As I opened my fedex package today, I realized that I seemed waaaaay too excited to open up a new box of golf shoes. Years ago I never cared about golf shoes and just played in my good old Samba Classics, but since the first pair of golf shoes I had were from high school around 6 years ago, I started buying better/newer shoes (and certainly ones that were far less ugly than my all white like 3/4 Nike's). I've come to the realization that I now have 6 pairs of shoes 
Nike - old POS ugly white junkers lol
Nike - SP-3 Black (like 2 years old on clearance at work when I bought them last spring and now don't fit well.)
Nike - Tour Premium Spikeless Teaching Shoe (this summer can't pass up wholesale price :P)
Adidas - Tour 360 LTD White/Black (Last Summer)
Adidas - Tour 360 LTD Black/White (This Spring)
Footjoy - FJ Icon (today :D) Manufacturer closeout, couldn't pass up the deal for next season lol
At work I find golf shoes are a tough sale to a majority of golfers. Most in my area are weekend warriors or guys who play like 6 times a year, but even the people I know play a ton don't invest in a pair, whether cheapies or high end shoes. I mean a pair of good spikes isn't going to take 5 strokes off your game, but man a comfortable pair of shoes makes the walking portion a heck of a lot more comfortable, and the spikes DO make a difference on damp/wet days or in early morning/late afternoon dew :P Which actually brings me to the other reason it's a tough sell, 90% of the people who come in ride in carts exclusively (I usually ask to get an idea of what price range they are looking at). We've got the FJ Greenjoy's on sale almost all the time for around $40 so they sell more than the rest (FJ Contour, Nike Durasport, Adidas Beacon/Tech Response, and a few FJ/Nike's on the clearance racks). Coming from a sporting goods retail background I can say around 80'sh% of the time you get what you pay for. You buy the $30 Nike running shoes, don't expect the same comfort/technology/quality as the $70 or $120 Asics running shoes. You buy cheaper golf shoes they are generally EVA outsoles, synthetic leather or mesh uppers, non-waterproof, and primarily geared toward someone who plays less than 10 rounds a year. This isn't a slight towards them as they do what they are designed to do, the EVA foam and mesh uppers do a wonderful job of making the shoes very lightweight and breathable, and the synthetic leather requires much less care/maintenance that genuine leather. The downside is that mesh does nothing against dew, standing water, rain, getting nailed by the random malfunctioning sprinkler (weirder things have happened), it also tends to get dirty and stay dirty, or tear/blow out at inopportune times. The synthetic leather also tends to scratch/scuff and break down much faster than real leather (granted that it's taken care of correctly). EVA foam although very lightweight and "cushony" tends to break down much quicker.
Even one step up in terms of quality gets you into rubber outsoles, genuine leather uppers, some form of waterproof guarantee/warranty, higher end comfort/support technologies...etc I'm not advocating buying the tour models since there are many to choose from in the mid-cost range, but then again that's not to say the tour models aren't worth the cash (they are :P). Sometimes just looking for good deals gets you into the aforementioned 20% of the time there's a difference in price/quality, and its usually something good on sale/clearance for a steal of a price from last year or so. I will jokingly say though that any Nike Shock or Sketchers ShapeUp is in theopposite category of not worth the $100+ they cost :P As an example of bargain hunting, the Nike SP3's I got for $40 bucks down from 99, the Nike Spikeless I got for 110 instead of 220 for volunteering at the PGA Championship (they look like business shoes so I wear them to work and then go to the course afterwords), Adidas Tour 360 LTD's I got for $110-120 down from $250 since they are last years model and www.TGW.com had an extra 30% off of clearance one day, and the FJ Icon's were closed out to $150 down from $250 on another online shop I frequent (www.GPPGolf.com) which was still a cheaper price than even TGW and Golfsmith who are also closing out the style (not to mention that for some reason every time I order from GPP they send me a free wire brush lol).
So I guess my question is why people will spend hundreds of dollars on drivers/putters (I jokingly/seriously suggest they just use it on lessons instead much to the chagrin of my superiors [and no its not a shameless plug to make my store more money, we don't do lessons/repair/all that stuff...but I do shamelessly plug my instructors name :P]), $40-45 on a box of 12 balls that disappear within 2 weeks, and completely ignore something as basic as a good pair of shoes?
