A day on the greens may be par for your course, but it isn't real exercise, experts say.

Fitness guidelines recommend moderate activity for 30 minutes a day, but that means nonstop activity. Golfers typically walk a few minutes and stop, then walk a few minutes and stop. That may add up to more than 30 minutes of walking, but it's no cardiovascular workout.

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As for actually hitting the ball (or trying to hit it), experts say swinging a club is not good exercise.

Whether you carry, pull or cart your clubs will determine how many calories you use. A 80 kg golfer who plays for one hour will burn 318 calories if he carries his clubs, 252 if he pulls a wheeled bag cart and 186 if he rides in a golf cart. By contrast, a 3 km.p.h walk will burn 246 calories and a 10 km run will burn 750.

In other words, there's golf - and then there's exercise.

 

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