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As all golfers know, a game of golf is both mentally stimulating and physically challenging. Golf may not be considered a physically demanding sport, but one round will likely mean you are outside and moving around, walking at a pace of 6-7km, for several hours at a time and constantly using your brain for the many mental challenges you face. There are many stated health benefits of golf, from scientific and anecdotal sources, but just how good is the game for the body and mind?
Seven health benefits of golf
- Heart health – any form of physical exercise helps get the blood pumping to your heart. Walking, carrying your bag and swinging all increase your heart rate and blood flow. Your risk of a stroke and diabetes are reduced, and there can be positive effects on reducing blood pressure and harmful cholesterol, especially if combined with a healthy diet and lifestyle. The Norwegian Golf Federation (NGF) found that during an 18-hole round, a player will have an average heart rate of 100 beats per minute, over a two to five hour period
- Brain stimulation – regular daily walking strengthens the brain’s memory circuits. Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, says: ‘Whether it is going for a jog or walking the golf course, keeping physically active is a great way to keep your heart and your brain healthy. By keeping active you make sure your brain has a good, strong blood supply, which is essential to help it function better now and in future.”
- Weight loss – the golden number of steps per day needed for weight loss is 10,000. An 18-hole round easily exceeds this recommended number, especially when you walk and do not use a golf cart. The Norwegian Golf Federation (NGF) found that recent research projects (referring to those in Norway, Japan, Germany, the US and Sweden) revealed that a male golfer burns around 2,500 kCal during an 18-hole round, and female players burn approximately 1,500 kCal (read 9 Holes for Better Health – in Norwegian)
- Reduces stress – the pleasure of walking in fresh air, socialising, with an added mental challenge means golf releases endorphins, the natural mood-enhancing chemicals in your brain, which make you happy and relaxed
- Improved sleep – exercise and fresh air are a powerful combination for improved sleep. Walking the course will give you a good workout. Regular exercise helps you sleep faster and remain in a deep sleep for longer. Sleep helps your muscles rest and repair
- Low injury – golf is a low-impact activity in the sense that one walks on a soft, gently rolling surface. More mature players find this attractive as they can burn calories with a low risk of injury
- Live longer – a Swedish study by the Karolinska Institutet led by Professor Anders Ahlbom, found that golfers have a 40% lower death rate, which corresponds to a 5-year increase in life expectancy (read Golf: A game of life and death – reduced mortality in Swedish golf players)
“The health benefits of golf are far greater than most of us seem to believe, and may have a much greater and broader impact on our wellbeing than we may have realised. Considering how well a good golf facility can appeal to people of all age groups, golf is a wonderful way to encourage exercise,” says Edwin Roald, EIGCA Council member.
In addition to the scientific research above, the NY Times ran a story in July 2015 following two studies which found there are many health benefits of golf: “A walk in the park may soothe the mind and, in the progress, change the workings of our brains in ways that improve our mental health.” (read this blog post).
Golf carts are not a fundamental part of the game
The use of golf carts is widespread and it can be all too easy to jump in a cart rather than take a leisurely stroll. While golf carts are useful in terms of enabling the elderly and people with disabilities to enjoy golf as a form of recreation, their extensive use has likely contributed, as much as anything else, to golf‘s apparent elitist image. Whenever possible, golfers should say no to a cart and play golf on foot, as it was meant to be played, and reap the rewards of the health benefits of golf.
BY DAVE PELZ
One of the things that separates Tour players from the rest of us is that the former are intimately familiar with their games. They know how different shots will unfold regardless of where the ball is sitting, especially around the green (where difficult lies abound). Not surprisingly, that’s where weekend players tend to cough up strokes.
There are four parts to every short-game shot. Failing in any area will almost surely lead to a poor result.
They are:
1. Judging the lie.
2. Selecting a club.
3. Predicting how the ball will react when it lands.
4. Executing the swing.
This article addresses the first — and perhaps the most important — part of the shot equation. If you can’t pull off good shots from bad lies, you’ll never reach your scoring goals.
In my opinion, the only way to develop this skill is through experience. Pros have the advantage of unlimited practice time, but you can begin to catch up with a simple three-shot experiment that I use in my schools. Its entire purpose is to open your eyes to the various backspin outcomes that can be created by the type of lie you’re facing.
