Having been a reviewer of equipment in the golf industry for the best part of five years, I’ve become accustomed to brands getting very excited about their new product. And who can blame them? It’s their job to get excited about products to journalists like me, who, having used the product, then go into the world to interpret that excitement into something more palatable for you to read. To cut a long story short, I feel a certain sense of having seen it all before. So, I hope those at Under Armour can forgive me when the initial excitement around the release of the new Drive Pro Clone and Drive Pro Clone SL felt a little like the same record being played over again.
However, it didn't take me more than about five minutes with the new Drive Pro Clone on my feet to understand that this hype was backed by a huge innovation in the golf shoe space, one that I think all golfers are going to enjoy. To further my record analogy, Drive Pro Clone isn't an old record being spun by the designers; for most, it'll be like listening to Dark Side Of The Moon for the very first time.
The goal of Drive Pro Clone is to address the longstanding issue most golfers have likely faced: that traditional designs often struggle to match the natural shape of the foot and the unique foot shapes that we all have. We've all been there. A good performance shoe that pinches or is a little uncomfortable in certain places, or a really comfortable, spongy shoe that doesn't offer all of the stability and support you need on the course. It's hard to find the best of both worlds. However, both Drive Pro Clone shoes are billed to offer this sought-after marriage.
The Drive Pro Clone borrows from but also improves on a lot of what made the original Drive Pro a great performance shoe, and adds an innovative new upper material and a significantly more refined look to create one of the best golf shoes I have ever tested, and one that might struggle to be beaten.
The headline new technology is a proprietary auxetic upper which, as Under Armour is saying, 'behaves less like a traditional upper material and more like a dynamic surface.' By expanding, contracting and shaping itself to the unique shape of an individual's foot, Clone creates a more adaptive fit that remains consistent throughout the round.
These were huge claims when I first heard them, but it all became abundantly clear to me as I first tried the shoe on a few months ago that this new upper material was going to be a game-changer for the golf footwear industry, in my opinion. Under Armour has utilised it before in football and soccer boots, but in this golf shoe, it felt to me like it offers the feel and flex of a knit shoe, with the locked-in sensation of a performance shoe.
To the touch, it feels like real leather. And it looks like it, too. It’s a stunning development in golf shoe material that will offer performance and aesthetic benefits and allow golfers with all foot shapes and quirks to enjoy the sensation of a comfortable fit and a performance piece of equipment at the same time. No awkward pinching areas, no rubbing, just a great fit and support to boot.
It's hard to describe how good the fit is without you having tried it on yourself, so if your interest has already been piqued, I'd urge you to at least just get one of the Clone shoes on your feet to feel the sensation of the material around your foot. Those who have always had problematic feet or uniquely shaped feet, I'd encourage you to be the first in line.
In other ‘performance’ golf shoes, I often get a pinching sensation on the front outer half of my foot, one which will often fade after a few holes, but is an aftereffect of the shoe doing its best to support my foot tightly during the golf swing. I felt no such sensation in the Clone, yet I could still feel the strength and support of a performance shoe that was holding my foot in the right place to allow me to swing my best through the ball. The upper material had adapted to the unique shape of my foot in this position and given it the space it needed to not hurt, but still support it. It felt like a real eureka moment.
Aside from this upper, the Drive Pro Clone benefits from the same Swing Support System that ran through the Drive Pro from 2024. The outsole is the same as on Drive Pro, one of the best spiked outsoles I've tested. It utilises nine spikes in total to provide the same exemplary grip. It uses Under Armour's own S3 spike in four positions and the class-leading Soft Spikes Tour Flex Pro for the rest. It provides the perfect mixture of ground penetration and lateral traction that makes a great outsole. I'm glad Under Armour didn't feel the need to adjust this, and the outsole complements the innovations of the upper perfectly. There have been some refinements to the positioning of the Lockdown Lacing to better support the foot, while the Hovr midsole remains the same.
These aren’t the softest shoes underfoot, it is worth mentioning. However, this shoe was never designed to feel like a trifle under your feet. Plenty of the other best spiked golf shoes and best spikeless golf shoes will offer vast amounts of cushioning or midsole bounce at the cost of better performance, but the Clone strikes the perfect balance between comfort and cushioning when walking, while the midsole and insole technology help you swing to your most efficient out on the golf course. It feels softer when walking than Drive Pro did, so if you found them too firm, there has definitely been a change in feel moving into Clone. Just don't go into this thinking this is the softest golf shoe of all time underfoot.
Aside from this groundbreaking new upper and the refinements to the Swing Support System, the looks are the next part of the Clone which have taken a massive leap forward. These shoes are a seriously premium offering. Sure, they’re still an athletic silhouette when compared to something like the FootJoy Premiere Series, but Under Armour has done an impeccable job of elevating the quality from a feel and looks perspective.
A lot of this has to do with the new material, which, up close, has a sort of ribbed effect on the upper, while the look and feel of real leather does a lot to make this look refined, classy and premium. The all-white colourway is a stunner too, and I'm glad to see the back of the blocks of blue colourway that I thought cheapened the Drive Pro.
There have also been some other conscious design efforts which have been executed near-perfectly in my opinion. The silver detailing at the bottom laces and the silver Under Armour logo on the rear so so much to elevate the look of this shoe. Everything that was wrong with the looks of the old Drive Pro - the colourways, the writing on the side of the shoe and the less-than-premium materials - has all gone in favour of clean lines and subtly design cues.
But, despite my love for this shoe, not everything is perfect. Nor should anything be perfect. They’re not the most breathable shoe I’ve tested. Fully waterproof shoes won’t ever be as breathable as their knit counterparts, but I’d put the Clone on the less breathable side of the shoe spectrum. Perhaps this is one of the very few drawbacks of the new upper materials.
None of this genuinely affects my enjoyment of this shoe, however. Since being given my samples in October last year of this and the spikeless version, I’ve hardly worn any other shoes. They are ideal for any occasion, any conditions, and leave you in a position to try and present your best swing to the golf ball every time. It's now a very tight battle between my two favourite shoes. Nothing has come along to dethrone the Adidas Tour360 24 I tested in January 2024, but the Drive Pro Clone certainly has the edge on it as things stand. Perhaps its recency bias, but I find myself heading back to this and its spikeless sibling more than any other golf shoe right now.
Quite simply, I'd urge any golfer of any ability to at least try these shoes on. At the £160 asking price for the spiked version, they're not cheap, but they're far from the most expensive shoes on the market. I'm confident you get every penny's worth in this shoe.
Credit where credit is due. We don't often see a lot of innovation in the golf shoe market, but this is certainly a moment where genuine innovation will hopefully see performance gains for you on the course. Even if you don't find yourself playing any better in these shoes, you'll certainly look better in them and be able to enjoy 18 holes of full comfort. Five years of reviewing shoes can often have me feeling a little jaded about golf footwear, but Under Armour has certainly perked me up as we head into a busy 2026 for new golf footwear. It's a new yardstick I can't see being beaten for a while yet.
The Under Armour Drive Pro Clone will be available from February 6th with a retail price of £160/$190.
