Review: ECCO Tour Hybrid Shoes

The Best of both worlds!

In the last few years golf shoes have gravitated into two main camps, Sporty/Spikeless and Classic/Spiked.  You get one or the other.  If you wanted a classic saddle or wingtip, you could only find that in a spiked shoe, the only spikeless shoes were always more casual or more of a street style. 

ECCO Tour Hybrid shoes are the best of both those worlds.  They combine the best of ECCO’s classic styles with ECCO’s street soles.  ECCO’s tour shoes have been some of the classiest golf shoes you can buy, for alternatives you can read my VIVOBAREFOOT Hybrid Golf Shoe review. At the same time they have been one of the leading shoes companies in the spikeless market with their Street shoes.  In 2013 they took the very best of what they do in both areas and put them together for the ultimate combination.

So what can you expect when getting a pair of ECCO Tour Hybrid shoes?  First off, US customers will need to figure out what size fits their feet based on the Euro size chart.  While based on a regular shoe sizing, I’ve found the conversion doesn’t work perfectly.  I wear a size 9.5M in Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc, so that would be a size 43 in ECCO, but after trying on a number of pairs and wearing ECCO streets for a couple years, I’ve found that Size 42 is the better fit.  Which according to their chart is an 8/8.5. So it is not always a perfect conversion.  The one benefit is that ECCO shoes, style to style, fit exactly the same.  My ECCO streets fit exactly the same as these ECCO Tour Hybrid shoes.

The style of the ECCO Tour Hybrid shoes are some of the classiest shoes I have ever worn.  They offer a couple of different colors in the wing-tip version along with some other dress styles for these shoes.  They are made of a very high quality leather.  The Hydromax leather is coated to be water-resistant.  I don’t think I’d take these out on the worst of weather days, but they will easily manage any dew-sweeper or light shower that could pop up.  Being that they are white, the water-resistant treatment does just as much to keep them clean too.  I wore them a number of times on the course and to work and as you can see from the picture they still look like new.

If you’ve had a pair of ECCO shoes before you also note how much detail they spend on the inside of the shoe, with the leather lining.  This also adds to the feel of luxury of these shoes as well as the durability.  They are a little stiffer when they first arrive than maybe some other shoes, but they are very comfortable.  I liked them right out of the box.  Unfortunately that slightly stiffer leather took one round to break in.  My first 18 holes walking only lasted 14 holes.  There was a slight rub in the heel that caused a blister.  But after that little break-in time, they now are as comfortable as anything.   I actually had the exact same issue with my ECCO Streets.  So if you were able to walk 18 holes out of the box with your ECCO Streets, you will probably be able to do the same thing with the ECCO Tour Hybrid shoes.

The “spikeless” outsole is great for all occasions.  You can go from the office to the course without changing shoes.  No only are these stylish enough to do that, but the spikeless sole is comfortable on any surface.  I have hardwood floors at home and at the office.  I find them very comfortably on this surface.  It doesn’t damage the wood at all, but is really soft and flexible on a hard surface.  At the same time the diamond lugs on the soles of these shoes grip very well on the course tee to green.  I’ve been wearing ECCO Streets off an on for 2 years and have found very little slippage, even on damp grass.  These soles are exactly the same.

Now you can truly have the best of both worlds: spikeless comfort with classic style.  ECCO makes one of the best and most durable shoes around.  They are very comfortable but do need just a little break-in time.  I love wearing the ECCO Tour Hybrid shoes both on and off the course.

For more information: www.ECCOusa.com

Quick Hits
+Classic style
+Spikeless comfort
+Water-repellant/dirt-resistant

–18 hole break in needed