The network’s report on the game as part of its “Sports and Health” series expressed surprise that a survey found golf beating soccer, softball and tennis as adults’ most popular activity, and that even when a cart is used, more than a mile can be walked and more than 1,300 calories can be burned.
While a recent article in The New York Times expressed doubts about the health value of golf when carts are used (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2015/05/01/golf-with-a-cart-good-exercise-spoiled/), a report by Allison Aubrey for the “Morning Edition” program on National Public Radio (NPR) highlighted the many wellness benefits of participating in the sport, even when a cart is used.
As part of the network’s “Sports and Health” series, Aubrey reported that she was surprised to see that a poll commissioned by NPR to ask adults which sports they play the most resulted in golf beating soccer, softball and tennis to rank as the most popular activity.
Skeptical that golf could really provide as much exercise as other sports, particularly when carts are used, Aubrey said she went to Sligo Creek Golf Course, a municipal course in Silver Spring, Md., to try to get further insights into the sport’s health and wellness values.
“The first golfer I met came striding off the 9th hole, pushing her clubs with a pushcart,” Aubrey reported. “Sweat covered her brow. ‘No cart?’ I asked.
“Nope, Kelly James told me. ‘I’ve gotten well over 10,000 steps playing golf,’ she said.
“And that’s not all,” Aubrey said that James told her. “The game’s full of athletic moves. You’re swinging — big swings — to drive the ball. That uses lots of muscles. “There’s even a little yoga,” Aubrey reports that James said, “if you consider the balancing, and the turning and twisting of the torso — and the overall meditative aspect of being on the course.
Admitting that she had perhaps underestimated the value a round of golf could provide, Aubrey then reported that she contacted the World Golf Foundation (WGF) for more information, and found that the WGF estimates that golfers who walk an 18-hole course cover about 5 miles and burn up to 2,000 calories.
Aubrey also found, however, that about two-thirds of all of the golf rounds in the U.S. are played in motorized carts, and that some resorts and private courses even restrict walking and require carts.
She reported that she asked Steve Mona, the WGF’s CEO, why the cart culture is so dominant and Mona replied that carts are a source of revenue for golf clubs and that they also enable golf facilities “to get more people on the course and get them around the course faster.”
Carts can also help older people and others unable to walk long distances to keep playing the game, Aubrey noted, as she reported her encounter with Gary Metzger while he was playing with his wife, Karen, at Sligo Creek GC.
“I started playing [golf] when I was 9 years old,” Metzger said. Over his lifetime, he added, he’s played a lot of other sports, but after two hip replacement surgeries and operations on his knees, golf is now “one of the few things I can still do.” And what Metzger loves about the game, Aubrey reported, is that “it’s the one sport you can plan to play the rest of your life.”
Aubrey reported that she clipped a pedometer on Karen Metzger to see how many steps she’d get during her round as she and her husband used a cart. The result for just nine holes, she said, was surprising: 2,880 steps, or more than a mile.
The WGF’s Mona said that distance is pretty typical for cart users, Aubrey reported. While it can be less for better golfers who make more accurate shots and have to walk less, the Foundation’s research has found that even golfers using a motorized cart can burn about 1,300 calories during an 18-hole round, he said.
“There are lots of places you can’t take a cart,” Mona explained. “There’s still a lot of walking involved, even if you’re riding in a cart.”
Aubrey also acknowledged the mental boost that golf can provide. “There’s rarely a bad day on the golf course,” Gary Metzger told her. “You’re breathing good air and looking around at the nice scenery.”
The NPR poll also showed that this stress-relieving benefit is one of adults’ top motivations for staying with the game, Aubrey reported.
Aubrey’s report also cited the Walking Golfers Society (http://thewalkinggolfer.com), which ranks courses based on their “walk-friendly” attributes, as reported by members and the playing public.
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