Getting fit to a tee

Golf was enormously popular long before Tiger Woods captured the world’s imagination, and it will remain popular long after he has joined the pantheon of sports greats. Woods is young, slim, and obviously athletic – traits that are absent in many successful golfers. Perhaps that’s why golf is the most misunderstood of sports. In particular, many people share two beliefs that are off the mark. First, because its pace is leisurely, golf does not promote cardiovascular health; second, because golf is gentlemanly, injuries are rare.

Until recently, doctors have helped perpetuate both myths. But new research is settling the score: Golf can be good for health. Injuries are common, but you can prevent them if you make golf part of a balanced fitness program.

Golf For Health

"A good walk spoiled." That’s how exercise physiologists described golf in the 1970s and 80s, when the aerobics revolution was at its peak. At that time, doctors thought that exercise wouldn’t help your heart unless you worked hard enough to raise your heart rate to 70-85 percent of its maximum and long enough to keep your pulse up for at least 20 minutes at a crack.

Scientists still believe that aerobic exercise is great for health. But over the past 10 years, researchers have learned that modestly-paced exercise is exercise that is also very beneficial, even if it’s interrupted by periods of inactivity. The point is to do it. Your goal should be to exercise at a moderate pace for at least 30 minutes almost every day. A gym workout may still be best – but simply walking to and from the gym can help, as can gardening, washing your car, dancing, and many other daily activities.

When it comes to golf, the benefit won’t come from swinging the club, no matter how high you score, but from walking. The average course is about 6,300 yards. Even without trekking into the rough, a round of golf can count as four miles of walking. If you walk 18 holes three to five times a week, you’ll get an optimal amount of endurance exercise for your heart. If you pull your clubs or carry them, you’ll burn more calories per round, and benefit even more. But if you play less often or if your climate dictates a lengthy off-season, you’ll have to supplement your golf with ordinary walking or an equivalent exercise to get the best results. And even if you walk for 54-90 holes a week, you should add exercises for flexibility and strength to attain balanced fitness, optimal health, injury protection, and – it’s true – a lower handicap.

How To Score

Finland is hardly the golf capital of the world, but scientists there conducted a study that shows golf really can promote health and fitness. The subjects were 110 healthy but sedentary men between the ages of 48 and 64. During the trial, half the men played 18 holes of golf two to three times a week, always walking the course. The other men didn’t play golf but continued their normal routines, including gardening and household chores. All the men went through a series of tests before and after the 20-week experiment. In just that short period, the golfers had pulled ahead, losing weight, reducing their girth and abdominal fat, improving their aerobic exercise capacity as measured by treadmill tests, increasing muscular strength as measured by back extension, and boosting their HDL ("good") cholesterol levels. The golfers also showed a tendency toward reduced blood pressure, but these changes, unlike the others, did not meet tough statistical standards for validity.

Heartening News

Golf may be good for healthy men, but is it also safe for men with ailing hearts? Another European study, this time from Germany, is reassuring. Doctors carefully monitored 20 men with heart disease during and after a round of competitive golf. The physical stress of pulling their clubs over 18 hilly holes and the mental stress of competition boosted the players’ heart rates to an average 105 beats per minute, which is almost at the aerobic target of 109 for men at age 65. Playing golf was also strenuous enough to boost the players’ blood pressures and adrenaline levels. Even so, competitive golf was easy on the heart: All the men wore heart monitors, and none developed abnormal heart rhythms or cardiac symptoms during the study.

Golf is good for your health and safe for your heart – but if you’re not used to walking, you shouldn’t switch from riding in a cart to walking 18 holes all at once. Instead, get into shape for golf before you use golf to stay in shape. Start walking for health, then walk for nine holes once or twice a week. If you build up slowly, you’ll be able to make the transition from riding to walking without a bogie, at least where your health is concerned.

Rough Injuries

Walking is one thing, swinging a club 100 times in one morning (as even Tiger Woods does, counting practice swings), quite another. Golf may look leisurely, even gentle, but it puts a lot of strain on your joints, muscles, and tendons. Here is a quick rundown on common golf injuries.

A gold swing involves your whole body (see figure). It’s not surprising then, that any part of the body can hurt – or that the muscles you use the most are at risk. Anyone who swings a club can be hurt – just one "fat shot" (striking the ground with the club) can do the trick. But the likelihood of injury is greatest in older players and in people who play the most. That’s why up to 50 percent of touring pros have sustained an injury severe enough to halt their play for three weeks or more. Overuse is the leading cause of injury in pros and top-flight amateurs, but in duffers, poor technique is more often to blame.

In the back, muscle strains are quite common because of the twisting that is required for a good swing. The classic golfer’s elbow usually strikes the inner prominence (medial epicondylitis) of the joint. A golfer’s leading elbow (his left if he swings right-handed) is at greatest risk. Tendonitis is the most common wrist injury and results from repetitive overuse and/or a tight grip. Simple overuse also causes most shoulder problems. In particular, the top of the backswing and the end of the follow-through put stress on the four muscles of the rotator cuff, producing the so-called rotator cuff tendinitis.

Health For Golf

Although golfing injuries are surprisingly common, most are relatively mild and respond well to simple treatment. Even better, many can be prevented by following these suggestions.

• Get in shape for golf before counting on golf to keep you fit. Walk to build your cardiovascular endurance and do exercises for flexibility and strength. Your health will improve and so will your game.

• Stretch. As muscles are used, they get stronger but also tighter and stiffer. Age, too, takes a toll on flexibility. Stretching will help reduce your risk of injury and help you develop a smoother stroke.

• Build strong muscles and bones. Men lose muscle mass and bone calcium as they age. Resistance training will reverse the trend, especially if it’s accompanied by the right amount of protein, calcium, and vitamin D in your diet.

• Warm up. Cold muscles and ligaments are vulnerable to injury; a warm-up really will help – and it will improve your swing.

• Take lessons. Good technique is your best defense against both injuries and high scores. Spot problems early and treat them aggressively.

• Enjoy the 19th hole, but don’t undermine your gains with ill-advised food or drink. And remember that golf is only a game; don’t let your competitive juices spoil a lovely morning or sour a friendship. Challenge is one thing, stress another.

It may be only a game, but golf is a great game. It’s a test of skill that can be demanding enough for the competitive athlete. It can also be good for business ("client golf"). Above all, golf can be good for your health – if you play by the right rules. After all, it’s better to be shouting "fore" instead of "sore"!