Tried and Tested: Sealskinz socks

Twenty quid for a pair of socks! Yeah right…a whole twenty sheets for something that you put on your feet? Well, they had better be worth the money I thought to myself…I mean, what do they help you with in a game of golf? Socks are socks right?

Well, in actual fact, the literature accompanying the Sealskinz socks claimed that they would keep your feet dry and warm…OK I thought, but I already have waterproof shoes, why would I need a pair of waterproof socks too?

Do you play in the wet?

Well, if you think carefully, how many times have you played with your so-called waterproof shoes and still had wet feet at the end of your round? One manufacturer claimed that the cause of the wet feet came from your socks that actually drew water into the shoe as you walked around, a sort of "capillary action" and it was not the shoes fault!

Credible I suppose, but what if I played with waterproof socks then! We tested the theory!

Crunch time came when the first GOLFmagic fourball played at Woodspring Golf Club in Bristol. After a night of torrential rain, we were lucky to play the course and I took the opportunity to try out these all singing, all dancing socks and give them a real good run out.

Expensive…but worth every penny!

In every puddle, every bit of long wet rough I could find, I was in there, dragging my feet, determined to prove that they would not work as required on behalf of GOLFmagic!

And it was WET with a capital W at Woodspring! I did get a few weird looks from my playing partners who thought I was reliving my childhood, splashing about in puddles like a little rapscallion. But that was the test the SealSkinz had to endure, to prove that a pair of socks cannot be comfy AND waterproof!

They passed the test.

After a few holes, I thought, 'Well, my feet are dry still'…But my shoes (Manufacturer to remain nameless!) were soaked right through. I paid around £120 for these top of the range shoes…now ruined, and on their way back to the manufacturer!

When I first put them on, (the socks) they felt a little "rubbery", however, a few paces later, they felt just like normal socks, although somewhat thicker than my usual cotton pair.

The technology that goes into these socks is pretty fancy stuff, but in a nutshell, the material is waterproof and allows your foot to breathe too.

The crunch would come when I took my soaked shoes off and pulled the socks off…guess what, my feet were dry! Absolutely bone dry! The shoes were not…therefore, I can only assume that the shoes were either defective, or just bad!

While I would still question paying £20 for a pair of socks, I must admit, after trying these, it is definitely worth it if you would like warm and dry feet during your winter golf escapades.

In fact, I am getting on to Sealskinz to ask them if they could fit some with spikes in, because I might as well save myself a few quid and just play in the socks...the shoes weren't much use at all!

Have a look at the SealSkinz website: www.sealskinz.com