When Mr. McMulligan proposed to me on an October afternoon 10 years ago, overlooking the Continental Divide from the top of Pole Creek’s Ridge Nine, his question was, “Will you walk down the fairway of life with me?”
Note that he did not ask me to ride.
And if he had, I am not sure how I would have answered, because I am a walker. I walk 18 holes whenever I am physically able and the course permits walking. Luckily, so does he.
The impending start of the CGA’s annual Fall Fitness Fitness this month got us thinking and talking about why we feel so much better about golf when we walk than when we ride. When we consulted with other dedicated walkers, they contributed even more reasons that we’d never even considered.
Not that we really needed convincing. If you’ve never walked 18, or even 9, you’re missing out. Here’s why it’s time you ditched the cart and walked along with us.
1. Let’s start with the bottom line: Walking the course will save you money! Even if you spend $1,000 or so tricking up a battery powered, remote control pushcart with a seat, cooler, speaker and rangefinder, you’ll be back in the black after about 50 rounds of no cart fee. And Tawnya Silloway, one of Colorado’s golfiest golfers, has found even more financial incentive to walk most of her rounds at Colorado Springs Country Club. “I’m actually getting paid to walk,” Tawnya says. “My medical insurance pays me $20 per month each month that I walk 10,000 steps for 20 days. A dollar a day adds up over a year!”
2. Enough about ourselves, for a moment. CGA Executive Director Ed Mate points out that walking is kinder to the course and to Earth. “Carts do tremendous damage to the course – compacting soil, destroying turf, rutting, cart path damage. And whether gas or electric, golf carts emit carbon one way or the other.” He also points out that riders generally park behind the green and never even see or fix the pitch marks they’ve left on the green short of the hole.
3. For more ambulatory altruism, take a caddie when you can. At CommonGround, walking gives you the chance to get to know and support a youngster in his or her first job, potentially qualifying for an Evans Scholarship.
4. Now, back to more selfish reasons to walk: You’ve just banked calories galore for the 19th hole! Whether you carried your bag, took a caddy or pushed a walking cart, you’ve probably walked five to seven miles and burned as many as 1,500 calories, turning fat cells into muscle along the way. You can enjoy that burger and Manhattan – or bank the calories if you’re looking to lose a few pounds.
5. Walking as exercise makes us feel better – about ourselves, golf, the world – than riding does. Walking in general releases endorphins and gives us a lift from stress and anxiety.
6. Walking a golf course connects us with nature. Not only do we get a feel for how the terrain and the breeze might affect our next shot, we hear the birds and, without a roof over our heads, see the weather coming in. Yes, you probably will have to leave the phone in your bag. But walking unplugged gives us more time to enjoy our surroundings and our companions.
7. About those companions: Have you ever been trapped in a golf cart for four hours with someone who talks constantly, makes excuses for every shot and complains about EVERYthing? Walking frees you from that stressful scenario but also allows for quality chats with anyone in your foursome individually as you roam the fairways. Especially healthful for those who live alone, walking the golf course provides an easy opportunity to socialize naturally and comfortably.
8. Yet walking does not mean longer rounds! It can move a foursome along faster because everyone is advancing to their own ball, eyeballing the distance and lie, and formulating a plan for their next shot as they walk. “When I get to my ball, I’m ready,” says Mr. McMulligan. Ed Mate cites data from CommonGround in 2020, when carts were not allowed, and says, “A golf course full of walkers plays faster than a golf course full of cart riders. The misuse of carts leads to delays due to uneducated golfers who go to each ball rather than getting their clubs and going to their individual balls. Cart riders often park their carts in the wrong location, which also leads to delays.”
9. Walking the golf course simplifies the game and minimizes distractions. Notes Tawnya Silloway, “Riding with someone, you have to pay attention to two balls, keep track of who is up next, consider where do I park the cart, where is my ball, should I guess at a club and walk over, should I wait.”
10. Which brings us to a more selfish, and maybe surprising, reason to walk: By simplifying the game with fewer distractions, we play better! A 2022 study by exercise physiologist Neil Wolkodoff, a CGA member out of CommonGround, correlated both higher mental focus scores and lower golf scores with walking rather than riding. Explains Neil, “Walking with caddie or self-motor cart is best, then followed by pushcart (a little better than carrying a bag), carrying the bag and then motor cart.” So it seems walking fatigue has less impact on the scorecard than the improved focus for all the reasons above.
Of course, riding does have one considerable advantage over walking: It allows those who aren’t physically able to walk a course to still play the game. We’ve all been there, done that, and will do again.
Otherwise, Suzie Frenchman of Greenwood Village, Colorado’s queen of the Fall Fitness Finish and general all-around fitness fanatic, advocates walking if you can, while you can. Why? She says simply, “Because you can.”
