I have to confess, I’ve bought a fair number of golf shoes over the years - maybe a few too many.

For many years I wore the Footjoy Classic. They were quite hard to break in but once you had, you were left with a wonderfully elegant golf shoe, the envy of your playing partners.

Tragically they were phased out and I made the move, like many others, to the new trend of shoe that could take you ‘from course to nightclub’. Well, kind of. These took no breaking in at all, were comfy immediately on wearing, but maybe lacked a certain sartorial charm.

Well, I can safely say the new Grenson-made shoes from Sounder Golf are in the tradition of the classic shoe and will cause heads to turn again.

Sounder Golf was established a couple of years ago by James Day and Cathal McAteer. James is, among many other things, the founder of Urban Golf. I would thoroughly recommend a recent episode of The Cookie Jar if you want to hear more about James’s story and his life in golf.

Through Urban Golf, and his club fitting business, James met Cathal, the founder of the fashion brand Folk. They launched a range of golf clothing and accessories under the Sounder name, designed to be stylish, functional and hard-wearing.

This business was established by golfers for people who have a passion for the game. Whether gloves, balls, clothing, or tees, they are designing products which really appeal to me - they just seem to have a great instinct for what looks good.

When it came to golf shoes, they wanted to create something special and partnered with Grenson to come up with what might be the ultimate golf shoe.

Grenson is an independent shoe maker based in Northamptonshire, where they’ve been making shoes for more than 150 years. The collaboration with Sounder promises a lot. Here is their description of their shoes, every one of which is handmade in England:

‘The shoe is based on Grenson’s 201 G-Fit last, which has a generous rounded toe shape for a classic shape, and extra toe spring for comfort. The upper is white Italian calf leather, with an off-white suede and Sounder star, and a Navy back tag made from French calf leather. The shoe is fully lined with naturally wicking uncoated beige calf leather.

The shoes are leather soled with pre-drilled screw-in cleats, with a 3mm rubber midsole, and a Goodyear welted construction’

Note the leather soles and welted construction!

Gosh, that all sounds pretty nice, but then it should. These shoes cost the princely sum of £495 a pair. Clearly, that’s an incredible amount to be spending on a pair of shoes so, do they live up to the price tag?

Well, to help me find that out, the good people at Sounder very kindly gave me a pair to try out.

First things first, the packaging had the wow factor. It may sound like a little thing, but it makes such a difference to the buying experience. A lovely box, well wrapped shoes and a clever carry bag (made from the offcuts from the chinos they make) all made a really good impression.

Without getting all soppy, these shoes are lovely to look at. The style is really reminiscent of those classic golf shoes from yesteryear, but with some modern touches. I was a little dubious about the Sounder branding when I’d read about the product in advance, but it is designed so well it adds to the visuals rather than detracts.

The shoes are quite weighty - they definitely felt more solid in the hand than the lighter shoes I’d been used to in recent years. But the real test would be in the wearing.

Robbie lovingly soaping and tightening my cleats!

Before getting the shoes on the course the cleats needed tightening and so I turned to an expert on the subject. After 42 years working at the Ben Sayers factory in North Berwick, Robbie joined the team at Archerfield and he is a true craftsman. He took all the cleats completely off the shoe and dabbed a little soap on the bottom of each one before screwing it back in - this makes them easier to get off in years to come.

While the shoes had felt a wee bit heavy in the hand there was no such worry on the course, though I would say that they felt ‘solid’. It felt like there was a little more stability than with other shoes. And they looked fantastic.

The comfort was good, and while they weren’t as super soft on first wearing as a more ‘leisure’ golf shoe would be, a few rounds down the line and they are very comfortable.

So they look fantastic, they feel great but there is clearly a massive elephant in the room - how can you possibly justify spending £495 on a pair of golf shoes?!

I wrestled with a similar problem when I wanted a MacKenzie golf bag a few years ago. In the end I had a special birthday and all of my friends (and a few acquaintances!) clubbed together to buy me a bag for life. It’s the best present I have ever had.

I think these shoes are in a similar bracket. Unless you are very wealthy it is likely that these will be a truly special purchase - something to cherish.

I don’t use my leather MacKenzie bag if it looks like it’s going to pour down. Likewise I don’t think I’ll be wearing these shoes every time I play. If the ground was really wet I would probably revert to my Eccos because I want the Sounder shoes to look as good as they do today for years to come. As such, I vow to care for them in a way that is entirely out of character for me!

They really are a very special golf shoe, and while the cost is quite something, I would thoroughly recommend them as a special buy. Grenson offers a repair service that includes a new leather sole and cleats so these truly can be a shoe for life. And if you get 20 years out of them, that price tag doesn’t look quite so steep.

You can see the full range of Sounder golf products at www.soundergolf.com. You can use the discount code ‘UKGOLFGUY15’ for 15% off any product, including the Sounder x Grenson shoe!