Ruminations

Golf as Exercise

"Walking the golf course certainly counts as exercise. Even riding in a golf cart is better than doing nothing. But to meet the recommended level for good health, you probably need to increase your activity. The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week to help reduce the risk for heart attack and stroke. This is equal to 30 minutes five days a week. One way to achieve this is with brisk walking (4 mph) for 10 miles per week, which burns a total of approximately 1,000 calories."
"Studies have found that walking 18 holes is about equal to brisk walking in terms of intensity (even though golf walking is stop-and-go). A golfer may walk four miles and burn 800 to 900 calories during an average round with help from swinging clubs. If you ride in a cart, the walking distance drops to about one mile and you burn half the calories. So playing two walking rounds per week is a good way to meet the minimum exercise requirement."
"However, in order to gain the maximum cardiovascular benefit from exercise, you may want to add a day or two of higher-intensity activities, such as running, tennis, or something similar that raises your heart rate. The good news: you do not need more than an hour per day. Research has found there is little additional benefit after that time period."
—William Kormos, MD
Editor in Chief, Harvard Men's Health Watch

Ryo Ishikawa, one of Japan's biggest golf stars, demonstrates his swing on the pro tour in February.

Donald Miralle/Getty Images

Winter's over, it's golf time. Everyone's anxious to get out on the green; watching golf tournaments on television can be packed away for the time being, and the golf bag dusted off. And if you're thinking health and fitness and exercise packed into a day of bracing fresh air and sunshine, what's not to like? On the other hand, if you're equating the game you play with the game that the named professionals play, it just isn't the same thing; not as 'physical'. And while a professional golfer has to be equipped with endurance, flexibility and strength for ultimate links success, the ordinary player doesn't.

Were you aware that a portable gym is part of the entourage of the PGA? That most professional golfers follow a year-round fitness regimen to ensure they keep in shape, and most do it with the help of a personal trainer? That's professional commitment. Walk the course or use a golf cart? Walking can be a challenge if it's a hilly terrain, not so much of it's flat, but as an exercise option is preferential. And of course age comes into the equation as well as how hefty the weight of the golfer is, embarking on that 18-hole adventure.

A number of studies report a positive link between regular golf activities and an extended life expectancy, so you practise the game you love and at the same time gift yourself with an improved lifestyle and presumably a longer life. Good formula. Golfers, it would appear, can appreciate that the studies appear to agree that golfers gain by having a 40 percent lower mortality rate than those who don't play golf. They don't know what they're missing.

Image: Monkey Business Images/ Thinkstock

It isn't golf itself per se that gives golfers that advantage, however; it's the walking, and the added physical act of swinging a golf club. It also helps that golf is a very social game that can be shared with friends, family and business associates. That commitment to regularly playing golf, a game that is so much a passion for so many, has its advantages, burning three to eight calories a minute, which comes out to 264 or 450 calories each game. As for the energetic golfers who prefer to walk the course, they will cover 8 to 13 kilometres walking an 18-hole course.

Which will qualify as a moderate-intensity aerobic activity, taking into account that 8 to 13 kilometers represents 11,245 to 16,667 steps reflected on a step counter. But if you ride a cart, that step count is reduced to 6,280 steps, equating with 5 km over 18 holes. Activity fluctuates between light, moderate and high intensity activities throughout the course of the game, reflecting walking, standing or swinging a golf club.

A caution: too many hours where the same motion is repeated tends to be hard on joints, not to mention the effect of poor swing mechanics, the secondary cause of injury among non-pro golfers.
The elbow, wrist, hand and shoulder of golfers are prone to injury, and so too is the spine which must rotate with speed, power and full motion range, requiring a more than a modicum of strength and flexibility. Other sports, however, have a greater risk of injury than golf.

But there's another statistic of more than passing interest, where in the United States, golf comes with the highest incidence of lightning strikes -- resulting in death -- a penalty too dire to contemplate. In extreme weather situations, it's wise, no doubt about it, to clear the course, and speedily. And in good weather when the sun beams down, slather on sunscreen because golfers have a higher-than-average risk of skin cancer, given their long hours of exposure walking that salubrious course under sunny skies.