to junior golf dress codes covers what clubs typically expect.