Why you should walk your rounds

Telling a golfer that they should walk the course often feels a little like putting a plate of broccoli in front of a three-year-old. Yes, they know it is good for them, no. They don’t want it. If you play golf with the expectation of beer and cigars with your buddies—maybe even a non-etiquette conforming Bluetooth speaker strapped to the back of your cart, the idea of walking your round probably won’t feel very appealing.

Reasonable. However, there are benefits to taking the game one step at a time that shouldn’t be forgotten. In this article, we make the case for why you should consider walking your rounds.

Walking is Great for Your Health

You can burn up to 2000 calories walking eighteen holes of golf. This includes every motion you take on the course. Walking the five miles it takes to get from the first tee to the eighteenth green. Lugging your bag around. Your practice swings. Striking the ball.

All totaled, you get more than a day’s worth of recommended physical exercise, all while doing an activity you truly love.

Riding in a golf cart is actually still pretty good exercise. In this case, the average player will burn around 800 calories over eighteen holes. Still, if you want to get the absolute most bang for your buck, walking is the way to do it.

Walking (can be) quicker

The assumption that golf carts save you time is natural. They drive at around ten miles per hour, whereas humans walk at a leisurely four. Slower with fifty pounds of golf equipment strapped to their back.

So how does walking save you time? It depends largely on the conditions of your round. When there are any accessibility issues at all—cart path only, troublesome terrain—walking is almost universally quicker. The time you spend getting out of your cart, finding your ball, hitting your shot, and walking back to the cart, completely neutralizes any gains you would have experienced through speed.

The other thing? Most of the reasons that golf takes a long time have very little to do with how fast you are moving around the course. Your playing partners are slow. You keep hitting your ball in the woods. There are slow players in front of you. These problems don’t go away because you have a golf cart.

The amount of time it takes to play a round of golf owes primarily to two factors:

• Your course management, and
• Traffic.

You can shoot 108 in less time than it takes the guy behind you to shoot a cool 73. You can walk your round and beat your playing partner in their cart to their green every time.

Are there situations where riding will save you time? Definitely. If you manage the course well and arrive on a day without any waiting, you could probably shave thirty minutes off of 18 holes by riding.

Those situations may present themselves to talented players who are able to sneak off on a Tuesday morning when the course is at its emptiest. For weekend warriors with double-digit handicaps, there is little to nothing to be gained from riding.

Walking Improves Your Focus

It is a recently established fact that walkers are more focused than riders. The study, captivatingly titled “ Energy expenditure compared to mental focus & score in three modes of golf transport/play," focused on 10 golfers with the exact same handicap playing a nine-hole round of golf.

These players were divided into three groups. One group used a golf cart, one used a manual pushcart, and the third used a motorized pushcart.

Naturally, the walkers used more energy. However, the study also found that they demonstrated much greater focus.

The study ranked mental focus on a scale of 1-10. Players using a cart—push or motorized, clocked in at  6.63, whereas those in a cart registered 5.

The metric is admittedly vague and subjective. How does one quantify focus, anyway? How about through scores? The players using push carts average a full stroke better than those who rode during their rounds.

Granted, from a scientific perspective, there are about one million things wrong with this study. First of all, ten people aren’t much of a sample size. The control conditions are also limited. Yes, all of these players have the same handicap, but that isn’t the only thing that factors into a golf score. Were some players more familiar with the course than others?  Did the layout favor a draw shot shape, while the people in the cart group happened to primarily cut the ball?

Golf scores fluctuate more than John Daly’s weight. To say that this study, small in scope, definitively proves the objective merits of walking would be a stretch. Still, it does at least establish a correlation that seems to align with many player’s lived experiences. Walking a golf course can help you clear your mind and focus on what you need to do.

Calming Potential?

Piggybacking off the last idea, it is possible that walking your golf rounds can improve your mindset. Walking is a form of exercise. Exercise releases dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine and serotonin are the chemicals in your brain responsible for relaxation and joy.

Staying calm on the course is key, particularly as you hack and slash your way closer to the green. How many times have you hit two beautiful that put you on the fringe, only to choke and skull your chip shot into the next zip code?

Seratonin won’t erase the yips but it can at least help soothe them. A little bit of inner calm could easily take a stroke or two off each side.

It (Should) Save You Money

Most, though not all, courses charge more for their carts. The actual price may vary from course to course but tends to feature in the $10-20 range for your average course. At high-end runs, it can be a good deal more. At Pebble Beach, for example, the cart fee is closer to $60.

Saving $10-20 over fifty rounds a year adds up to a decent chunk of change. That’s new iron money.

Walking Gives You More Time to Bask in the Moment

You did it. You’ve traveled ten hours, splurged on greens fees that cost more than your car payment, and now you find yourself on the first tee at TPC Sawgrass. This is where Tiger Woods proved, time and again that he is “better than most.”

It’s where new stars are born and legends cement their reputation. Do you really want to zip through all of the sights, sounds, and smells at twenty miles an hour?
Riding may not save you time but it will ensure that much of the scenery passes by in a blur.

Golf (thank goodness) is not about what you shoot. It’s about retreating from the world for a few hours. Going somewhere without work emails or kids who haven’t seemed to learn that they can do things for themselves yet.

Why rush through the experience? Walking the course gives you the chance to savor every step.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Hard

If you are turned off to the idea of walking because you don’t want to lug heavy equipment up and down five miles of hills, that is understandable. It’s also not how the experience has to go. Good push carts are lightweight, affordable, and highly effective. They do all the heavy lifting so you really just have to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

You can make the experience even easier for yourself by obtaining lightweight equipment. Tour-style cart bags are gorgeous, but they are also impractical. Sunday Golf makes lightweight bags that are easy to haul, and even easier to strap onto a pushcart.

Give yourself a break. Optimize your routine for health by walking the course, and using equipment that won’t snap your spine like a twig in the process.

Do You Have To Walk Every Round?

There are definitely situations where riding in the cart will still be ideal. Sometimes, it may even be healthier. If you want to hit the links on a day when the thermometer has reached triple digits, there is no need to risk heat stroke just to put your new pushcart to good use. Pay the $10 cart fee and play it safe.

Similarly, if you are getting together with friends and the purpose of the round is primarily social, that’s another good reason to consider riding in carts. You can, of course, enjoy a social experience on your feet, but peer pressure being the thing that it is, you might not want to.

If walking means being the odd person out, that’s another situation where riding is appropriate.

Bottom line? Even walking occasional rounds will be beneficial. You’ll keep your pants loose, experience the course in more intimate ways, and possibly even shave a few strokes off your score.