For this “Backspin vs. Lie” experiment, you’ll need your lob wedge, a tee and three balls. Select a 20- to 30-yard shot around a green that forces you to carry a bunker but that provides plenty of room between the apron and the pin. Drop one ball into the rough, another into a normal fairway lie, and tee up the third so it’s about a half-inch above the grass (photo, above). The goal is to land all three shots in the same place on the green, about a third of the way from the edge to the flagstick. (Repeat any shot that misses the landing spot.)
Once you’re successful from all three lies, check the results, which should look something like what’s pictured in the photo at right. What you’ll notice is that the shot from the rough rolled out the farthest — the mass of grass that wedged its way between the ball and the clubface at impact killed most of the backspin. The shot from the fairway stopped short of the first, even though it landed in the same spot. That’s because you generated much more backspin due to the cleaner lie. And for the teed-up third ball, which had zero grass on the clubface to interfere with contact, you created max backspin and stopped the ball almost immediately after it hit the green.
Of course, you never get to tee up your wedge shots, but that’s not the point. What this exercise teaches is how lie effects spin, and that controlling spin is the trick to hitting short shots close. It’s an invaluable lesson. Try it from different distances using different wedges. The experience will turn you into a cagey vet in no time.
Source: Golf.com
Adam Schenk was assessed a two-stroke penalty for a rules violation that occurred in the second round of the Honda Classic when his caddie stood behind him once he was in his stance on the 17th hole.
The penalty announced Saturday afternoon changes the bogey Schenk recorded on the par-3 17th on Friday to a triple-bogey.
Schenk finished the second round 1-over 71 with four birdies and two other bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes.
The PGA Tour released a statement Saturday announcing the decision and explaining of why Schenk was penalized for violating Rule 10.2b.
“The penalty occurred as a result of Adam’s caddie standing behind him once he took his stance, but not taking any action subsequently that would absolve him of penalty, for example backing out of his stance,” the statement read in part.
Schenk was tied for eighth place through four holes in the third round when the penalty was announced.
The PGA’s full statement on Schenk’s violation can be read below:
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 2, 2019
Golf’s new rules, which include the one Schenk and his caddie were judged to have violated, have been criticized by fans and players since they went into effect Jan. 1.
Justin Thomas, who finished the third round at the Honda Classic 3-under 67, came to Schenk’s defense on Twitter shortly after the infraction was announced Saturday.
In January Haotong Li became the first player penalized under the new rule regarding caddies and alignment. He was hit with a two-shot penalty at the Dubai Desert Classic when his caddie was ruled to have been standing behind him while Li was putting on the 18th green in the final round. European Tour chief Keith Pelley called the rule “grossly unfair” at the time.
One of the most well-known challengers to the new rules is Rickie Fowler, who was penalized one stroke for violating the knee-high drop rule during last week’s WGC-Mexico Championship.
A photo was taken of Fowler mocking the rule Thursday at the Honda Classic as he squat down, held the golf ball behind his back and joking asked an official if he was following the new rule correctly.
This is the appropriate drop form, as demonstrated by @RickieFowler @NoLayingUp @the_woke_yolk pic.twitter.com/Hjh5PvgUTm
— Ryan John Kennedy (@kennedyryanj) February 28, 2019
Source: USA TODAY Sports
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We’re keeping it fun with some presidential golf facts!
