A controlled trial of the health benefits of regular walking on a golf course

PURPOSE: To study the effects of regular walking during a golf game on vari ous health and fitness indicators in middle aged men. METHODS: Study subjects were 55 healthy male golfers aged 48 to 64 years wh o had been sedentary during the 7 months before the study, and 55 age-match ed, similarly sedentary controls. During the 20-week study, those in the in tervention group were encouraged to play golf two to three times a week; th e controls were not. Measurements of body composition, cardiorespiratory pe rformance, motor and musculoskeletal fitness, blood pressure, and serum lip id, glucose, and insulin levels were obtained at baseline and after the 20- week study. RESULTS: Walking during a golf game was a practical and safe form of physic al activity with high adherence. It significantly increased aerobic perform ance and trunk muscle endurance, with a net difference (pretraining to post training change between the golfers and controls) of 36 seconds (95% confid ence interval [CI]: 19 to 53 seconds, P < 0.001) for treadmill walking time and 13 seconds (95% CI: 2 to 24 seconds, P = 0.02) for static back extensi on. In addition, regular walking favorably affected body composition, inclu ding reductions in weight of 1.4 kg (95% CI: 0.6 to 2.1 kg, P < 0.001), in waist circumference of 2.2 cm (95% CI: 1.0 to 3.3 cm, P < 0.001), and in ab dominal skin fold thickness of 2.2 cm (95% CI: 0.9 to 3.4 cm, P = 0.001). G olfers also had significantly greater increases in serum high-density lipop rotein (HDL) cholesterol levels and ill the ratio of HDL cholesterol to tot al cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: Regular walking had many positive effects on the health and fi tness of sedentary middle-aged men. Walking during a golf game is character ized by high adherence and low risk of injury and is therefore a good form of health-enhancing physical activity. Am J Med. 2000;109:102-108. (C) 2000 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.