In Accordance with Governmental Recommendations--A Study of Golf and Health

Norwegian authorities recommend that adults and elderly people be physically active for at least 30 min every day at moderate to high levels of intensity. This is equivalent to approximately 10,000 steps a day. This research study seeks to determine whether golf is beneficial to individual health as defined by the governmental recommendations. The study included 29 participants, whose heart rate, playing time, and walked distance were measured as they carried a GPS (global position system) receiver. Male players walked on average 11,256 ± 830 m while female players walked on average 10,000 ± 595 m. Thus, men tended to walk 1.98 times the course length while women walked 2.13 times the course length. The duration of the golf round averaged 269 ± 25.4 min (i.e., 4 h 29 min); for men, the mean duration was 271 min, and for women, it was 267 min. The average heart rate was 104.1 ± 14.5 bpm for male players and 110.8 ± 16.9 bpm for the female players. Based on the energy expenditure in kcal on the golf course, male players used 2,467 kcal on average while female players used 1,587 kcal on average during a round of golf. Comparing the hilliness of two different golf courses, it indicated that golf playing could be a form of interval training. Our results strongly indicate that golf is beneficial to health as defined in the governmental recommendations.