It sounds too good to be true, but playing a round of golf
can add years to your life. Why?
Think about it: A round of golf takes about 5 hours to play.
The whole time the golfer is outside, he is walking, taking in the sun and
burning calories. In fact, 18 holes of golf burns 306 calories per hour (is you
carry your own clubs –- 292/hour if you use a pull-cart for your bag and
238/hour if you ride in a golf cart). Could all this add up to a longer,
healthier life?
The Swedish Golf Federation has more than 600,000 members
(membership is required for playing almost everywhere in Sweden, so the list
contains almost all of Sweden’s golfers). Here’s the great thing (if you are a
statistician): Sweden also maintains a record of all the deaths that have taken
place in Sweden for decades. Researchers were able to link the two databases to
learn about the impact of golf on mortality. They compared the golfers and
non-golfers and found that golfers were 40% less likely to have died than non-golfers
of the same age.
Not only is golfing, in general, good for your life
expectancy, but the more someone golfs, the greater his increase in health.
When golfers handicaps were put into the equation, golfers with the lowest
handicaps (indicating a better golfer who, in theory, plays more) had greater
reductions in their risk of death.
Why Golf Improves Life Expectancy and Longevity
It could be that the increase in exercise for golfers
explains the effect that researchers saw. Unfortunately, the analysis could not
compare the exercise levels of the non-golfers. We don’t know for sure that the
increased exercise explains the benefit. There could be other explanations
like:
- People with certain illnesses and certain health conditions cannot golf, therefore golfers only include healthy people.
- People who golf are wealthier on average than people who don’t golf.
