You may think that you are getting enough exercise while playing golf;
however, if you ride in a cart, you are eliminating the benefits of golf
as exercise. Add a hot dog, chips, soda, or a couple of beers at the turn,
and you may actually be taking in more calories than you are burning.
The best way to get the health benefits that playing golf can provide is to walk while you play. Walking is one of the best activities that
people of all ages can do to improve cardiovascular conditioning. A
150-pound person walking at a pace of 4 miles per hour can burn up
to 400 calories per hour. Walking 18 or even 9 holes a couple of times
a week can help you maintain or even lose weight, as well as boost your
endurance, lower your cholesterol, and prevent heart disease. But even
if you are required to use a golf cart while you play at your course or
you choose not to walk, you can still get exercise during your round by
changing a few habits. Try the following calorie-burning and muscletoning tips the next time you tee it up:
• Arrive at the golf course with enough time to do a 10-minute warmup session before you play. Stretching before you golf loosens your
muscles, prepares them for what lies ahead, and can prevent injury.
• Grab your pitching wedge, 6-iron, and driver and walk to the practice
range before your round instead of hopping into the cart and riding
T H E H E A LT H Y G O L F E R 195
the few hundred yards. The walk will warm up your muscles and get
your heart pumping to improve endurance.
• Sit up straight and don’t slouch while you sit in the cart. Engage your
abdominal muscles, align your head and neck with your spine,
and roll your shoulders back to help strengthen the muscles and
protect your back. One minute of sitting with the proper posture
burns two calories, while sitting with the improper posture burns
only one calorie per minute, so with a little extra effort, you can
strengthen your abdominal muscles, improve your posture, and
burn a few extra calories while you play.
• Stand up and be ready to hit. Don’t just sit on the cart waiting for
your turn. Not only will this speed up play, but standing burns
more calories than sitting. Sitting also constricts your muscles and
restricts blood flow to them, so they will not respond as well when
you swing. As you stand, place a club behind your shoulders to
remind you to stand up straight. This is also an excellent way to
stretch your back, chest, and shoulders.
• Stretch between shots. While you are waiting for the group in front
of you to clear the fairway or green, you can do simple stretching
exercises to keep your swing loose and supple and increase your flexibility. Stretching also burns more calories than sitting and doing
nothing. Take advantage of this down time and work on your flexibility. See chapter 6 for stretches you can do on the golf course.F I T N E S S F O R YO U R B R A I N
M E N TA L C H A L L E N G E
To expand your mind, you need to learn new facts and develop
new modes of thinking that will make the information that you
already know more useful. Puzzles are good for people of all
ages because they help sharpen memory and delay the onset
of age-related mental disorders. The following is a simple word
problem to help you keep your mind as fit as your body.
Harry and Jeff are rehashing their scores after playing a parfive hole. Harry says, “If I had taken one shot less and you had
taken one shot more, we would have tied for the hole.” Jeff then
counters, saying, “Yes, and if I had taken one shot less and you
had taken one shot more, you would have taken twice as many
shots as me.” How many shots did each take?
Solution: Harry took seven shots, and Jeff took five
