ECCO Biom H5 Golf Shoes Review: The best golf shoe of the year (so far)

Key Features:

• Comes in a choice of waterproof leather or breathable textile
• BIOM NATURAL MOTION sock liner provides a sock-like fit, along with stability and forward momentum in the swing
• FLUIDFORM foam gives a comfortable, slightly bouncy feel underfoot
• Ridged outsole gives a ton of traction

A few weeks ago, Equipment Editor Tom took to the course for one of the ultimate showdowns of the year, pitting 16 of the year's best golf shoes so far against each other in a winner-takes-all knockout.

After much agonising, one shoe came out on top and it happens to be the shoe we're writing about today: the ECCO Biom H5.

Watch our full golf shoes test here:

ECCO have long made some of the most underrated shoes in the game, forgoing the glamour of the major sportswear giants and focusing on making shoes that combine a sleek, crisp aesthetic with seriously impressive technology.

They're not shoes that'll turn heads on the street, but once you get a pair on your feet, you'll likely end up singing their praises.

The Biom H5 is no different, and in fact, it might be the best golf shoe the Danish brand has made to date. Certainly so far, it's the best golf shoe to release this year. 

But why exactly? Let's find out.

Looks

As with a lot of ECCO's shoes, they come in a distinctly Scandi flavour. The overarching aesthetic of their shoes is sporty, yet refined — an approach present throughout the Biom H5 range. The Biom H5 takes its general shape and silhouette from retro running shoes, with a tapered look towards the front and a prominent midsole that gets progressively chunkier towards the back. 

Overall, this provides a look we think will appeal to a wide range of tastes. It's not quite a full-on sneaker, but wouldn't look out of place on the street either.

The pair we tested were the all-white version that ECCO made available at the shoe's launch—a colourway we feel shows off the shoe's minimalist aesthetic and playful visual features the best. The leather upper is crisp and clean, while the textured midsole, apparently made in a way to evoke the topography of the Scottish highlands, looks soft and inviting. 

A bright royal blue outsole, heavily ridged to improve traction, provides a pop of much-needed colour. While the all-white is our pick of the bunch, ECCO also offers a blacked-out version for an even more lowkey look.

Technology & Features

ECCO's modus operandi has long been about understated design and quietly impressive tech that performs well without giving away too much to the naked eye. The ECCO Biom H5 is no different, and if you look closely enough you'll realise there's far more to this shoe than meets the eye at first glance.

The first major giveaway lies in the midsole: a layer of what ECCO calls its FLUIDFORM Direct Comfort Technology. In keeping with the trend towards golf shoes that mimic the feel of a modern running shoe underfoot, this essentially means a layer of foam engineered to be softer, springier and bouncier that delivers the comfort required to glide through a full 18 without sacrificing stability.

Further locking the foot in is perhaps the shoe's most impressive feature: a knit sock engineered into the leather upper that literally hugs the foot and provides a fluid feel from player to shoe. Sandwiched between these two upper layers is a lightweight, breathable waterproof membrane that keeps the worst of the elements at bay without cooking your feet on a long round. 

Rounding things off, a lightweight Ortholite midsole provides a little extra cushioning under foot, with the dual benefit that it can be removed if you have wider feet. Underneath this all is an outsole of aggressive lightning-shaped ridges that provide some of the best grip we've experienced from a spikeless golf shoe in a long time.

Performance On the Course

Suffice it to say that ECCO's technology combines to create a seriously impressive experience out on the links. The locked in feeling provided by the soft leather upper in conjunction with the knitted sock liner simply isn't like any other shoe on the market: your foot almost feels as if it becomes one with the shoe. 

Impressively for a shoe that fits so closely, the material didn't rub at all throughout a full round of golf, and the upper is engineered in such a way that it twists and shapes with the natural motion of a golf swing. You feel supported and propelled forward from backswing to follow-through.

The cushioning under foot is also top drawer. The big slab of FLUIDFORM foam does its job admirably, providing a feel that straddles the line between being bouncy and responsive enough to swing with confidence. You never feel like the bounce isn't there, but you never feel like your connection to the ground either, meaning reading the greens remains a relative breeze.

Having taken the ECCO Biom H5 Golf Shoes out for multiple rounds, the shoe's build quality and durability has proven seriously impressive. The aggressive lightning-ridged outsole, while spikeless, delivers locked-in traction time after time, and despite the all-white finish, the shoe hasn't really begun to show any serious signs of wear and tear. 

Overall, out on the course, you feel like you're stepping out in a shoe that's taking the market forward into the future. From the tech to the comfort and its modern look, this is a shoe that'll stand the test of time.

Drawbacks

The £190 price tag may seem a sizeable outlay at first glance. And there's no doubt about it: these are some pretty pricey golf shoes, coming firmly into competition with other high-end models like J-Lindeberg's Vent 500 and G/FORE's MG4+ O2 G/LOCK.

That being said, we firmly believe that over time it'll become clear that you've invested in something engineered and built at a level above most other shoes. It's worth noting too that Ecco shoes tend to go on special quite frequently, so keep your eyes out for a deal and you could steal a pair below RRP.

It's worth noting that there's a textile variant also available which, while not being waterproof, is £20 cheaper.

Should you purchase the ECCO Biom H5 Golf Shoes?

Put simply, these are the best golf shoes we've tested at GolfMagic this year so far. At £190, the ECCO Biom H5 Golf Shoes represent a larger-than-normal investment for the modern golfer, but one that'll pay dividends throughout round after round of comfortable golf.