Any time I have the opportunity to test a new pair of kicks, I default to the process and method that have stood my test of time: school walkabout, followed by town walkabout, followed by round of golf. When TRUE linkswear made the Dead Golfer LUX Hybrid available, I had to have it. As a Spanish teacher in my other life, Día de los Muertos is a huge cultural component during my fall courses, and now I get to wear it on my feet? You betcha!

There are four or five elements to the LUX Hybrid that I want to identify. They caught my eye before their inaugural slip-on to my size 10s. The two-piece sole has an attractive, translucent skim as the ground-contact layer. The skim has ridges toward the heel and toe and along the length of your big toe. The remainder has proper molded cleating, that promises to hold steady among the most slippery and slick of conditions.

The second element is the sole cushion that joins the bottom skim with the shoe upper. There’s nothing flimsy about it, neither in appearance nor in functionality. The cushion is fat toward the heel and gradually slims down as it moves toe-ward. All the steps I put in on roadways and school hallways did nothing to deter my feet from feeling fine. Kudos to the engineers who came up with that feature.

The shoe upper offers the third and fourth elements for your attention. There is a solid band that wraps around the heel, the first step toward ensuring that there is maximum heel stability in the Dead Golfer LUX Hybrid. The left shoe heel has the words Married to the game tagged, while the right one reads ’til death do us part. It’s an appropriate touch for a bit of quirk and whimsy. The top part of the heel capsule rises high up, ensuring that the tendon transition receives sufficient support.

Finally, the shoe has the appearance of a mesh upper, but it is actually a two-layer topper. The mest allows the shoe to breathe, while the underlayer guarantees that dew and bits of moisture don’t seep in toward your socks. All in all, it’s the sort of shoe that I’ll wear until it breaks down. Don’t expect another shoe review from me for quite some time!

As if the shoes weren’t enough for you to set your vibe, there is a line of apparel to accompany them. Hoodies with the aforementioned tagline Married to the game, ’til death do us part frame the dead golfer poised at the top of its swing emblazon the back, while the simple silhouette of the ghoulish golfer adorns the top-right portion of the front. An understated, black cap is also available for purchase.

To summarize, these were the testing conditions for the TRUE Linkswear LUX Hybrid, as only this writer can effect:

• Two days of 8 am to 4 pm teaching, jumping on desks, walking around camps;
• Two days of photography at a spectacular golf course in Winston-Salem, North Carolina;
• One day of walking around alma mater campus during Homecoming 2023;
• Practice swings at local practice facility.