title: The contribution of golf to daily physical activity recommendations: how many steps does it take to complete a round of golf?
abstract: To quantify the number of steps adults take during an 18-hole round of golf, we recruited 42 healthy volunteers (12 men and 30 women aged 30-80 years) with established United States Golf Association handicaps to complete an 18-hole round of golf on each of 3 municipal golf courses. Subjects walked each course while wearing a pedometer to record step data. Analysis revealed that each golfer took a mean +/- SD 11,948 +/- 1781 steps per 18-hole round of golf. Regardless of handicap level, sex, or course played, most subjects exceeded 10,000 steps during a typical round of golf. Consequently, in most cases, walking 18 holes of golf will meet the recommendation to accumulate 10,000 steps per day as part of a general physical activity plan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Sports Medicine Center, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
authors.forename: Samantha L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Kobriger
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Hollman
authors.forename: Aynsley M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006055:Golf / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control