Friday, November 27, 2009

Golf is a Good Form of Exercise

By Mick Euan Tait

Everybody knows why you need to exercise to maintain good physical health, however countless people simply have no desire to exercise. Often you will hear the excuses are that they have no time to exercise or it is too much hassle trying to find something that is interesting, and not boring. Then again, there are also people that are mindful of the growing problem with an overweight and obese population and they want to do some exercises.

Most people do not like the idea of just doing exercise in order to get fit. So they start thinking about a sport to begin to get fitter, but if you are middle aged or a senior, you can't be considering taking up triathlons or marathons. Golf, on the other hand, is a sport that is suitable for those both male or female, and young or old.

Golf as a Sport to Keep Fit

Golf, as a sport, is quite easy to get started in the sense that you do not have to train for weeks to participate - like a marathon. After you have begun to play golf, you will discover that it is very enjoyable and fun. This is the important part to actually getting up and doing some exercise, because if you enjoy what you are doing, you will be surprised at how often you look for reasons to play. This is why golf has emerged as a sport that provides those many formerly inactive folk with a good justification to get up and get started with some exercise.

From the Outset

At the start it is better to start playing shorter courses, like 9-hole courses, until you can develop your general physical abilities to permit you to be capable of handling the physical requirements for a full 18-holes. Because we are talking about golf as a sport, we must reject using golf carts because this takes away the benefits of golf to get in shape. This means that it is required to have the physical strength to actually walk the entire golf course before you attempt to play. It may turn out that for your first rounds you can only play a handful of the holes. This may seem dispiriting but by always playing, you will be able to increase your stamina and strength to allow you to walk and play a full course.

Developing Your Fitness Level

On the whole, golf is quite a good sport for allowing you to slowly break into an exercise routine. When you first start golf you will be taking golf lessons which will allow you to start off gradually by concentrating on your swing. You will start to develop your flexibility and golf muscles at the same time you work on your golf swing.

Even though some individuals say that you can play golf when you are unfit or over-weight, this is not accurate. Yes, you could get around the course in a golf cart and get out to take a stiff looking swing to hit your golf ball along the fairway a little distance at a time, but this is not golf. If you are at all serious about improving your health and fitness by playing golf, you will want to in the end play golf competently. Once you can start scoring low and get competitive, you will want to work on your fitness and flexibility so that you can get even better.

If you love golfing then you will not mind getting up early to go to the course. If you would like to take your game to a higher level, you will not mind the little bit of effort to do some exercising to work on your golf muscles and a flexibility schedule to improve your limberness. Once you are addicted to golf you will discover that because you want to improve your golf swing you will also be working on getting into shape for golf and keeping fit.

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