Elsevier

Mayo Clinic Proceedings

Volume 81, Issue 8, August 2006, Pages 1041-1043
Mayo Clinic Proceedings

BRIEF REPORT
The Contribution of Golf to Daily Physical Activity Recommendations: How Many Steps Does It Take to Complete a Round of Golf?

https://doi.org/10.4065/81.8.1041Get rights and content

To quantify the number of steps adults take during an 18-hole round of golf, we recruited 42 healthy volunteers (12 men and 30 women aged 30-80 years) with established United States Golf Association handicaps to complete an 18-hole round of golf on each of 3 municipal golf courses. Subjects walked each course while wearing a pedometer to record step data. Analysis revealed that each golfer took a mean ± SD 11,948 ± 1781 steps per 18-hole round of golf. Regardless of handicap level, sex, or course played, most subjects exceeded 10,000 steps during a typical round of golf. Consequently, in most cases, walking 18 holes of golf will meet the recommendation to accumulate 10,000 steps per day as part of a general physical activity plan.

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SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Forty-two subjects (12 men and 30 women) aged 30 to 80 years (mean ± SD age, 55±13 years) were recruited to participate in the study. Recruitment occurred via posted advertisement at 3 municipal golf courses, verbal presentations at city golf league organizational meetings, and discussions with local golf teaching professionals. Each volunteer was at least 18 years of age, had an established United States Golf Association (USGA)-certified handicap index (a number representing a golfer's ability

RESULTS

The mean ± SD number of steps taken per 18-hole round of golf for all 3 courses was 11,948±1781. As shown in Table 2, most golfers accumulated more than 10,000 steps during a round, regardless of course or demographics. Step count did not vary by course (F2,28 = 0.649, P=.525), sex (F1,36 = 0.383, P=.540), or handicap index level (F2,36 = 0.010, P=.990) (data not shown in Table 2).

DISCUSSION

In the fight against the obesity epidemic, health care practitioners continue to explore user-friendly methods to increase and monitor the physical activity of their patients. One such method is the recommendation to accumulate 10,000 stepseach day as part of a general physical activity plan.3, 4, 5, 6 Golf is a popular sport, attracting males and females of all ages. Although previous studies have defined the potential health benefits of regular golf participation, this is the first

CONCLUSION

Although individuals vary in their risk factors for disease and daily activity requirements, accumulating 10,000 steps per day while consuming a nutritious diet is likely to lead to improved health.3, 4, 5, 6 Despite the observation that previous research has questioned the intensity of golf in the context of physical exercise, our data clearly indicate that golf participation can contribute considerably to an overall daily physical activity plan.8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Acknowledgments

We thank Jud Taylor for his assistance with data collection and Roy Bechtel, PT, PhD, for his critique and advice on the manuscript. This study was undertaken to fulfill requirements for completion of a DScPT degree at the University of Maryland at Baltimore (S.L.K.).

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Financial support for this research was provided by the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Sports Medicine Center.

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