Golfers love to talk about their game as a sport. Tiger Woods, after all, weight trains like a fiend. But the critics will not be moved. It's a pastime says, well, almost anybody with a pair of eyes and a
brain.
Turns out the eyes may not be telling us the full story. Neil Wolkodoff, director of the Rose Center for Health and Sport Sciences in Denver, decided to put things to the test. He wired eight golfers up with sensors and tracked oxygen consumption, heart rate, carbon dioxide production and measured the distances they traveled on their rounds.
Afterwards, Wolkodoff told AP that: "The study shows there's a significant energy expenditure in golf, more than bowling and other sports it's been compared to."
Really? I mean, really, bowling's a sport?
He found subjects carrying their clubs burn 721 calories a round and folks who walk with a caddie burn 718-though, honestly, there's got to be something faulty in that data since clubs weigh around 40 lbs. and carrying 40 lbs for 18 holes has to be worth more than 3 calories.
That said, even though it's not the 750 calories an hour that running burns, Golf beats, well, fishing (302 calories).
Like Wolkodoff says, "as far as physical exertion goes, it's not the same as boxing, but it's definitely more than people thought.
About this he's right. It's certainly not boxing.
