Study finds golfers burn 36% more calories when using a trolley over a buggy

A study by the Colorado Center for Health & Sports Science has found that golfers burn 36% more calories over a nine-hole round if they’re using a push trolley rather than a motorised cart.

It also found that the walking benefits from playing golf increases health benefits, improves mental focus and even reduces scores.

The independent study set out to find out how energy expenditure varies in golf based on the mode of transport, and whether all forms of golf play qualify as health-improvement activity. Along with data focussed on energy expenditure, the study recorded data on participants’ reported mental focus and their scores to par across nine-hole rounds.

Using a VO2 Master metabolic analyser and a standard Hans-Rudolph mask to test energy expenditure on the course, the study compared walking with push carts / trolleys, walking with electric trolleys and riding on a buggy. Walking without a mode of golf transport, such as while carrying a bag, was not tested.

Of the three modes tested, the study found that golfers burned most calories per hour using a push cart, a 36 percent increase on motorised cart use.

Both using a push cart and electric trolley reached the threshold for being recognised as moderate intensity exercise and would have a positive impact on the health of users, while golf using a motorised cart constitutes a health improvement activity, according to the study.

“To have further definitive data on increased energy expenditure from walking the course is great news for the game,” commented Neil Wolkodoff, PhD, lead researcher on the study.

“It is clear that if you walk the course, you will experience the same health benefits as other moderate exercises, possibly better. Particularly noting that improvement when using a push cart, and certainly more than when participating in recreational or leisure walking.

“Previous studies I’ve worked on demonstrated that using a pushcart had performance benefits over other types of course transport. The walking modes in this study had a clear improvement in reported mental focus of participants when walking compared to a motor cart.”

For reported mental focus, motorised cart use averaged a score of 5.01, push cart use 5.67 and electric trolley use 6.63. The scores to par were 10.2 with electric trolley use, 10.4 with  push cart use and 11.5 with motorised cart use.

Rick Oldach, CEO of BIG MAX USA, which supplied the push carts and golf bags for the study, said: “The methodology for testing energy expenditure delivers undisputed evidence for the health benefits of walking the course. The results that particularly please me though are around mental focus and scores. I’ve long suspected that having time to think between shots, to decompress after each shot and to have time to prepare for the next shot is of real benefit, and this study proves that walking improves performance.”