For many golfers, the game is all about winning and losing and the quest to find the perfect golf swing that will deliver the best results. However, this comes at a price.
It is a well-known fact that exercise is good for you and there are very few sports that can be enjoyed by anyone and against anyone and that is just one of the beautiful aspects of this wonderful game.
The “weekend” golfer who enjoys nothing more than having a friendly game, full of banter with their pals early in the morning often over-look one of the more beneficial aspects of golf and the impact that it can have on your day to day life.
Golf is, without a doubt, a sport that can help us to live a healthier more active lifestyle, and as mentioned previously anyone can play the game and see the benefits.
Consider the obvious when you look at a round of golf. It takes approximately 4 hours to complete, throughout the entire time you are walking from ball to ball and making the odd practice swing and playing your shots. These simple actions that go hand in hand with playing golf add up to a fair few burned calories.
Some studies have shown that golfers walk in the region of 7 kilometers per round, quite a distant considering the lifestyle that many of us lead in today’s hectic world. In fact, consider just for a moment the last time that you walked 7 kilometers in a single stint….
Beyond the obvious of the distance that we walk, the golf swing itself can be broken down in individual health benefits that it provides.
Hand-eye co-ordination is one of the many skills that golfers must have to be able to hit the ball consistently. As we grow older hand-eye co-ordination deteriorates and as we are so often told, we must continue activities that promote these motor skills to keep feeling young and on the ball (excuse the pun!).
In a small way, our mental skills are also challenged with a need to be able to focus. Golf can take a while to complete and to maintain your concentration throughout the game is a tough ask. Being able to switch on and switch off during the round to keep fresh is a great way of keeping you on your toes and your mind active. Taking this even further the simple matter of keeping score is enough to keep your brain functioning.
Another benefit of golf for the health and well-being of the golfer is the need for flexibility and movement throughout the entire body structure.
When swinging a golf club, we engage muscles and bones that are rarely tested by the forces that we put them under during the golf swing.
The average club golfer between the age of 35 and 55 swing the club at anything between 55 and 75 miles per hour; this number decreases as we age, with the average swing speed dropping to around 55 miles per hour for the senior golfer.
Creating these speeds puts the body under immense pressure, and it is this exertion that leads to increased mobility and flexibility. Many people who suffer from bad backs report an improvement in the ease of movement when they take up golf or play golf on a regular basis.
We are all aware of how the body tightens up, and flexibility gets worse as we grow older, but playing sports, especially a sport like a golf which is relatively low impact can help to maintain our bodies condition throughout life.
But perhaps, and almost certainly arguably the most important aspect of golf for better health and well-being is the fresh air and sense of relaxation people get when they are strolling down the fairways. For many golf is a release of all the pent-up stress and worry that they must deal with during the week, Golf allows them to forget about everything even if only for a while.
It is the comradery and social aspect of golf that allows the release and revitalization of tired minds; the competitiveness brings back childhood feelings of searching for answers. People feel closer to nature on the golf course, and this can only be a good thing, today’s hectic modern lifestyles that so many of us lead do not offer much time to just enjoy whatever it is we are doing, pressure to meet deadlines loom over us, and golf is a way to momentarily forget about it all.
Golf has long been considered a sport for the rich and famous, but over the past few decades and the emergence of “affordable” golf the game has grown tremendously across the world with websites like golfsavers.com offering golf holidays in any part of the world. If you have never played golf before, maybe it’s time to try this sport.
Source:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-37567254
