Does anyone walk anymore?

[Josh Ross 562]

I love to walk the course but it's impossible here with the courses being carved in the side of a mountain range. The elevation changes would have you ready to pass out on the first hole alone. They made us walk it in high school but had a few shuttles between holes. It was still a tough task!

[Presley85 5]

I love to walk, try to walk at least 9 once a week.  Texas summers do make it brutal though, prefer evening rounds for that reason! 

[Bob Jerabek 10]

Walk whenever I can.  Coved has allowed walk anytime on my course.

[BrownBearGolf 278]

Love walking flat courses with holes close together. Some of these desert courses in Phoenix have long up and downhill stretches between the holes.  But I walk weekly in a skins game at an executive course and it’s fun chatting with the guys that way or taking a different angle of walk to curse yourself out. 

[chisag 10,967]

34 minutes ago, T2Grn said:

Love walking flat courses with holes close together. Some of these desert courses in Phoenix have long up and downhill stretches between the holes.  But I walk weekly in a skins game at an executive course and it’s fun chatting with the guys that way or taking a different angle of walk to curse yourself out. 

 

... Not exactly flat but I walked Aguila probably 50 times last winter and Papago another 15. Always tired but not too bad of a walk. Now I should mention I use a remote cart and that really helps! 

[BrownBearGolf 278]

19 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Not exactly flat but I walked Aguila probably 50 times last winter and Papago another 15. Always tired but not too bad of a walk. 

I’ve walked both of those courses once each.  Not the shortest or flattest tracks!  I have bad calf muscles that get inflamed very easily.  So I rarely walk 18.  Encanto 18 is an easy course for me. 

[Golfspy_CG2 24,330]

On 5/20/2020 at 11:19 AM, GolfSpy Stroker said:

I really will never understand why a course architect would design a course that a person in reasonable good health is physically incapable of walking.... that just makes no sense to me.

Real Estate

[BrownBearGolf 278]

Courses with great views have to have long paths to the next hole. Gotta climb up and come back down. I like spread out courses a lot.  Makes each hole stand out. And if you lose a drive you can’t hit from the other fairway.  I’m not opposed to long tracks. 

[Granata13 47]

I still love to walk, its easier to have conversations with your entire foursome if you are all walking.  I stopped walking for a couple years because my shoulders, it hurt to carry but have since bought a push cart and I am back walking.

[Kaplack 59]

I walk sometimes, but my bag Is heavy. With food, water, laser, a level, golf ball retriever, golf balls, more golf balls after I pick some up on the way around. A couple golf clubs I rarely use ( Gap Wedge ect.) 

I do enjoy a nice drive around the course, do I feel a bit lazy and guilty?

Yeah.

Edited May 24 by Kaplack
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[WaffleHouseTour 376]

I started walking the spring of 2013.  I remember the when and why - I was headed to Scotland and knew I’d be walking so I considered it training.  I enjoyed it so much, I played better, was More relaxed, and loosing some weight didn’t hurt.  The crew at my course mowed a couple paths for me to take some short cuts. In 2015 I sold my EZ Go that had been sitting in the shed untouched.  When I turned 50 I switched from carrying my bag to a push cart.  Don’t regret that for a minute. 
There is a special brotherhood among walking golfers.  For starters we are few. I’m always surprised by some of the comments I get from the cart crowd - “good for you”, “bless you for walking”. It’s always odd. Nothing is stopping the, from doing it too.

There are a couple drawbacks - I can outpace a threesome, but with the pandemic my club puts everyone in their own cart and I can’t stay ahead of anyone, so that can feel a bit rushed. But I let them roll through.   Drawback two - tore my meniscus in my knee on the 7th tee box - never forget that.  Had to sit on the ground waiting for a crew member to come by and give me a ride in. ...  When lightening is striking nearby they always send someone out to get me...

 

A 7am or 7 pm stroll, nothing is better. #EnoyTheWalk 

[vnmslsrbms 4]

Absolutely.  Walking is the best golf.  Gives you time to appreciate the course and also think about your next shot.  The only walkable course I get is too hilly for me to carry, or else that'd my preferred method.  Though I don't think my back appreciates it as much though.  Cart golf is fine, but I think you're missing out a lot on the experience if it's a course that was designed for walking.  Then again, any golf is better than no golf nowadays! 

[BrownBearGolf 278]

I used to walk and carry.  But my back starting giving fits and my left shoulder too by taking off straps.  So got away from it.  Then I invested in a pushcart and I love it and I walk so much more.  Here in the desert during summer, I ride 18.  If it’s a 9 hole executive I’ll walk with my pushcart and umbrella.  It does let you take the scenery in a bit more. 

