How many calories does a round of golf burn, is a question many gym-phobic golfers may want the answer to. Well the good news is that a round of golf is reckoned to equate to an average 30-minute gym session.
An 18-hole round over a full length golf course will involve roughly a five-mile walk with quite a bit of arm exercises along the way.
If you still need more proof that golf is an athletic exercise then Fergus Bisset explains in more detail why golfers are athletes elsewhere on this site.
So, how many calories does a round of golf burn then?
Well, if you walk the course, rather than tootle about the place in a cart or buggy, then a round of golf will burn probably somewhere in the order of 1.400 or 1,500 calories.
Playing more spaced out, hillier course will obviously burn more calories than compact flatter ones.
The good news for some, is that the fatter you are the more calories you will burn during your round.
But what does not make much difference to the golf calorie count is whether you carry your clubs, or pull your bag on a trolley. Carrying your bag burns a few more calories – but it is literally only a few.
Neil Wolkodoff, director of the Rose Center for Health and Sports Sciences in Denver, conducted a study to answer the question of how many calories does a round of golf burn?
He did so at Inverness Golf Club in Denver, USA. He conducted an experiment with eight male golfers, aged 26 to 61 with handicaps between 2 and 17.
Over nine holes he found that these golfers burned an average of 721 calories carrying a bag, and 718 when using a trolley.
To put all this calorie burning in context: a standard glass (175ml) of 12% wine contains 126 calories and a pint of 5% strength beer has 215 calories.
This means after a healthy walk around 18 holes you can have a long sit down with a jar or two in the 19th hole and still end up well in credit on the calories front. Er, it does work like that doesn’t it?
If you overdo the 19th then the only solution is to go for another 18 or 19 holes the next day. Do not fear if you are no longer feeling at your most chipper or best physically, for Golf Monthly has plenty of advice for playing golf with a hangover.
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