Is Golfing A Good Kind Of Exercise?

We all realize that we ought to exercise. Some individuals even like doing it, but unfortunately for society and most of us in it, the majority of us cannot be bothered to get off their backsides, which is why the populations of Western countries are turning to lard before our very eyes. This is a shame not just for the people involved but for the tax-payers who have to refill the public coffers in order to take care of them when they get sick.

So, how can we motivate ourselves to take more exercise? Clearly government health warnings are just benefiting marketing agencies and the media, so what else? Maybe, they could tell us: 'Play tennis once a week, you will enjoy that vodka a whole lot more afterwards!.' Or 'Play a round of golf first and that G&T will taste better!' Or: 'Walk a mile to the pub, have a pint, walk back and have another one, you will need it!' The puritanical way certainly has not worked, so why not give realism a shot?

I mentioned golf there more or less by accident, but it strikes me that going for a game of golf and having a drink with your friends later is a whole lot better than watching it on TV with a can. It is not merely the walking either, which most of us do not do enough of anyway, but it is the actions connected with hitting the ball - the swing and hand-eye coordination as well. And the social life afterwards, and loads of people miss out on a social life especially after retirement or the death of a spouse.

Now golf may not seem to you to be an interesting sport and I understand that point of view completely, but that is because it is not until you realize how hard it is to hit that ball hundreds of yards onto the green that most people can grasp the difficulty of playing the game well. That might be true of most sports, but golf does look so leisurely, does it not?

One of the good things about golf is that you can play with people of comparable ability to yourself so that you do not feel self-conscious or 'out of place.' If you join a ramblers' club after 30 years of watching TV, you will soon feel old and past it, but golf is different, because there is no pace, no hurry, you can take as long as you like, you can let people 'play through' (go on before you) and you can call it a day and retire to the club house whenever you want.

Lots of retired people take up golf, especially if they were used to being active at work, but it is also a hobby, that you can take up if you feel that you are not doing enough at any age. It is surprising how much a little bit of extra exertion can help stave off stiff limbs and flabbiness.