- Donald Trump
Has won 19 club championships. Handicap Index reported to be 2.8 - John F. Kennedy
Despite chronic back pain, averaged 80. - Dwight D. Eisenhower
Installed a green outside the Oval Office; member at Augusta National. Became friends with Arnold Palmer. - Gerald R. Ford
Despite a clumsy image, a legitimate 80s-shooter. He also played with Arnold Palmer. - Franklin D. Roosevelt
At 39, polio robbed him of a powerful golf swing - George W. Bush
His handicap reported to dip under 10, post-presidency. He gave up golf during his presidency at the start of the Iraq War. - George H.W. Bush
Once got his handicap down to 11. Favorite exclamation on the course was “Power outage!” when putts fell short
- Bill Clinton
Can break 90, especially using his “Billigans” - Barack Obama
The lefty plays hoops and golf, more than 330 rounds during his two terms. - Ronald Reagan
Didn’t play often or well (best was low 90s) - Warren G. Harding
Struggled to break 95 - Woodrow Wilson
Played over 1,000 Rounds in office but almost never broke 100. He even enlisted his Secret Service agents to paint his golf balls black so that he could practice in the snow. - Richard M. Nixon
He shot 79 once and quit the game - Lyndon B. Johnson
Played with senators to secure votes for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - Calvin Coolidge
When he vacated the White House, he left his clubs behind
Sources: Golf Digest, Cheat Sheet
It’s not quite golf season across the entire country, but we do know that everyone across the country is thinking about golf, golf season, and just how much they love playing golf. Here we offer the 12 reasons we all love golf:
Golf promotes freedom on a playing field with few boundaries.
What other game is played on 200 acres or more? Baseball, softball, football and soccer fields all have defined, rigid lines. So do tennis and basketball courts. Ice rinks have walls. Nascar has fences. For goodness’ sake, bowling alleys have gutters, how intimidating is that?
Yes, in golf you’re supposed to play the holes where the short grass is, but it’s liberating to know that you do not have to. (And probably won’t.) You’ve got this immense open space to play in. Play the holes any way you choose — just meet us on the next tee afterward.
The gear is cool.
It’s amusing, entertaining and even educational to get lost in all of golf’s little details: the dozens of different clubs, a glove, a ball marker, tees, green repair tools, interchangeable spikes, custom grips, shaft flexes, head covers, rain gear, global positioning equipment. And then there are the nicknames for this inner society’s tools: big dog, flat stick, belly putter, cavity back, hosel, kickpoint, camber, off-set, niblick, mashie, brassie, bounce, flange. I doubt that even the C.I.A. has this much fun naming its secret paraphernalia.
Golf is serendipitous.
Where else can you get sand in your shoes, pond water on your socks, ketchup on your shirt, sweat on your cap, mud in the cuffs of your pants, blisters on your hands, a farmer’s tan and a frog in your bag? And like it. If you make birdie on the 18th hole, you will spend the rest of the day excessively explaining how you acquired all the sand, water, ketchup, sweat, mud, blisters, color and the stowaway frog.
Golf has the best views.
O.K., so some baseball stadiums have good views of city skyscrapers. The rare college football stadium will glimpse a pastoral campus. Our indoor arenas increasingly all look alike and now they are louder than an airport runway. If you fish, hike, surf or ski, maybe you have an argument on this subject, but compared with all the mainstream sports, golf has no equal in terms of the setting. There are hundreds of golf courses that jut into the ocean, hundreds more that wind through forests, hundreds more with majestic mountain views and hundreds more that flow through parkland valleys.
Stand on the 18th tee at Pebble Beach, a few feet from the Pacific Ocean with the spray from the waves landing softly on your shoulders, and you will never again wax poetic about the Citgo sign behind the Green Monster at Fenway Park.
Golf is played with a host of wildlife partners.
Deer, turtles, foxes, woodchucks, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, moose, beavers, trout, bass, hawks, blue heron, eagles, geese, ducks, robins, blue jays, toads, armadillos, turkeys, otters, gophers, lizards, butterflies and even alligators.
They come with the golf course for free.
Playing alone.
You’ve heard of runner’s high? Golfers have their own version and it takes place on an uncrowded golf course, walking quietly around the green landscape, proceeding at any pace you choose.
Arriving alone and joining another group.
A completely different experience, this is more like a blind date, but it almost always ends up better since it doesn’t matter if you ever see your newfound partners again. You meet the most fascinating people with this little leap of faith and you are witness to the most bizarre approaches to playing the game. Who needs reality TV? Just walk into a pro shop on a busy Saturday and announce you’re a single.
Looking for lost balls in the woods.
