Health Club

Words by Alex Moore

While other sports have been hit hard by the events of the past six months, golf pretty much sailed on regardless. It gave the pandemic a perfunctory nod – a mere seven-week hiatus – and then took up where it had left off. Blossomed, in fact. Around Europe and the US, more rounds have been played during lockdown than ever before. After all, social distancing is rel-atively easy when you have acres of fairway to play with.

Apparently, much of the increased footfall has come from non-golfers looking for an outlet – a way to ease their lockdown malaise. At the same time, studies are increasingly showing that golf is not only good for our physical wellbeing but for our mental health too.

Dr Roger Hawkes is the executive director of the Golf and Health Project, an organisation leading research into the potential health benefits of golf. He says, “Golfers will enjoy telling you that on average they live five years longer than non-golfers – it’s pretty well documented. But my more cynical friends are often quick to reply, ‘What’s the point in living longer if you have to play golf?’”

The answer is: quality of life. Hawkes and his team have managed to prove that golf is good for strength and balance, especially in the elderly, which means that those who play should be less likely to fall and injure themselves. What’s more, they’ve seen particularly profound results with dementia and Parkinson’s disease among golfers. “Policymakers and politicians are more interested in these kinds of facts,” he says. “It costs an awful lot of money for peo-ple to live longer if they have no quality of life.”

“Meanwhile, we know that golf is a moderately intense physical activity for certain age groups, and we know that these activities reduce anxiety and can help with mild depression,” says Hawkes. He continues, “There’s been some really interesting work done on social inter-action, which golf can claim to offer plenty of. If you look at older people and all of the risk-factors for them dying over a five-year period – blood pressure, cholesterol, etc – the biggest risk was lack of social interaction.”

So next time your other half harrumphs as you set off for an afternoon’s game and a couple of swift G&Ts at The Kennels, tell them it’s all on doctor’s orders.

This article is taken from the Goodwood magazine, October 2020 issue