Hit ball, drag bag and burn calories

[Forrest Richardson]

I found this recent artiucle by the AP a good bit of news for golf. The more people can hear about the good, mainstream rationales for golf...the better. The story was written by Eddie Pells.

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Hit ball, drag bag and burn calories

Study shows golf more of a workout than some thought
Dec. 31, 2008 07:03 PM / Associated Press

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Is golf really a sport or just a hobby?

Is it a good walk spoiled, or should we forget the walking part?

Would a PowerBar help more than an apple after nine holes, or should we forget them both and just wolf down another candy bar and Coke?

And do you really have to have Tiger Woods' biceps to be any good?

A sports scientist pondering these and other 19th-hole kinds of questions, crunched a bunch of numbers and came up with answers, a few of which put new twists on some age-old assumptions.

Among the top findings: Given the number of calories burned, it's certainly OK to call golf a sport.

"One of the more interesting things I found was that the actual act of swinging a golf club takes significant energy," said Neil Wolkodoff, director of the Rose Center for Health and Sport Sciences in Denver.

Maybe more energy than many people might think for a motion that takes a grand total of about three seconds.

Wolkodoff found eight male volunteers, ages 26 to 61 with handicaps between 2 and 17, strapped them into some state-of-the-art equipment and took them out for a few rounds of golf on the hilly front nine of Inverness Golf Club in suburban Denver.

Wolkodoff discovered the subjects burned more calories when they walked and carried their clubs (721) than when they rode in a cart (411). When they walked, they traversed about 2.5 miles, compared to 0.5 miles when they rode.

The conclusion was that the act of swinging the golf club could actually be considered good exercise - a theory many on the "not a sport" side of the golf debate long have questioned.

"As far as physical exertion, it's not the same as boxing, but it's definitely more than people thought," Wolkodoff said.

But before all you golf addicts cancel those gym memberships and turn the treadmill into a permanent coat rack, consider this: Though the 2,884 calories the average player might burn by walking 36 holes a week is considered good for health (studies have shown that those who burn 2,500 calories a week improve their overall health by lowering their risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer), it will do little to improve fitness - meaning it won't increase your overall aerobic capacity.

Another finding the study showed is that being fit directly affects your ability to play good golf.

Wolkodoff soon will submit the results of his test to the Journal of Applied Physiology, the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

So, is golf a sport?

Answer: It certainly is a sport, but probably not the only sport you would need to play if you really want to get fit. But getting fit on the treadmill or in the weight room will definitely diminish fatigue on the golf course and, in turn, help you play better.

"The study shows there's significant energy expenditure in golf, more than bowling and some other sports it's been compared to," Wolkodoff said. "There are a lot of sports that don't have this level of energy expenditure."

For more information on the study, go to rosechss.com

[Joe Hancock]

Forrest,

If you lined up all of the members on GCA.com in a row and made an observation about our physique, would you say golf is a sport?

Maybe a few photo's from some of our gatherings could help support this dudes conclusions....

[Forrest Richardson]

That may be because 90% claim they walk...but only 10% of our rounds are sans Mssrs. Yamaha, Club-Car or EZ-GO.

[MargaretC]

Forrest:

Thanks for posting this article.  I have to say that I am shocked that cart riders burn 822 calories in 18 holes.  Glad I prefer to walk and won't feel as guilty having an occasional brew instead of water or a diet coke at the 19th.   

Meg

PS:  Wonder what the pace of play was for the tests?  "SLOW golf" has to reduce the amount of calories burned.

[Carl Nichols]

How many calories does the resting body burn in 4 1/2 hours?

[Forrest Richardson]

It depends on who I am resting with.

[Neil_Crafter]

Forrest
That's not resting is it?

[JLahrman]

PS:  Wonder what the pace of play was for the tests?  "SLOW golf" has to reduce the amount of calories burned.

Margaret, I do not believe it would reduce the number of calories burned, it would only decrease any aerobic content of the workout.  Walking a mile and running a mile burn the same amount of calories (Work = Force * Distance)

[John Moore II]

Yes, I do prefer to walk, but considering how little I get to play anymore, I have had to resort to running at the gym. I really need to play more golf these days.

And yes, walking slower should burn roughly the same number of calories as walking fast.

[Peter Pallotta]

Forrest,

If you lined up all of the members on GCA.com in a row and made an observation about our physique, would you say golf is a sport?

Joe - That reminds me of when David Letterman asked film director John Waters if he still smoked cigarettes. Waters said, "Smoke cigarettes, Dave? I AM a cigarette"

If it wasn't for golf-related walking, I'd be an armchair by now...

