The Benefits of Golf

Golf is much more than just taking some errant swings at a ball. Although it may have started as a simple game with a goal, it’s evolved and become a sport that millions enjoy every year. As time has progressed, people have discovered many benefits from the game. 

Health Benefits

When people talk about the benefits of golf, they’re usually talking about the health benefits. Golf can do amazing things for someone’s health. 

It’s a Great Workout 

Golf is all about exercise. You’ll be using nearly every part of your body during your swing, stimulating your legs, core, arms and shoulders. It forces you to stretch, be nimble and test your strength. Few sports offer the kind of full-body motion that golf does. 

If you walk the whole round, golf becomes even more beneficial — you could walk several miles during the course of eighteen holes. 

Golf Is a Non-Contact Sport

There’s a reason many seniors continue to play golf into old age. It’s a game geared for longevity. It takes away the harsh physical contact that sports have and instead relies on one simple, rhythmic swing to play. Though you can still get injuries from playing golf, you may be less liable to a serious injury than if you were playing a more contact-driven sport. 

Improve Well-Being

Sometimes, it can be hard to see the evidence for golf improving one’s well-being — especially when you’re watching one of your friends break a club over their leg amidst an onslaught of curses. But, if you play with awareness and calm, you can spend a wonderful day out in nature, regardless of your final score. When you’re playing well, golf is essentially a nice stroll outside. 

Social Benefits 

Technically, golf is a very independent sport — every shot you’re relying on yourself. If you make a mistake, you have no one to blame except you. Outside of those individual shots, you’ll usually be in a larger group, sometimes playing on teams and battling against one another in friendly competition. In that way, golf comes with many social benefits. 

Build Connections 

Socializing on a golf course is easy. If you’re on a team, you’re connecting with one another and working towards a common goal. If you have good morale, you’ll be cheering each other on to do well. Many people will go through a golf round with someone they’ve never met before and pull up to the 18th tee as newfound friends. 

Instead of forcing relationships or connections, golf provides an environment where people can be comfortable and get to one another while playing the game. 

Have Fun 

Some people take the game very seriously, and that’s okay. Others, however, are just looking to have a good time. Bring a cooler, pack a few drinks and head out into a beautiful day with some of your best friends — for many, that’s what golf is all about. Playing the game with the people you want to play it with. 

Reconnect With Friends 

Sometimes we may want to reach out to old friends but we don’t the right way. We can’t find the right setting or the right way to phrase the question. But we want to see them and catch up. 

Golf offers a brilliant way to create that get-together. When you’re looking for an excuse to see someone you miss, just ask them to golf. 

Do Business 

Golf has also become one of those games that are somehow conducive to business. In some ways, golf is correlated with affluence and prosperity, and the course itself can, in the right conditions, be a kind of outdoor office where negotiations can be made and agreements met. 

Even if you’re not doing business on the course, it can also offer a way to impress some of your coworkers or bosses. Brush up on your golf skills and show off your talent to those you want to impress. It may have more of an impact than you think. 

If you’re looking to work your way up the corporate ladder, golf is a great sport to pour some time into. 

Have a Golf Date 

Don’t panic — ask them to play a round of golf with you. A quick nine holes is a great date idea — low pressure, fun, and also a great way to get to know one another. Unlike a cramped dinner date or a movie date where you can’t talk, the golf course offers an open, inviting environment where you can spend quality time with someone and really build a connection. 

If you’re good at golf, it’s an added bonus. And if you’re both pretty bad, you can still laugh and have fun together along the way. 

Mental Benefits 

Golf is a mental game. You get to know people on a golf course — their temperament, how they deal with failure and how they deal with success. Though you may be interested in how others react, you can also look inwards and see how you react in certain situations. If you work at it, you may even be able to experience some mental improvements from playing the game of golf. 

Patience 

Golf requires patience — whether you’re waiting for the group in front of you to get off the green or waiting for others in your group to hit. It also requires patience in all aspects of your game. Some days, you’re going to play poorly — it happens to all of us. It’s up to you to stick to your swing and wait for the wave to pass. It takes patience.

Much like meditation lets you focus on each individual breath, golf makes you focus on each individual swing. Do that, and you can put together a full round of full, focused swings. That’s something to be proud of. 

Calm 

You’re going to hit one into the water. You’re going to skull one off the tee. We all do it — even the pros. What you begin to learn about golf the more you play is not avoiding those shots but learning how to react to them. Some players completely fall apart when a shot doesn’t go how they planned. They devolve into a fit of curses and red-faced rage, grumbling as they walk towards their next shot.

Others — usually good players — stay calm and head to the next shot knowing they can improve. This is the beauty of golf — you have the chance to correct it with the next swing of the club. Much of golf is learning how to respond to this adversity and keeping a calm, collected headspace throughout the entire round. 

Confidence 

You may even find some confidence out on the course. When you’re standing over the golf ball, it’s just you — no one else to guide your arms and swing through the ball. Unless you’re taking lessons, you’re the only one involved. This forces a great amount of responsibility on yourself to do a great job. Whether you have a good shot or not, you’re faced with a great truth — you caused the ball to go there.

Accepting that is a feat in itself and a path towards improved confidence. Each improvement with your game will show you have the power to do better.