Golfing Keeps You Fit

Golfing is the art of hitting a little white ball into a small cup with as few efforts as possible. That is the object and each effort takes a motion which in turn acts on the body. So if you play golf you exercise.

Using this as my logic it leads me to understand that the more efforts you use the more exercise you get. That being the case the good golfer get little exercise and the bad golfer gets plenty.

Lets see how each stoke works on the body. We start the golf game with a drive. Depending on how long it is to the hole depends on which club we use. Most courses start with a long hole.

So Lets start with the Driver or the 1 wood for those of you who don't play the game. Before actually hitting the ball the player will usually take a series of practices swings. After he has wasted the good swings he then attempts to strike the ball. Swinging the club takes a lot of energy and effort, you must raise the club up and back which work the muscles on your side, arms and back. If you are doing it properly you also work the muscles of you stomach.

Now most courses are whats known as Par 72 courses. That means you should only make 72 efforts to reach the final hole. Of those 72 efforts 16 will usually require the 1 wood or driver. If the course has water or trees or out of bounds it will take more.

The second club you will use will be what is known as an "iron". this is a numbered club from 9 to 3, with two other iron clubs known as wedges for use in sand and short shots. These clubs are used most often during a round of golf. You will used them on every hole. Some will use them more than others. The same muscle groups you used with the driver will apply with the irons. some golfers will get more muscle use from throwing these clubs in a circulatory motion into the air toward trees or lakes. This will incur further effort on the player to retrieve the irons from trees and water.

the last club used on a hole is the putter. This club comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Its purpose to guide the ball into the hole when the ball rest on the green, the area that is mown close and has the hole somewhere on it. The putter uses different muscle groups. The wrist and hands direct the club to strike the ball and hopefully make the ball go into the hole. Here again some golfers will get additional exercise from retrieving this club after it has been thrown due to the lack of accuracy by the golfer. There is also the benefit of bending over to place you ball on the green, how often you do this depends on how good you putt the ball.

Now that we have discussed the ways the golfer gets exercise from the use of the clubs lets move on to other ways the golfer gets exercise.

Younger golfers, with energy to spare, will walk the 4000 plus yards of the golf course. They will not only walk the length of the course but will traverse it from left to right and back on many holes which lengthens the course by two or three fold. So the legs and the feet as well as the arms get a full work out.

Those older or less inclined to walk will use a golf cart. Now many say this is not exercise. I have to disagree. When you park the cart where it is supposed to be parked you still have 30 feet or more to walk. And if you forget or don't grab the right club you can add another 60 feet. You can also add more steps for the golfer that blamed the putter for his missing the hole and had to go and retrieve the putter from whence it was thrown.

Walking is not the only exercise you get with golf. Each time you bend down to retrieve the ball it is a form of exercise. how many times you do this activities depends on how often you hit the ball, putt the ball, and have to retrieve the ball from hazards.

You also exercise your waist muscles if you are swing the club properly. Those of us that have to hit the ball with their woods and irons more often get a little more exercise than others.

There are also the muscles in the face and the belly that get exercise every time someone does something foolish , like missing the ball with a swing, chipping the ball over the green into the water, taking three shots to get out of a sand trap. I think you know what I mean. A good belly laugh must use 50 to 100 calories don't you think?

Unless you are playing at a golf course with valet service you will have to lift and carry your golf clubs from your vehicle to the club house or at least from your trunk to the cart. Helps build you biceps.

If you are playing with friends and there is a wager you may also get to exercise by reaching for your wallet at the end of the round.

So have a good round of golf and get as much exercise as you can and when someone says something about your score, tell them you were getting more exercise while you were playing