This is a guest post by Tyler King, who is the Online Outreach Coordinator for Catalina Golf Karz who specialize in awesome golf custom golf carts! If you’d like to provide a golf guest post for Front9Back9 Golf Blog, contact us here.
Savvy golfers know there are benefits of playing golf that can effectively keep players healthy. Today, we’ll cover the basic ideas behind two articles related to golf’s health benefits. Although the articles highlight different study results, they both have the same basic premise: Golf is good for your health.
Golfing Can Help Burn Calories
The Rose Center for Health and Sports Sciences’ Neil Wolkodoff conducted research in regards to how golf physically affects players. Research results were used in a Tallahassee.com article published by Becky Sauers. The article showed that when playing a typical 9-hole course:
- Golfers who carried their own bags while walking the green burn about 721 calories.
- Those who used pull carts burned around 718 calories.
- Players who chose to walk with their caddies burned, roughly, about 613 calories.
- Golfers who rode in golf carts throughout their games only burned an average of 411 calories.
In general, health care specialists recommend burning somewhere around 2,500 calories weekly. This helps to reduce the risks of cancer, diabetes and heart disease, making burning calories and effective health benefit of playing golf.
Golfers Have Decreased Death Rates
Another golf study, which was recently conducted by Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet notes a correlation between golfing and death rates. For the study, 300,000 Swedish golfers were used to compile the data. The results were published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.
People of the same socioeconomic status, age and sex were grouped together. Amongst the various groups, the death rate was 60 percent higher for non-golfers. This is the equivalent of a life expectancy increase of five years for those who golf regularly.
Specific Physical Health Benefits of Golfing Regularly
There are so many basic health benefits of playing golf regularly that it’s impossible to cover them all in this article. However, there are a few which deserve naming, including:
- Breathing fresh, clean air outside
- Spending hours being physically active
- Walking for 18-holes, versus riding in a golf cart
Golf and Physical Exercise
Interested in getting some physical exercise to keep you healthy and fit? Well, golf can give you that, as long as you’re prepared to walk. Making the choice to leave the golf cart behind is a healthy choice.
Why? Well, let’s say you walk an entire 18-holes. That will end up being the equivalent of walking somewhere around 3-4 miles (depending on the course). Do that 3-4 times weekly, and you’re well on your way to getting your blood pumping and heart going while getting in a good game of golf.
Golfing Improves Your Concentration
Golfing regularly has been known to help players suffering from concentration issues. In order to play golf well, you have to learn the ability to focus on any shot that’s coming up for you. You’ll also have to learn how to concentrate on your swing and the fundamentals behind a good swing.
The more you learn the art of concentrating on your golf game, the better your physical concentration skills will become throughout everyday life. This helps to enhance the other health benefits of playing golf regularly.
Michael Belleggie says
Thanks for sharing, this is encouraging information. Anytime we can play a sport or do a fun physical activity for exercising instead of going to the gym, I’m all for it!
Andrea! says
It is such a wonderful game. I mean just look at it, this game is best on a bright summer day and can also extend so many health benefits. A slight warm up, stretching, flexibility and cooling down prepares you for this game. Thanks for sharing wisdom 🙂
Good read!