Andy DevaneyTRUE linkswear has taken one of the defining ideas behind its OG Cush golf shoe — zero-drop geometry, generous width and plenty of cushioning — and given it a decidedly more everyday wardrobe.
Golf shoes have spent years trying to look less like golf shoes. TRUE linkswear has now removed much of the ambiguity and made one that is intended to live perfectly happily away from the course.
The TRUE OG Cush Premium is the brand’s first casual lifestyle shoe built with a zero-drop construction, taking the foundations of the existing OG Cush and wrapping them in a cleaner, more everyday silhouette.
That distinction matters. The original OG Cush remained unmistakably golf-minded despite its comfort credentials. The Premium version takes the opposite route: start with the walking platform golfers already liked, then make the upper and overall appearance rather less bothered about where the first tee is.
At $179, it also sits firmly in premium footwear territory. The question, then, is not whether TRUE has made another golf shoe. It is whether the qualities that made its golf footwear distinctive make equal sense when golf is no longer the main event.
The OG Cush formula moves into everyday wear
The starting point is familiar.
TRUE’s original OG Cush represented a major redesign of its OG platform, pairing zero-drop geometry with an extra-wide toe box and increased cushioning. The combination proved popular enough for customers to start asking for something using the same foundation with a greater emphasis on everyday use.
The OG Cush Premium is the answer.
Instead of attempting to disguise a conventional golf shoe beneath a more casual upper, TRUE has retained the underlying construction that defined the OG Cush and changed the purpose around it.
The result is intended for walking around town, travelling, working and general daily wear, while retaining enough of its golf ancestry that an occasional excursion towards turf hardly seems an identity crisis.
That crossover is increasingly familiar territory for modern golf footwear, but TRUE has approached it from a particularly specific direction. Zero drop is not simply an aesthetic choice. It determines how the shoe sits beneath the foot.
Why TRUE is sticking with zero drop
In the OG Cush Premium, heel and forefoot sit at the same level.
TRUE uses that zero-drop construction to create what it describes as a more natural, connected feel. It is paired with an extra-wide toe box — up to EEE — designed to give the foot considerably more room than the tapered shape found in plenty of conventional casual footwear.
There is 6mm of Wanderlux foam beneath the foot, intended to provide cushioning without losing the low, relatively natural sensation associated with the OG platform.
TRUE also says the cushioning is designed to conform to the wearer’s foot over time.
It is an interesting balancing act. Lifestyle shoes can become enormous monuments to foam, while minimalist footwear sometimes appears determined to make the pavement feel quite as hard as the people who laid it.
The OG Cush Premium occupies the ground between those extremes: cushioned, but still built around flexibility, width and a level platform.
For golfers already accustomed to TRUE’s fit philosophy, that will probably be the most recognisable part of the shoe even though the styling has shifted away from golf.
More shoe, less clubhouse costume
The upper is made from premium engineered synthetic leather, with a cleaner lifestyle aesthetic than the original OG Cush.
There is also a comfort tongue opening intended to make the shoe easier to get on, alongside a heel padding system.
Underneath, TRUE has retained its rubber “T” tread, giving the outsole more coverage and traction across different surfaces rather than using an aggressively course-specific pattern.
That is perhaps the clearest indication of what this shoe is trying to be.
The OG Cush Premium has not been designed around the assumption that every journey ends beside a flagstick. It is supposed to deal with pavements, airports, offices and ordinary walking while retaining enough grip and golf DNA to remain recognisably TRUE.
For anyone whose golf wardrobe already has a habit of escaping into the rest of the week, none of this will seem terribly radical. Golf polos became everyday shirts long ago. Quarter-zips have apparently conquered civilisation. Footwear was always going to follow.
Wide feet remain part of the proposition
The extra-wide toe box could prove every bit as important to the OG Cush Premium’s identity as the zero-drop platform.
TRUE specifies a fit of up to EEE, giving the shoe a distinctly different proposition from lifestyle trainers built around a narrower silhouette.
That does not automatically make it suitable for every foot — footwear is stubbornly personal — but it does explain why simply turning the existing OG Cush into a prettier casual shoe would have missed the point.
The width, level geometry and cushioning are the product.
The revised styling merely gives them somewhere else to go.
The price of crossing over
The OG Cush Premium launches for men in White/Navy and Grey, with an MSRP of $179.
That places it beyond impulse-purchase territory for most buyers and makes the crossover element more significant. A shoe designed solely for occasional golf use has one value equation; something intended to work through travel, work, walking and time around the course has another.
TRUE is clearly betting that the appeal of the OG Cush platform can survive without golf being its primary excuse for existing.
And that is the more interesting part of this launch.
The company has not simply made its golf shoe look casual. It has taken the elements its customers apparently valued most — width, cushioning, flexibility and zero drop — and made those the starting point for an everyday shoe.
Golf may have supplied the family tree. The OG Cush Premium seems rather keen to move out of the clubhouse.
