Study Says One Round Of Golf Per Week 'Very Good' For Your Health
Weekend warriors looking to hit the links and play some golf on Saturdays and Sundays this summer now have another good excuse for doing exactly that.
According to a new study conducted by Britain's Macmillan Cancer Support, golf is very good for your health and is an excellent way to get your 10,000 steps in and burn calories.
Some players who find a round of golf to be nerve-wracking and full of club-throwing and obscenities may feel as though that statement doesn't ring true, but research tells another story.
The study says that during a typical round of golf, players can walk somewhere between four to eight miles and register between 11,245 and 16,667 steps in the process.
Walking that distance over the course of a roughly four to five hour round -- which likely also includes hilly terrain along with the physical act of swinging the club -- can burn over 1,500 calories if you carry your own golf bag, according to the study.
While many other sports and physical activities allow you to burn more calories in a shorter period of time, golf being a more moderate activity results in less wear and tear on the body.
And most importantly, the 240 minutes of activity goes above the normal health recommendations issued by British health officials, meaning golf is essentially a sufficient workout.
Of course, none of these benefits really apply if you go the golf cart route and pack a cooler with a few Budweisers, but hey, to each his or her own.