Walking or Cart???

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by John Friedel

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Actually it is like that quite often. A fast walker taking a direct route on foot with their entire bag can be just as fast, if not faster, than someone playing paths only. I've seen it many times. It doesn't help when the person is playing paths only when it's not required.

Sorry but two people who leave the tee box at the same time and have to travel 200 yards are not going to arrive at the same time, when one walks and one rides a cart. Over all walkers are faster than most cart riders. But that has a lot do with what takes place when the cart is parked and not playing ready golf.

Exactly.  By your method, when the cart is parked you are NOT ready to play.  You still have to walk across the fairway to your ball.  Unless you play a course with ridiculously narrow fairways, you could be walking some 100 yards or more each time, round trip.  Add that to the time it takes you to drive there, figure the distance and pick 2 or 3 clubs to cover any variables, and you have taken at least as much time as the guy walking.  When I drive directly to my ball I move 2 or 3 times faster than a walker.  I'm right at my ball so distance is more accurate than it would be for you.  I can see the ball, see the lie immediately.  I pick one club, take about 10 seconds to line up and hit, then I'm back in the cart and headed up the fairway, club still in hand, unless I have to wait for the other players in my group to hit.  I don't play it like speed golf, so don't take me wrong on that.  I play a relaxed round, but I do so efficiently.

I don't play golf for exercise - there are much better ways to get a workout - even when walking, golf isn't a cardio activity.  I play for the challenge of the game of golf, for the social aspect of spending time with my friends, and until this year, for the competition.  Now I live on an island which doesn't have a golf course so I haven't even touched a club since April, and won't before next summer.   If I depended on golf for exercise, I'd probably die of sloth before then.

[timabe]

I walk any chance I get simply because I play better when I am walking.  Walking 18 on a course designed properly is one of the sublime pleasures of this game.  Those who rarely (or never) walk will have no idea what I am talking about, and those who do don't need an explanation from me.  Suffice to say that when I am forced to ride (too often for my taste) golf is less pleasurable.

[stevejason]

I enjoy walking the course. No need for my elliptical workout during the golf season. I think a cart costs $10, so I've saved close to $1800 this year. That has purchased new clubs, a bag, and a push cart. If they offered me a free cart, I'd still walk.

[moparman426]

There's some confusion here...

Originally Posted by moparman426

I have also paid for carts on regular league nights where my starting hole is too far from the clubhouse and everyone else is carting it.

I am implying that I will use the cart in this situation..... otherwise everyone will have teed off before I even get to the hole.  My decision to get the cart is made after teeing assignments are handed out.

Originally Posted by BuckeyeNut

Suffering through a 2.5-3hr nine hole league walking "by choice" after paying for a cart definitely qualifies!

If I pay for half a cart (or whole cart), as explained above, I'll take the cart...

Originally Posted by sean_miller

No, I didn't pay for half a cart rental then walk instead, because I'm not an idiot. I made no contribution to the cart rental. If I was forced to pay for a service I didn't want, I'd take that service even if it was for no other reason than to prevent the club from making even more revenue on that cart off some other poor schmuck.

If I pay for half a cart, I damn well use it.  My course, a cart costs as much as the round.

Even though there are days when I can use a friends cart for free, such as when I go out for a round later today, I'll still end up walking, as it's my preference.  Maybe in a week or so, when it really starts getting dark out after work, I may start using it.

[JohnLund]

Originally Posted by tristanhilton85

I live in the Coachella Valley, and your right that it can be hard to find a place that allows walking. However, I Classic Club actually does allow it, as does Indian Canyons in Palm Springs. SilverRock in La Quinta also allows walkers

Thanks for that. I have never seen anyone walk the Classic Club. I therefore assumed it to be so. Can't wait to walk one of my favorite courses in the Valley. See you out there.

[dak4n6]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

I don't see golf as an endurance sport anyway - never did.  It's a game of precision and strategy, not endurance.  Try and tell that to a runner or cyclist and he'd laugh in your face.  I was a mountain hiker and backpacker in an earlier life, and even that wasn't a real "endurance" exercise.

I did not say it is an endurance sport. I said it has an endurance aspect. Playing 18 holes at an average length course will put you over 5 miles of walking, especially when you consider that most golfers don't travel a straight line from tee to green, and add the distances between holes. Are you really contending that walking 5 miles with 30 lbs on your back, with constant lifting and putting down the bag, in 85 deg heat with humidity, does not contain any aspect of endurance???  BTW, I am a cyclist (road and mountain), and, I used to be an avid backpacker (I have done all of the AT in the northeast), and after walking 18 in the summer, I am totally whipped. But then, I am getting old too.

