Walking an 18-hole golf course can burn between 800 and 1,400 calories. This value depends on your weight, and can increase depending on how difficult the course is. If we take the upper end of that range, it means that just playing the golf course is comparable to going for a 5-mile run. When you add in all the swings and the time you’re actually standing (or not) in a good posture, you can start to see why golf might be considered an exercise too.
“Is golf good exercise?” is a pretty broad and complicated question. After all, the physical benefits of golf include walking, swinging, and balancing. Each certainly has its own merits since they train various important muscle groups. Let’s not mention the added bonus for cognitive training, too, since golf, like many other sports, requires both hand-eye coordination and tactics (strategy). This article will investigate the ways golf can serve as an effective exercise, the unique health benefits it provides, and how one can take advantage of these benefits through an indoor golf simulator facility.
Understanding the Physical Activity Involved in Golf
Some of the most significant activities golfers can get a decent workout from are:
Walking
Courses range from about 4–6 miles on average. That’s a nearly two-hour, easy-paced walk for nine holes or upwards of four hours for eighteen holes. There’s a lot of casual movement associated with golf games that can help burn a lot of calories over time. That’s definitely the case if no carts are involved because you’d be walking around all day with your crew.
Swinging motions
There is a lot of core strength and stability that golfers need to hit straight shots. The rotational element to swing motions is quite high, as many people tend to use some of the same muscle groups that other, more athletic sports train for games. Twisting and turning the abdominal area, along with the amount of power generated from arms to legs, does work out a significant portion of the body during golf games. It’s another type of practice that you can perform to work on cuts, burns, and strokes for a somewhat comprehensive fitness approach.
How Golf Contributes to Overall Health
Cardiovascular Health
Although golf seems less vigorous than running on a treadmill, it beneficially impacts your cardiovascular and heart health. Being on the course during the 18-hole layout substantially ups your heart rate and blood circulation, just as should be the case for a person ostensibly engaged in a physical act like swinging a club over the course of a mile or so.
Muscle Strength and Endurance
While golf might appear to be a gradual-paced sport, it is actually a robust workout that employs various muscle groups in the arms, shoulders, back, and core. The repeat motion of the swing not only recruits these muscle groups but also conditions and tones them in ways that few other workouts do. Because of this, both professional and amateur golfers enjoy a significantly reduced risk of injury.
Weight Management
Golf isn’t as intense as some other sports, but it can still provide a good workout. And more importantly, it can help burn calories over time. Whether a player walks the course or takes a cart, there’s a pretty decent amount of activity involved, aiding in maintaining a healthy weight.
Flexibility and Mobility
Golf’s swing, alongside the walking and bending it requires, maintains and even improves flexibility and joint mobility—especially in older adults and those looking to protect their range of motion. No other aspect of the game is more beneficial or unique in this respect than the swing itself. To achieve a powerful and accurate shot, the golfer must—instead of just using the arms and hands—involve the entire body in the action. This means maximizing the stretch upwards and downwards, as well as the coil around and through the torso. Golf provides an ideal way to safeguard the lifeblood of physical health—flexibility and its handmaiden, range of motion.
Mental Health
Golf is splendid for maintaining good mental health. It is one way to reduce everyday stress and anxiety by simply getting outside—an environment shown consistently in the research to help with both. Each shot requires intense focus and concentration, which keeps the mind roiling just enough to allow for clear thinking, and it’s well known that part of the reason we play is to experience the really good feelings we get when we do it well.
Bone Health
Walking the golf course places a salutary stress on your bones, which can help make them strong. That is the basic premise of why golf, at least in its walking form, is a beneficial activity for maintaining bone health and strength. Engaging in this weight-bearing exercise with regularity has the added bonus of reducing the risk of developing osteoporosis and experiencing broken bones later in life.
Longevity
Research indicates that golfers enjoy a greater longevity compared to those who do not play the sport. This may be due to the regular, healthful doses of vigorous activity that golfers get—most golfers don’t just walk, they hike, scramble, and power up the pronounced hills of many courses; sometimes they run to their next shot. But even those who aren’t quite as spry as they might like to be can still get the figure-friendly benefits of golfing, especially when they walk the course.
Is Golf as Effective as Other Workouts?
When you compare golf workouts to running, cycling, or gym workouts, the key numbers are the number of calories burned and overall fitness levels. Running can burn up to 600 calories per hour; cycling can burn the same levels, while golf is likely to burn around 800-1400 calories on an 18-hole golf course (this varies depending on if you walk the course or ride a cart).
The benefits of golf come from walking at a steady pace, and the swinging motion itself. Walking an 18-hole course should take you just over 5 miles, which obviously gets the cardiovascular system working. The swinging helps all the muscles of the body and is beneficial for flexibility, especially in the lower back. For these reasons, we can say that golf is a good exercise.
How to Make Golf a More Effective Workout
Playing golf is a fun physical activity. There are a few things that golfers could start doing during their games to improve this beloved pastime’s benefits, including:
Walking the course
Walking is one of the best cardiovascular exercises a person can do, and it always makes me feel good to stop, look around, and appreciate the outdoors. When you walk outside, you’re hitting two birds with one stone—getting exercise while also experiencing the calming effects of nature. Golf courses will have sections where you can drive your golf carts so, use those routes to get to the next hole and walk with your friends. Bonding with the boys over a peaceful stroll through the countryside calms you down after you’ve three-putted from two feet in a row.
Incorporate stretching routine
Do a stretching routine at the widely used driving range most golf courses have. Go early to practice and try to implement a dynamic stretching routine to keep the Achilles, calves, and hamstrings loose. Golfers could also try doing 10 minutes–15 minutes of band work and isometrics to focus on strengthening key muscle areas and include a cool-down period. A personal training session or Rouge gripper could be stored in your golf bag!
The Rise of Indoor Golf Facilities
Indoor golf simulators have changed the game. They are the perfect marriage of technology and the sport in a controlled environment. And, at a place like Dogleg Golf, golfers can now work on their games 365 days of the year. That’s right! No rain, snow, or extreme heat will prevent you from getting better this year!
The cool thing about a simulator like the Trackman 4 technology is that it tracks so much data with each swing. Golfers can now see all kinds of numbers with each swing. For example, you can see the following about each swing:
- Ball speed
- Launch angle
- Spin rate
- Club path
- Face angle
And, they provide a great workout! A golf swing works a lot of muscle groups. You get to practice in an environment where you can make each swing.
Golf isn’t just a “good walk spoiled,” as Mark Twain once quipped — it can also be great exercise. Done right—meaning you’re being mindful of a proper swing and you’re moving at an active pace—it’s the type of full-body workout that can help keep you in the type of heart shape you’re hoping for. When you get the club back (then, forward), your body goes through a series of complex movements—adding muscle strength, flexibility, and power to your heart. It’s also good (really good, in fact) for your head; knowing how to play golf will exercise your mind (not just your body) and keep it in good shape.
Improve Your Golf Game and Fitness at Dogleg Golf
If you are an experienced golfer or a novice, Dogleg Golf provides an outstanding opportunity to practice and play the game throughout the winter months. Located within The Shoppes at Cinnaminson, 155 US-130 Suite C, Cinnaminson, NJ 08077, our indoor golf simulator allows for an authentic experience that is unlike any other. You can be certain that the technology the facility uses is top of the line and the best to prepare you for hitting the links again in the spring. Book your session today and see how indoor golf can be an essential part of your exercise routine.