[WaffleHouseTour 376]

I love visiting a course in a town I've never been in, getting matched up with another 50-something or 60 something; and we both walk, and the 20 or 30 year olds ride in their cart...  makes me smile. 

[Camille Bissarro 57]

On 5/9/2017 at 8:54 PM, mtisdale said:

i'm trying to walk more, i still take a cart on long hilly course. there is pluses and cons to both. Hard to carry your Beer when walking and less social too. Hate paying the extra $$ thou for the carts.

I usually walk, and although I have a couple of push carts, I prefer to carry my clubs. Generally I play better when I walk, but since I play most days, and although I'm still in the glorious early years of middle age, my body can't always take it. After three or four days carrying my clubs I usually take a cart for a round or two to recuperate. Walking definitely puts me in a better headspace to play.

@mtisdale That's interesting, I always find it less sociable when everyone in the group rides, zipping around, unless it's really slow and you pull up next to each other. My normal group is half/half walkers and riders, and the guys in carts will drive slower to chat, or I'll chat with the other guy who walks. Just the other day, the other guy who walks and I both took carts and around the fifth tee he commented it wasn't very sociable with everyone in carts.

One last thought, a mortality study done in Sweden (Farahmand et al. 2009) found a ~40% decrease in mortality rates among golfers as compared to the general population, all of which translated into ~5 years longer lifespan. Of course, golf isn't the only variable, but something to think about. Lower handicap players also had lower mortality rates, but again, I'd caution about taking too much from that finding. If anyone is interested in reading it, I can send a pdf. Copyright prevents me from posting it publicly, though.

[Camille Bissarro 57]

On 5/24/2020 at 9:06 AM, Kaplack said:

I walk sometimes, but my bag Is heavy. With food, water, laser, a level, golf ball retriever, golf balls, more golf balls after I pick some up on the way around.

@Kaplack it's only going to get worse this summer (I'm in Missouri, and it hasn't gotten hot yet). My course has removed all of the water cisterns because of Covid-19, so I've got to pack enough water to last the round. That seriously adds up, at about 2lbs/quart. I guess it gets lighter as you go, though, so long as you don't pick up those extra balls...

[DaveP043 3,761]

6 minutes ago, Camille Bissarro said:

@Kaplack it's only going to get worse this summer (I'm in Missouri, and it hasn't gotten hot yet). My course has removed all of the water cisterns because of Covid-19, so I've got to pack enough water to last the round. That seriously adds up, at about 2lbs/quart. I guess it gets lighter as you go, though, so long as you don't pick up those extra balls...

Carrying that (necessary) water makes a stronger case for a trolley, whether its manual or powered.  I'm now showing up with 2 quarts of water in my bag, and refilling those bottles at the turn.  

[Camille Bissarro 57]

On 7/14/2018 at 10:27 AM, GB13 said:

I walked 18 yesterday in 102* heat with a heat index of 113*. Just for the record, it was too hot to walk.

@GB13 it seems like you're living proof it was not, in fact, to hot to walk

[Camille Bissarro 57]

13 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Carrying that (necessary) water makes a stronger case for a trolley, whether its manual or powered.  I'm now showing up with 2 quarts of water in my bag, and refilling those bottles at the turn.  

@DaveP043 I agree weight-wise, but pushing the cart up hills seems to strain my lower back/hips more than just carrying my clubs. Plus I like to have my hands free while I walk. My friend keeps suggesting an electric push cart, like the one he has, but I can't go for that yet (age stigma). When I do use my push cart, I like to ghost ride it down steep hills, and walk unfettered for a few moments, hands in pockets, chill like Kevin Kisner.

[DaveP043 3,761]

6 minutes ago, Camille Bissarro said:

@DaveP043 I agree weight-wise, but pushing the cart up hills seems to strain my lower back/hips more than just carrying my clubs. Plus I like to have my hands free while I walk. My friend keeps suggesting an electric push cart, like the one he has, but I can't go for that yet (age stigma). When I do use my push cart, I like to ghost ride it down steep hills, and walk unfettered for a few moments, hands in pockets, chill like Kevin Kisner.

I too don't really like to push (or pull) a trolley, although on my last visit to Scotland I took one every day.  It seems like those who carry their bags are either visitors or caddies, most of the Scots use a trolley of some kind.  I did buy an electric trolley in the fall of 2018, and it's the best decision I've made for a while.  My home course is built as part of a housing development, so we have long walks from green to tee in some places.  Its also on the edge of the Blue Ridge in Virginia, so there's plenty of uphill and downhill.  A "hike tracker" app once told me that my bag had gone 6 miles (obviously I had walked further), and had gained (and lost, obviously) 800 feet vertical.  At 64 I really cannot carry any more and feel comfortable, the power trolley has made it possible for me to continue to walk.  And by now, the money I've saved on buggies has more than made up for the cost of the power-trolley.