It has been around for several hundred years, and for a time it was the Provence of the elite and the wealthy. If you’ve seen a lot of golf movies, you know that women weren’t even allowed to caddy until the middle of the last century. And while it’s still a bit expensive to play a lot of golf, it’s not exactly prohibitive anymore. It’s no wonder more and more people are choosing sports for more than just a competitive outing. Golf is so much fun that it is becoming one of the most popular pastimes as well.
When you think of the word hobby, it may conjure up indoor hobbies like stamp collecting or knitting. Others will paint or listen to music. But that doesn’t mean hiking isn’t a hobby at all. In fact, there are a huge number of hobbies that involve the use of a large amount of muscle mass. And while you probably don’t consider golf a strenuous activity, it will give a serious couch potato a decent challenge in the early rounds.
One of the reasons why golf can be such a big draw is the setting. Lovely scenery, the greenest perfectly trimmed grass, trees and water – it’s a nature walk with a little white ball. You don’t have to be young or in good shape, and you don’t have to be particularly competitive as you’re really just playing against the field and yourself, but if that’s what it does for you, more power to you.
Golf is also a great exercise. Throw on a big backpack full of metal, haul it for a few miles and you’re in for a great workout. The nice thing about golf is that the pack and steel serve some purpose as you walk around with them on your back. If you can play a few rounds a week, you’d be walking about ten miles with the extra weight, plus flexing and stretching all your other muscle groups along the way. Depending on how well you play, that could be a lot of extra flex and twist.
Golf requires bending, turning, small muscle precision, and large muscle group power. Outside of swimming, it’s a bit difficult to get a more complete cycle of bodily functions than you get in a round of golf. And the sights and sounds are certainly up there with just about anything else that really calls for activity. It’s kind of hard to enjoy the look of a mountain when you’re clinging to it for dear life.
In short, golf has the perfect balance between physical activity and aesthetic quality. You will search far and wide to find a single hobby that has more to offer in one package. And while it costs more to take a walk, you may have spent the money on burgers anyway. Make a small investment in your health and happiness and try the old game.