Peter   

[Joe Hancock]

Forrest,

If you lined up all of the members on GCA.com in a row and made an observation about our physique, would you say golf is a sport?

Joe - That reminds me of when David Letterman asked film director John Waters if he still smoked cigarettes. Waters said, "Smoke cigarettes, Dave? I AM a cigarette"

If it wasn't for golf-related walking, I'd be an armchair by now...

Peter   

To put a twist on Steve Martin's "The Jerk" character Navin Johnson's line, "I AM a couch potato!"

[Steve Lang]

  I allways find an advantage to walking when drinking.. related to that old saying you don't buy a beer, you just rent it for a while..

drinking and riding in a cart, introduces the "gettin up rush buzz" or balance proxy issue into one's swing if not overall mental acuity

go walk 5 miles.. should take you <75 minutes.. but be on your feet for 3-5 hours you're certainly going to burn calories and get tired swinging those clubs..

[Forrest Richardson]

Neil — That also depends on who I am resting or not resting with.

[MargaretC]

How many calories does the resting body burn in 4 1/2 hours?

Carl:

Here's a web site to help with the calculations:  http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_BMR.php

BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate, and is synonymous with Basal Energy Expenditure or BEE. BMR measurements are typically taken in a darkened room upon waking after 8 hours of sleep; 12 hours of fasting to ensure that the digestive system is inactive; and with the subject resting in a reclining position.

RMR stands for Resting Metabolic Rate, and is synonymous with Resting Energy Expenditure or REE. RMR measurements are typically taken under less restricted conditions than BMR, and do not require that the subject spend the night sleeping in the test facility prior to testing...

...We Do the Math

The BMR & RMR Calculator will calculate your BMR and RMR for you. And don't worry if you measure yourself in pounds, feet or centimeters, or even stones, we'll convert the numbers to fit the equations.

We explain the equations in detail in the Technical Notes, below. But whether or not such details interest you, you might find a few observations about them interesting:

When your age goes up, your BMR and RMR go down.
When your height goes down, your BMR and RMR go down.
When your weight goes down, your BMR and RMR go down.
This means that as you get older, shorter, and lose weight, your BMR and RMR will go down and you will need to eat less or exercise more to maintain your current weight...


For Forrest and anyone else who may be interested in estimating the number of calories burned while "resting" with someone, this site may be of help.  

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

Enjoy!

Meg

ps:  I just did the calculations for me 

4 hours of:
sex  burns 1037
golf -- walking and carrying clubs burns 1490
shoveling snow burns 1490

[Joe Hancock]

Wow, Meg.....very helpful. Does that website tell us ow many calories does one burn whilst resting with themselves?

I think most of us here are health nuts........

[MargaretC]

Wow, Meg.....very helpful. Does that website tell us ow many calories does one burn whilst resting with themselves?

I think most of us here are health nuts........

Joe:

I just calculated 6 hours of sleep for me is 340 calories burned.  No question, sex is better than sleep. 

Meg

[astavrides]

PS:  Wonder what the pace of play was for the tests?  "SLOW golf" has to reduce the amount of calories burned.

Margaret, I do not believe it would reduce the number of calories burned, it would only decrease any aerobic content of the workout.  Walking a mile and running a mile burn the same amount of calories (Work = Force * Distance)

Yes, but running (or running while carrying an elephant for example) takes considerably more force than walking.

[Kyle Harris]

PS:  Wonder what the pace of play was for the tests?  "SLOW golf" has to reduce the amount of calories burned.

Margaret, I do not believe it would reduce the number of calories burned, it would only decrease any aerobic content of the workout.  Walking a mile and running a mile burn the same amount of calories (Work = Force * Distance)

Yes, but running (or running while carrying an elephant for example) takes considerably more force than walking.

That should read that Work is the dot product of Force and Distance. So one must also multiply the cosine of the angle between the distance and the force vector. I would imagine that since the dynamics of running and walking are so different (including the amount of force exerted on the ground by the body) that the amount of work exerted would be significantly different as well.

[JLahrman]

That should read that Work is the dot product of Force and Distance. So one must also multiply the cosine of the angle between the distance and the force vector. I would imagine that since the dynamics of running and walking are so different (including the amount of force exerted on the ground by the body) that the amount of work exerted would be significantly different as well.

Kyle, that's possible, but it looks complicated and unfortunately I went to public school.

[Jim_Kennedy]

As was pointed out in the other thread about this study:  Duh!

[PCCraig]

I have never been in better shape in my life the summers I was looping 36 a day in the heat. Even after coming home and eating a triple cheeseburger and fries.