I’m always amazed what I find in the woods. Like one boat shoe. Why and how did that get here? I’ve found a pocket calculator. A hat and sunglasses. Maybe I’m watching too much “NCIS,” but I try to reconstruct the scene:
O.K., guy tries to hit his second shot from the woods but it strikes two other trees and lands in some swampy moss. Disgusted, he throws down his hat (sunglasses were on the brim). Still, he takes an awkward stance in the swamp and swats at the ball, which soars onto the green to land two feet from the cup. In his follow-through, however, he loses his balance and falls backward. Boat shoe sticks in moss and calculator falls from pocket. He doesn’t notice; he’s shuffling down the fairway to make that par putt.
Great sounds.
There is the crisp sound of a club face contacting the golf ball with no grass in between. The muted “thunk” of a well-played bunker shot. The soft, little plunk heard from the fairway when an approach shot lands on the green. The clatter of clubs in the bag bumping along the fairway, a practiced cadence of leisure on the move. There is the silence that follows a shot from the woods, the audio proof that your ball escaped without striking a tree. There is the sound of surprised, astonished laughter when you sink a 60-foot putt over hill and dale.
Auditory delights are par for the course.
Anyone can play golf.
It doesn’t matter if you are particularly tall or strong, all body types can succeed. Look on the PGA and L.P.G.A. tours, where the top golfers come in all shapes and sizes. It doesn’t matter what part of the world you are from. Age doesn’t much matter, unless you want to be a touring pro. Even a lack of flexibility or athleticism can be counteracted with savvy and skill around the greens. Over the years, I have lost much money to the 60- or 70-year-olds at my home course who have the precision of surgeons from 100 yards and in. Just being a good putter will make you a good golfer. And who can’t putt a little white ball into a little hole?
You can, and should, play with your family or male and female friends.
The fact that men, women and children can play golf equitably on the same golf course is one of the game’s greatest benefits. It is the perfect blend of social event and exercise. And there’s something about golf’s humbling nature that brings everyone together. No one is immune from embarrassment, and that is liberating to the family dynamic.
The chance of a hole in one.
In what other game, in what other walk of life, can you perform something that in that moment is as good as it can be? The average person cannot go to a major league ballpark and hit a grand slam to win a game, but when the average person makes a hole in one, it is a shot that no one, not Phil Mickelson and not Jack Nicklaus in his prime, could have done better at that moment in that place. The chance of, and quest for, perfection is what keeps golfers coming back.
You gotta love that.
Source: NY Times
The question over whether you should putt with the flagstick in has sparked plenty of debate. The one thing missing until now has been any real science.
Partnering with California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo professor Tom Mase, a Ph.D in mechanical engineering and a member of the Golf Digest Hot List Technical Advisory Panel, we sought to find out if it is in fact true that putting with the flagstick in is always better than not. While Mase’s research is preliminary, the takeaway is pretty clear: The benefits of the flagstick are at best inconclusive and may in fact prevent off-center putts from going in more often than they would if the flagstick were removed.
In other words, hold on to your DeChambeau.
(Bryson DeChambeau, you’ll recall, seemed fairly unequivocal in his assessment of golf’s new rule that allows players to leave the flagstick in while putting. He said in January at the Sentry Tournament of Champions: “After the testing we’ve seen, and what we just did out there now, absolutely, I’m going to leave it in. I’m going to do it until I can see that it messes me up. For the most part, we’ve seen it to be a benefit and not a detriment. That’s from anywhere.”)
Mase’s study, conducted at Cal Poly’s golf practice center at Dairy Creek Golf Course with help from men’s coach Scott Cartwright and women’s coach Sofie Aagaard, used a putting device called the Perfect Putter to roll putts at a speed slightly faster than minimum holing speed. (The theory being that holing speed, approximately two-and-a-half feet past the hole, is not affected by the stick being left in the hole.) The Cal Poly study examined straight and breaking putts that crossed the hole at the upper third, the middle of the hole and the lower third.
Mase released a video of the test conducted last week.
The results showed that with a breaking putt entering the hole from the low side, keeping the flagstick in prevents some putts from being holed. With the flagstick out, those putts are holed every time.
