The golf shoe – an item of footwear that is manufactured to suit a very specific purpose, or so everyone thought. Perhaps it is the increased haste of everyday life that leads to men walking off course in their golf shoes, or the ability to be able to do this in innovative new golf shoes or perhaps it has something to do with Barack Obama being just one of the leading figures showing us that we can break the rules.

Spotted just over a week ago strolling into the White House still wearing his golf shoes, Barack Obama looked every bit the man on a mission. Had he had no time to change his golf shoes? Did they have spikes on them? Well, one things for sure, no-one will have questioned his choice of footwear. Especially when he appeared a couple of hours after the sighting to announce the historic moment that was Osama Bin Laden's death.

Whatever his reasons, it isn't just Obama that's taken to walking off course in his golf shoes; whether its for simple convenience or the fact that golf shoes have been innovated to have more wearability on and off course, men and women are choosing not to change their golf shoes after the game.

So does this signify a change in the etiquette surrounding the game? Or is it something to do with the shoes that are been worn? Fred Couples certainly showed the world that the traditional golf shoe wasn't the way forward when he stepped out in his Ecco Golf Street Hybrids. Initially his choice of footwear was met with many frowns and questions as to why he was wearing trainers but the golfing circle soon began to hum with questions as to where these comfy, trendy golf shoes could be bought.

You see, it isn't necessarily the attitude surrounding where golf shoes should be worn that has changed but what a golf shoe should be. The Ecco Golf Street offers a fantastic alternative to your traditional golf shoe; it can be worn on and off course without a frown or question in sight. Evidently, walking through town in your golf shoes with spikes on would raise a few eyebrows but you could certainly pop into the garage on your way home without being regarded as a crazed lunatic. Instead you look more like Obama – a man with purpose

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