Nike - old POS ugly white junkers lol
Nike - SP-3 Black (like 2 years old on clearance at work when I bought them last spring and now don't fit well.)
Nike - Tour Premium Spikeless Teaching Shoe (this summer can't pass up wholesale price :P)
Adidas - Tour 360 LTD White/Black (Last Summer)
Adidas - Tour 360 LTD Black/White (This Spring)
Footjoy - FJ Icon (today :D) Manufacturer closeout, couldn't pass up the deal for next season lol
At work I find golf shoes are a tough sale to a majority of golfers. Most in my area are weekend warriors or guys who play like 6 times a year, but even the people I know play a ton don't invest in a pair, whether cheapies or high end shoes. I mean a pair of good spikes isn't going to take 5 strokes off your game, but man a comfortable pair of shoes makes the walking portion a heck of a lot more comfortable, and the spikes DO make a difference on damp/wet days or in early morning/late afternoon dew :P Which actually brings me to the other reason it's a tough sell, 90% of the people who come in ride in carts exclusively (I usually ask to get an idea of what price range they are looking at). We've got the FJ Greenjoy's on sale almost all the time for around $40 so they sell more than the rest (FJ Contour, Nike Durasport, Adidas Beacon/Tech Response, and a few FJ/Nike's on the clearance racks). Coming from a sporting goods retail background I can say around 80'sh% of the time you get what you pay for. You buy the $30 Nike running shoes, don't expect the same comfort/technology/quality as the $70 or $120 Asics running shoes. You buy cheaper golf shoes they are generally EVA outsoles, synthetic leather or mesh uppers, non-waterproof, and primarily geared toward someone who plays less than 10 rounds a year. This isn't a slight towards them as they do what they are designed to do, the EVA foam and mesh uppers do a wonderful job of making the shoes very lightweight and breathable, and the synthetic leather requires much less care/maintenance that genuine leather. The downside is that mesh does nothing against dew, standing water, rain, getting nailed by the random malfunctioning sprinkler (weirder things have happened), it also tends to get dirty and stay dirty, or tear/blow out at inopportune times. The synthetic leather also tends to scratch/scuff and break down much faster than real leather (granted that it's taken care of correctly). EVA foam although very lightweight and "cushony" tends to break down much quicker.
Even one step up in terms of quality gets you into rubber outsoles, genuine leather uppers, some form of waterproof guarantee/warranty, higher end comfort/support technologies...etc I'm not advocating buying the tour models since there are many to choose from in the mid-cost range, but then again that's not to say the tour models aren't worth the cash (they are :P). Sometimes just looking for good deals gets you into the aforementioned 20% of the time there's a difference in price/quality, and its usually something good on sale/clearance for a steal of a price from last year or so. I will jokingly say though that any Nike Shock or Sketchers ShapeUp is in theopposite category of not worth the $100+ they cost :P As an example of bargain hunting, the Nike SP3's I got for $40 bucks down from 99, the Nike Spikeless I got for 110 instead of 220 for volunteering at the PGA Championship (they look like business shoes so I wear them to work and then go to the course afterwords), Adidas Tour 360 LTD's I got for $110-120 down from $250 since they are last years model and www.TGW.com had an extra 30% off of clearance one day, and the FJ Icon's were closed out to $150 down from $250 on another online shop I frequent (www.GPPGolf.com) which was still a cheaper price than even TGW and Golfsmith who are also closing out the style (not to mention that for some reason every time I order from GPP they send me a free wire brush lol).
So I guess my question is why people will spend hundreds of dollars on drivers/putters (I jokingly/seriously suggest they just use it on lessons instead much to the chagrin of my superiors [and no its not a shameless plug to make my store more money, we don't do lessons/repair/all that stuff...but I do shamelessly plug my instructors name :P]), $40-45 on a box of 12 balls that disappear within 2 weeks, and completely ignore something as basic as a good pair of shoes?
Even though I like wearing my FJ sandals, I'm still a bit too traditional for those. And I guarantee that I have nothing at all in my closet that would go with them. 
