There is more than one Matchplay
We went to Under Armour’s own product pages rather than the marketplace, which is the only place a fabric composition or an inseam is actually published. Two Matchplay shorts sit in the men’s range, and they are not the same garment:
The UA Matchplay Men’s 10" Shorts (style 1350071) are 100% polyester, with a 10-inch inseamthat Under Armour itself describes as among the longest men’s golf shorts it offers. Flat front, four pockets, stretch waistband, no liner. The feature list runs fast-drying, 4-way stretch and moisture wicking. No UPF rating appears anywhere on the page.
The UA Matchplay Men’s Shorts (style 6013987) are a 71% Elasterell / 29% polyester blend with a 9-inch inseam, a stretch waistband with an internal grip, odor control technology, and UPF 50 sun protection. Fit is listed as Regular. Under Armour prices the two within a few dollars of each other.
An inch of inseam, a different fabric, and a sun-protection rating on one and not the other. Those are not trim differences; they are the two specs most worth caring about in a golf short. And the Amazon listing title carries the model name, a color code and a waist size — not the inseam, not the composition, not a UPF number.
Why the inseam is the part that matters
Our roundup’s standing advice is that if you are buying one pair for a course you have not visited yet, buy the 10-inch, because that is the length dress codes were written around and it sits at or just above the knee on most men. A 9-inch reads as modern rather than sloppy and is fine at the large majority of courses. Neither is wrong.
But it is an odd position to be in: the roundup tells you to buy the 10-inch, and the listing for its top pick does not tell you whether it is one. That is worth saying plainly rather than hiding, and it is fixable in about thirty seconds. Before you order, open the listing and check whether the size selector or the product details give you an inseam. Many Under Armour listings on that marketplace do, in a details table, even when the title does not.
If it does not, you have two honest options. Buy it anyway, because for most people playing most courses an inch of hem is genuinely not going to come up. Or pick the short on our roundup whose title states the length outright: the adidas Ultimate365 10-Inch Golf Short puts the number in the product name, which removes the question entirely. It costs more. That is what the certainty costs.
The UPF question, and who it sends elsewhere
Golf is four to five hours in open sun with almost no shade, which makes sun protection a more reasonable thing to care about here than in most clothing. Under Armour publishes UPF 50 for the 9-inch Matchplay. It publishes no UPF rating at all for the 10-inch.
We are not going to turn that absence into a claim in either direction. A tightly woven synthetic blocks a good deal of sun whether or not anyone has paid to have it tested, so “no rating” is not the same as “no protection.” But it is not a claim the maker makes, and we will not make it on their behalf — the same position we took on the UA Tech Polo, which also publishes no UPF number.
So if a rated garment is the reason you are shopping, do not buy this one on the assumption it is rated. Buy the pick on the roundup that says so on the tin: the Callaway Pro Spin, whose listing states UPF 50 sun protection in the product title itself, and which at the time of writing is the cheaper of the two. We would rather send you to the less expensive short that answers your actual question than defend our own top pick past the point where it is the right answer.
What 100% polyester means on a hot afternoon
Both Matchplay versions are listed as fast-drying, moisture-wicking and 4-way stretch, and for a beginner that combination is the whole point of buying golf-specific shorts instead of wearing chinos. Cotton absorbs sweat and keeps it; a synthetic moves it to the surface and lets it evaporate. On a genuinely hot round, that is the difference between shorts that feel the same at the eighteenth as they did at the first and shorts that do not.
The 10-inch version gets its give from the weave rather than from a stretch fiber, since Under Armour lists it as 100% polyester with no elastane. That is worth knowing if you have ever felt clothing catch at the top of a backswing or when you crouch to read a putt, because a woven-in stretch is less generous than a blended one. The 9-inch version is the blend. If your body objects to restrictive clothing, that is the argument for it over its longer sibling — more than the inch is.
One small detail from the maker’s page that trips up people coming from running or gym shorts: the 10-inch Matchplay has no liner. Golf shorts generally do not. You wear them like trousers, which is what a dress code expects.
Does it pass a dress code?
Yes, and this is the part where the Matchplay is unambiguous. Under Armour publishes both versions as flat-front, four-pocket shorts. Flat front and no cargo pockets are the two things written dress codes name most often, and this short satisfies both in a plain solid color.
That is genuinely the whole test at most courses, and it is a lower bar than most first-timers fear — our what to wear golfing guide walks the rest of the outfit, and the shorts roundup has the section on what codes actually say versus what people assume they say. Nothing on any dress code we have read specifies a brand. You are buying this short because it is a good short at a fair price, not because the label buys you permission.
What we did not do
We do not own a test pair, we have not put these through a season of Saturday mornings, and we are not going to tell you how they held up after thirty washes, because we do not know. Everything specific on this page comes from Under Armour’s own published product detail, cited at the foot, plus a live check of the marketplace listing and its stock on the date above. Our methodology page sets out what we do and do not claim.
What that means in practice: we can tell you exactly what the maker states about fabric, length, pockets and sun protection, and exactly where the maker states nothing. We cannot tell you whether the seams last three seasons. Any review that tells you both without owning the product is guessing at one of them.
Who should buy something else
Four honest redirections, all of them to shorts already on our roundup:
If you want a stated UPF rating, buy the Callaway Pro Spin. Its listing puts UPF 50 in the title, and it is currently the cheaper pair.
If you specifically want the traditional 10-inch length and want to be certain, buy the adidas Ultimate365 10-Inch, which states the number in the product name.
If the budget is genuinely tight,buy the Amazon Essentials golf short. It is a fraction of the price and it is still a golf short. Its cargo-style pockets are the one thing to check against your course’s code first.
If you want a golf-brand name at the lowest price, the PUMA Jackpot Short 2.0 has repeatedly been the cheapest way to own one, because it is a previous-season model. Sizes and colors run out; that is the trade.
Is it worth the money?
It sits in the middle of the five shorts we rank, which is exactly where a default should sit. You are not paying a premium for performance fabric you will not notice, and you are not buying the cheapest thing on the page and discovering it looks like gym kit. For a first pair of golf shorts, middle of the range and a name your pro shop recognizes is the low-regret purchase.
One buying note that applies to all golf apparel: prices on this category move constantly and by size and color within the same listing, so treat the figure on the card above as today’s number rather than a fixed price. Previous-season colorways of the same short are frequently much cheaper for a functionally identical garment.
The verdict
Still our best-overall pick, with one condition attached. The Matchplay is a plain, flat-front, dress-code-safe golf short from a brand whose sizing most people already know, at a fair price, and for the great majority of beginners it is the correct and boring answer.
The condition is that “Matchplay” names two garments and the listing does not tell you which. If you want the 10-inch, check the details table before you order or buy the adidas instead. If you want a rated UPF fabric, buy the Callaway. If neither is the reason you are shopping — and for most people it is not — order this one in your usual waist and spend the attention you saved on golf shoes, which change how eighteen holes feel far more than any pair of shorts will.