Q: Some of my friends play golf a few times a week, and they
insist that golfing has considerable health benefits. Frankly, I
don
’t see how it can. What can golf do to improve my health? A:
Golf was enormously popular long before Tiger Woods captured the
American imagination, and it will remain popular long after he
retires from the game.
Q: Some of my friends play golf a few times a week, and they insist that golfing has considerable health benefits. Frankly, I don’t see how it can. What can golf do to improve my health?
A: Golf was enormously popular long before Tiger Woods captured the American imagination, and it will remain popular long after he retires from the game.
Woods is young, slim and obviously athletic – traits that are absent in many successful golfers. Perhaps that’s why golf is the most misunderstood of sports. Its health benefits are not often obvious, but golf can be great exercise when done right.
“A good walk spoiled.” That’s how exercise
physiologists described golf in the 1970s and ‘80s, when the aerobics revolution was at its peak.
At that time, doctors thought that exercise wouldn’t help your heart unless you worked hard enough to raise your heart rate to 70 percent-85 percent of its maximum and long enough to keep your pulse up for at least 20 minutes at a crack.
With the possible exception of the first President Bush, who was famous for dashing down fairways at a breakneck pace (he once completed 18 holes on foot in 1 hour and 24 minutes), golfers don’t do that. But thinking regarding more moderate exercise has recently changed.
Scientists still believe that aerobic exercise is great for health, but over the past 10 years, researchers have learned that modestly paced exercise is also very beneficial.
The point is to do it. Your goal should be to exercise at a moderate pace for at least 30 minutes almost every day. A gym workout may still be best – but simply walking to and from the gym can help, as can mowing your lawn, washing your car and many other daily activities.
When it comes to golf, the benefit won’t come from swinging the club, no matter how high your score, but from walking.
The average course is about 6,300 yards. Even without trekking into the rough, a round of golf can count as 4 miles of walking.
If you walk 18 holes three to five times a week, you’ll get an optimal amount of endurance exercise for your heart. If you pull your clubs or carry them, you’ll burn more calories per round and benefit even more.
But if you play less often or if your climate dictates a lengthy off-season, you’ll have to supplement your golf with ordinary walking or an equivalent exercise to get the best results.
And even if you walk for 54-90 holes a week, you should add exercises for flexibility and strength to attain balanced fitness, optimal health, injury protection, and – it’s true – a lower handicap.
The benefits of golf are backed up by studies and research as well. Finland is hardly the golf capital of the world, but scientists there conducted a study that shows golf really can promote fitness and health.
The subjects were 110 healthy but sedentary men ages 48 to 64. During the trial, half the men played 18 holes of golf two to three times a week, always walking the course. The other men didn’t play golf, but they continued their normal routines, including gardening and household chores.
All the men went through a series of tests before and after the 20-week experiment.
In just that short period, the golfers had pulled ahead, losing weight, reducing their abdominal fat, improving their aerobic exercise ability, increasing muscular strength, and boosting their HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels.
Golf gets millions out of the house to enjoy the pleasure of fresh air and the challenge and camaraderie of the game.
Companionship and challenge are great – but for health, remember that the golf cart deprives many players of the health benefit of walking the course.
Golfers who do walk may be in the minority, but they are the true winners, no matter how many strokes they take.
If you would like to e-mail questions to the Harvard Medical School Adviser, you can submit questions to the Harvard Medical School Adviser at www.health.harvard.edu/adviser. Unfortunately, personal responses are not possible. For more consumer health information from Harvard Medical School, please visit www.health.harvard.edu.
