Staff WriterThere is a growing corner of the game where performance matters, style matters, and nobody wants to look like they have strapped two small spaceships to their feet. That is the lane Autry Golf is driving down with its new Medalist Golf shoe, launched in time for the 2026 Masters and presented through a campaign shot at Royal Hawaiian Golf Club.
The idea is simple enough. Take the brand’s signature Medalist silhouette, the one steeped in old-school court-shoe DNA, and give it enough golfing intelligence to survive a long walk, a wet fairway and the sort of awkward lie that asks difficult questions of both balance and dignity.
It is available now at autry-usa.com, through AUTRY flagship stores and selected retailers, in four colourways priced at £200.
A familiar silhouette, now built for the course
The interesting part of this launch is not that a fashion-conscious brand has wandered into golf. Plenty have tried that. The interesting part is that Autry Golf has chosen not to abandon its identity in the process.
Rather than inventing an entirely new shape, Autry has reworked the Medalist, a sneaker silhouette already tied to the brand’s heritage. The result is a shoe that still looks clean and recognisable, but has been adapted with golf in mind.
That matters because golf footwear has changed. Players still want grip, weather protection and comfort over 18 holes, but they also want something that does not scream “club locker room issue.” The modern golfer, especially the one drifting between driving range, airport lounge and city pavement, is not always looking for a shoe that resembles industrial equipment.
What the Medalist Golf is designed to do
On paper, the Medalist Golf is aimed squarely at that crossover golfer.
Autry says the shoe has been developed as a lightweight option with a specially designed sole for optimal grip on the ground. In practical terms, that is the bit that counts. Golf shoes can look as handsome as a leading man in soft evening light, but if they start slipping through the downswing, the charm fades quickly.
The brand has also built in Alpha Skin technology for breathability and waterproof protection. That is a useful pairing for golfers who do not have the luxury of choosing their weather, which is to say almost all of them. Breathability helps through long summer rounds, while waterproofing gives the shoe some credibility when the skies turn sour and the fairways get heavy.
In other words, Autry Golf is not merely selling nostalgia with laces. It is pitching a modern performance shoe dressed in a retro coat.
Four colourways, one clear message
The collection arrives in four versions:
- Golf Low White
- Golf Low White & Coral Blush
- Golf Low White & Black
- Golf Low White & Pearl
Each pair is priced at £200, which places the Medalist Golf firmly in the premium category. That means AUTRY is not chasing the bargain bin golfer. It is speaking instead to the customer who values design, brand identity and finish as much as pure function.
That is a sensible play. Golf has become increasingly comfortable with the overlap between performance wear and lifestyle fashion, and Autry Golf seems to understand that the buyer here is not just shopping for traction. They are shopping for taste.
Why the timing makes sense
Launching in the shadow of the Masters is no accident. Every April, golf becomes a little more cinematic. The audience broadens, the imagery sharpens, and brands rush to place themselves somewhere near the conversation.
By unveiling the collection around the 2026 Masters, Autry gets to attach its latest move to golf’s most visually charged week without needing to shout. Add in a campaign shot at Royal Hawaiian Golf Club, and the whole thing arrives with a bit of theatre about it. Not noisy theatre. Just enough palm-fringed swagger to turn heads.
From 1980s tennis roots to modern golf style
There is also a wider brand story here. Autry traces its inspiration back to Jim Autry, the footwear specialist who created a tennis shoe under his own name in the 1980s.
The brand later faded before being revived in 2019 by four Italian entrepreneurs, whose mission was to preserve that heritage while giving the product a cleaner, more modern identity.
That heritage is important because it explains why the Medalist works at all. It was never a brand built on clutter. The appeal has always been in its simplicity, its athletic roots and its refusal to overcomplicate things. Golf, for all its maddening detail, can appreciate that sort of restraint.
Autry Golf enters a crowded space with a clear identity
The golf shoe market is not short of competition, and no brand gets a free pass merely because it looks good leaning against a clubhouse bench. Performance still rules. Comfort still rules. Stability still rules.
But what Autry Golf appears to offer is something slightly different: a shoe for golfers who want technical practicality without surrendering aesthetic ground. It is aimed at the player who notices shape, colour and silhouette, yet still expects the basics to hold up from the first tee to the last green.
For that golfer, the Medalist Golf may strike a very modern note. It respects the game, but it does not dress for it like it is reporting for military service.
Final word
Autry has not tried to reinvent golf footwear here. That is probably wise. Instead, it has taken an established silhouette, sharpened it for the course and released it at precisely the moment the golfing world is most attentive.
The result is a premium golf shoe with vintage echoes, contemporary intent and a clear understanding of where style now sits in the game. Autry Golf is not just stepping into the market. It is trying to walk it with a little more poise.
