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Summer’s Links to Fitness Looking for an exercise program you can do whether you’re eight or 80? Golf offers the benefits of “moderate physical activity” recently touted by Acting Surgeon General Audrey Manley. Golf is challenging—never easy, but almost always fun. After four or five hours walking, swinging a club and carrying your golf bag on a golf course, you feel like you’ve had quite a bit of exercise. Most Vermont golf courses are usually hilly and rolling and present a challenge to the walker. An average 18-hole golf course is approximately 6000 yards. You don’t walk those yards in a straight line, either. You may hit the ball to the left or right, so off you go to find it. Or you may hit the ball into a pond, and you stretch with your ball retriever to drag it out of the water. At least once each round, a golf ball finds its way into a deep ravine or ditch, and you have to clamber down the embankment and thrash around for five minutes, only to find six balls, none of which belong to you. (Hey, they’re free, right?) The result: walking 18 holes while carrying a golf bag burns between 240 and 320 calories an hour. Not overly challenging, yet beneficial to your cardiovascular system. You don’t have to be in top physical shape for golf, but in order to get the benefit of a cardiovascular workout, no using a cart! (More golfers are using motorized carts, and alarmingly, younger affluent golfers are not walking, but are “cart-potato” golfers.) If you carry your bag on a regular basis, you may also decrease your risk of osteoporosis and hip fracture. The Journal of Bone and Mineral Research reported a study of Japanese female caddies had significantly higher bone density than a group of office workers and housewives in the same age group. Need more reasons to work on that swing? Learning golf when you’re young is an investment in your future fitness. Even many senior golfers still walk 18 holes. By the time a golfer reaches 80, he or she may prefer a motorized golf cart, but must still walk to the golf ball and swing. Along with a little exercise, he or she gets the health benefits of fresh air and sunshine. In fact, many golfers dream of their retirement years on the golf course in a warm climate. (Year-round great weather and access to golf courses are truly nirvana for avid golfers.) Golf is a very social game. It is a great game for men and women to play together. Some say more business is conducted on the course than in the board room. Playing the game of golf can be like going to heaven or on occasion, like that other place. It’s fresh air, sunshine, exercise, and sometimes swearing... all that and exercise too! Of course, you’ll also have the experience of looking back on your game and remembering that one perfect shot… |
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