The study also showed that the coefficient of restitution for the flagstick is relatively low, and that direct impacts with the stick, regardless of the type, tend to stop the ball fairly quickly, helping it to finish in the hole every time at a speed that sends the ball five to seven feet past the hole. Further tests of the different flagsticks showed that fiberglass sticks—those most commonly used on the PGA Tour—were the most forgiving, but while multi-diameter and tapered aluminum pins rejected putts that otherwise would have been made, even the fiberglass pin caused more putts to have been missed than were made with the flagstick out.
Off-center flagstick strikes on the low side of the hole tended to shoot the ball off farther away, hence the problem with balls rolling toward the hole on the low side.
Still, for putts entering on the high side, leaving the flagstick in wasn’t such a sure thing, either. While nine out of nine putts were made with the flagstick out, each of the three types of flagsticks yielded less than perfect results for high-side entry putts. For the multi-diameter aluminum stick, there were only seven makes. Same for the common fiberglass flagstick. But for the tapered aluminum stick, it got worse: only two of the nine putts were holed. That’s a difference of 78 percent between flagstick out and flagstick in.
In an earlier test from a longer distance, Mase found that straight-in putts were made 100 percent of the time with both the flagstick out and the flagstick in. On low side entry, putts were holed 80 percent of the time with the flagstick out, but only 56 percent of the time with the flagstick in.
Mase, who will continue to run further tests on the flagstick-in/out question at Cal Poly’s golf practice center, found the testing results surprising, given the current attitudes some tour players have expressed.
“While the sample is very small on this data, I believe it represents well what is happening here,” he said. “Low-side putts will definitely be hurt by having the pin in. Putts entering the center will be made with or without the pin. High side entering putts is a little bit of a pin type dependent problem. However, high-side hole entry without the pin performs best.
“The results are intriguing and perplexing. At first, I bought into the pin helping always. But it is too easy to set up a low-side entering putt that is made 100 percent without the pin and not close to 100 percent with any of the three pins tested.”
Your move, Bryson.
Source: Golf Digest
As January comes to a close, how are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions? Most of us make New Year’s resolutions and, unfortunately, most of us fail to see them through for all 365 days, or even 31 days.
If your resolution involved improving your golf game in 2019, here’s a list of things you can do every day/week — even if you’re in the bitter cold like a lot of folks right now — to help you achieve those goals.
And, once it warms up in your area, you can take all five of these drills outside.
4. Exercise. Yeah, we know. That’s what we should be doing every day anyway, right? But when it comes to golf, you don’t want to be tight. There are a number of stretches you can do right from your desk while reading emails that will benefit your arms, shoulders, neck, back, hips and legs for golf season.
Even better, place one of those handy, elastic, tension bands in the top drawer of your desk.
3. Take 100 swings per day in your house or garage… without a golf ball. The best players in the world visualize the shot they want to hit before they hit it. With a drill like this one, you’re going to be forced to visualize, because there’s no ball there to hit. If you’re able, place a mirror in front of you and pay attention to the positions of your address, takeaway, the top of your swing and impact position as well as follow through. Do it in slow motion. Become an expert on your swing.
2. Work on your chipping. Can’t do it outside? No worries. You can purchase a chipping net, or even put down a hula-hoop as a target. Get a few foam golf balls and a tiny turf mat to hit the balls off of.
Will it produce the same feel as a real golf ball? Of course not. But what it will do is force you to focus on a target and repeat the same motion over and over. After a long layoff, “touch,” is the first thing that goes for all golfers.
This will help you to work on some semblance of touch all winter long.
1. Practice your putting. Anywhere. All you need is a putter, a golf ball, a flat surface and an object — any object — to putt at. If you’re so inclined, rollout turf can be purchased for around $20 with holes cut out.
Since the greens are where you’re going to take most of your strokes, doesn’t it make sense to dial that in whenever possible? It can be fun too. Does your significant other, roommate, or child play? Have regular putting contests.
The feel you gain during those sessions may not seem like much, but man will they come in handy when your season begins on the real grass.
No matter the weather, you can work on your swing throughout the winter months and keep your game sharp. How nice would it be to be on top of your game as soon as the course opens here in the spring?
Source: PGA.com
We’re currently renovating another lodge which will sleep 10 – 12 people. The remodel will be done by May 2019 and ready for Spring Stay and Play Reservations!
We invite you to come stay in comfort, forget the drive, and play golf.
