Walking the course has positive results
By Hershel Sarbin and Jim Brown
Golf After 50 Editors
It may be inconvenient, it may slow down play a bit, and it may even be against the rules at some clubs, but the argument for walking instead of riding in carts is stronger than ever.
A study of 55 golfers 48 to 64 years old reported in the American Journal of Medicine found that those who walked 18 holes two or three times a week for five months instead of riding increased their aerobic endurance, lost an average of three pounds more than a control group, had lower body fat, and higher levels of HDL -- the good kind of cholesterol.
Dr. Jari Parkkari, one of the Finnish researchers who conducted the study, said that golf is a low to moderate intensity exercise that qualifies as a health-enhancing activity. He added that walking in any form, golf or otherwise, as a pattern of behavior provides a reasonable and safe way to gain modest health benefits. Parkkari noted that the results of the study were short-term and not a predictor of long-term risk of disease, and that walking the golf course may prevent general weakness and reduce the likelihood of falls and fractures.
The problem with walking is that most people don't walk often enough or fast enough to achieve significant benefits. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has data that indicate only 25 percent of those who do walk reach the "brisk" category.
If walking on the course, in the neighborhood, or at the mall is your primary form of exercise, don't worry about distance. If you walk fast enough, long enough, and often enough, the distance factor will take care of itself. How fast? There are too many variables to use a number for every After 50 golfer, but 3.5 miles per hour is the most commonly recommended pace. How long? Thirty minutes. How often? At least three times a week; preferably four.
If you want to get past "modest health benefits," gradually work up to a speed that gets your heart rate somewhere between 65 and 85 percent of maximum. To determine your target heart rate, subtract your age from 220, then multiple that figure by .65 and .85. Everything in between qualifies as aerobic exercise if you meet the time and frequency criteria.
There are degrees of benefits from walking. You get what you put into it. Walking is better than nothing. Even walking at a leisurely pace provides the emotional advantage of seeing the world in a calming way. Walking during a round of golf is better than riding a cart. Walking at a brisk pace several times a week, on or off the golf course, is better than the walking, stopping, and swinging a club.
©2002 Hershel Sarbin Associates, Inc.
