A reader who told us that they tried to exercise four times a week wanted to know whether a round of golf could count towards their quota.
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is more nuanced.
A round of golf involves a lot of walking. Even if you take a cart, you still have to walk a fair amount, especially at those courses where carts have to stay on the cart path.
People are encouraged to walk 9,000 to 10,000 steps a day, although anything above 2,000 is reckoned to start lowering the risk of heart disease and circulatory issues.
A round of a full-length 18-hole course is estimated to involve taking between 11,000 and 14,000 steps.
So a round of golf achieves your daily step quota in one fell swoop. Even those golfers who tootle round in a buggy on a cart path are reckoned to clock up around 7,000 steps when they leave the buggy to walk to play their shots.
A round of golf also helps burn off the calories.
A study by University of Rochester Medical Center found that a 160-pound (72.5kg) person burns an estimated 252 calories per hour playing golf even when riding in a cart, and those who walk the course burn 396 calories an hour.
Limitations
But the answer to our reader’s question also depends on what specifically you wish from your exercise routine.
If it cardio vascular health, there are better exercises for this than golf. Although golf does bring cardio vascular benefits, other sports or exercises which involve running and perhaps getting out of breath, are more beneficial.
Similarly golf does not help those who are focussed on strength training.
As a low-impact cardiovascular exercise with dynamic rotational movements, golf places minimal stress on weight-bearing joints like the knees and hips compared with running.
This makes it a helpful activity for aiding mobility, especially for older adults. But yoga would be a better exercise if seeking to improve and retain mobility as it can stretch and strengthen every major muscle group which the repetitive golf swing does not.
Golf is a great way to aid mobility without being overly taxing on your joints
(Image credit: Mark Newcombe)
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