Research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in February this year found that regular golf (at least once a month) can add years to the lives of adults over the age of 65.
Out of nearly 5,900 participants with an average age of 72, the researchers found that stroke and heart attack risk was halved among golfers. “Another positive is that older adults can continue to play golf, unlike other more intense sports such as football, boxing and tennis,” says Adnan Qureshi, executive director of the Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Institutes and professor of neurology at the University of Missouri in Columbia in Missouri.
A previous Swedish study found similar benefits and concluded that regular golfers could see an increase in life expectancy of around five years. “He found that golfers who played twice a week had greater longevity, improved risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and was associated with positive mental health benefits,” says Jackson.
There are also documented benefits for bone density, heart health and problems like knee pain. 2018 research found that golfers with knee osteoarthritis didn’t have to worry about worsening their condition and, in fact, a game, led to improvements in their condition.
“Given that an average route is about three miles long, one might expect that we walk between five and six miles in each round,” says Jackson. “It takes an average person about 2,000 steps per mile, so it is realistic to reach over 10,000 steps in a single lap.”
If you walk instead of driving a stroller, “a golfer will burn around 1,200 calories per round (for a 70 kg person) while a cyclist who works for an hour will burn 450-700 calories,” he adds. “Clearly cycling is a harder job and would burn more calories if you did it for an equivalent period of time, but golf is still a good workout.”
Additionally, there are no substantial social and mental health benefits to spending time with friends (outdoors, to start), something that was brought into focus during the blockade.
So to spice up my fitness regimen, I signed up for a beginner lesson at the Wanstead Golf Club, somewhere where I often ran into my marathon training. My lesson, coach David Hawkins promises with an ironic smile, will be “the most boring lesson you’ll have; there is a lot of information I need to shake me; but from here it improves. “
It begins with the way to hold a club (it has only one glove on it marked with marker lines to show where it must sit in the hand), how to stand (distance of the hips of the legs apart, protruding bottom) and how to swing (the arms lying on my body, before I turn around and twist my hips) before I can really try to hit a ball.
Everything seems simple enough and I am anxious to go on, but I have two comedian misses, leaving the ball free on the tee. Pleasantly, the next time I do it, I get a satisfying “hit”, just to hit a tree. However, Hawkins is patient and encouraging.
He has been playing this course since he was a junior and has trained here for the past 26 years, primarily focusing on bringing beginners and more female players into the sport. “Seeing someone at the first lesson feeling nervous and then progressing where they are doing really well gives me a real buzz,” he says.
My muscles, Jackson says, are working hard at this point: “The sequential model required to increase torque through the swing, which is then converted into power, means that we must be able to stabilize the legs and pelvis off the ground upwards and rotate the trunk at the same time. This requires balance and stability. “
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