[Elvisliveson]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

I did not say it is an endurance sport. I said it has an endurance aspect. Playing 18 holes at an average length course will put you over 5 miles of walking, especially when you consider that most golfers don't travel a straight line from tee to green, and add the distances between holes. Are you really contending that walking 5 miles with 30 lbs on your back, with constant lifting and putting down the bag, in 85 deg heat with humidity, does not contain any aspect of endurance???  BTW, I am a cyclist (road and mountain), and, I used to be an avid backpacker (I have done all of the AT in the northeast), and after walking 18 in the summer, I am totally whipped. But then, I am getting old too.

I am with you. I am an avid trail runner and heavy weight lifter. The only day I don't train is the day I play golf., because after carrying my bag for 18 holes, I'm spent.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fourputt

I don't see golf as an endurance sport anyway - never did.  It's a game of precision and strategy, not endurance.  Try and tell that to a runner or cyclist and he'd laugh in your face.  I was a mountain hiker and backpacker in an earlier life, and even that wasn't a real "endurance" exercise.

I did not say it is an endurance sport. I said it has an endurance aspect. Playing 18 holes at an average length course will put you over 5 miles of walking, especially when you consider that most golfers don't travel a straight line from tee to green, and add the distances between holes...

In fact studies have shown it's actually closer to 7 or 8 miles.

[Dave2512]

A 7000y course is 3.9 miles. To get 7 or 8 miles out of it you'd be playing pretty bad.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

A 7000y course is 3.9 miles. To get 7 or 8 miles out of it you'd be playing pretty bad.

Not so. You can find details/discussion on this in many other threads here, and corroborating data elsewhere, but what it boils down to is you can't just use tee to green yardages. First, you're not going to hit every shot perfectly straight. Even a little but of zigzagging adds up. Then add all the little things like any pacing off of yardage markers, walking up ahead or around corners to see if the green is clear, etc. Unless the course is perfectly flat, add any extra distance that going up and down in elevation adds. Then add all the walking you do pacing around the green reading putts, walking from each green to the next tee, and helping others in the group look for their balls. It may seem like that can't possibly add up to 7 or 8 miles, but borrow a pedometer next time you play and you'll see.

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

Not so. You can find details/discussion on this in many other threads here, and corroborating data elsewhere, but what it boils down to is you can't just use tee to green yardages. First, you're not going to hit every shot perfectly straight. Even a little but of zigzagging adds up. Then add all the little things like any pacing off of yardage markers, walking up ahead or around corners to see if the green is clear, etc. Unless the course is perfectly flat, add any extra distance that going up and down in elevation adds. Then add all the walking you do pacing around the green reading putts, walking from each green to the next tee, and helping others in the group look for their balls. It may seem like that can't possibly add up to 7 or 8 miles, but borrow a pedometer next time you play and you'll see.

I wear a pedometer daily for everything. I posted details about it earlier in the thread. I don't get 7-8 miles out of a course. Some might, I don't. I wasn't implying people walk straight through either. Just that you'd have to double the distance doing all the other stuff. That's a lot of moving around. That's why I posted the distance for 7000y. Most are playing shorter than that. That said I'm not much of a fidgeter out there. I don't walk off yardages, spend excessive time on greens etc.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave2512

A 7000y course is 3.9 miles. To get 7 or 8 miles out of it you'd be playing pretty bad.

Not so. You can find details/discussion on this in many other threads here, and corroborating data elsewhere, but what it boils down to is you can't just use tee to green yardages. First, you're not going to hit every shot perfectly straight. Even a little but of zigzagging adds up. Then add all the little things like any pacing off of yardage markers, walking up ahead or around corners to see if the green is clear, etc. Unless the course is perfectly flat, add any extra distance that going up and down in elevation adds. Then add all the walking you do pacing around the green reading putts, walking from each green to the next tee, and helping others in the group look for their balls. It may seem like that can't possibly add up to 7 or 8 miles, but borrow a pedometer next time you play and you'll see.

LOL - he uses one every day already, so maybe he has some data?!?

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave2512

A 7000y course is 3.9 miles. To get 7 or 8 miles out of it you'd be playing pretty bad.

Not so. You can find details/discussion on this in many other threads here, and corroborating data elsewhere, but what it boils down to is you can't just use tee to green yardages. First, you're not going to hit every shot perfectly straight. Even a little but of zigzagging adds up. Then add all the little things like any pacing off of yardage markers, walking up ahead or around corners to see if the green is clear, etc. Unless the course is perfectly flat, add any extra distance that going up and down in elevation adds. Then add all the walking you do pacing around the green reading putts, walking from each green to the next tee, and helping others in the group look for their balls. It may seem like that can't possibly add up to 7 or 8 miles, but borrow a pedometer next time you play and you'll see.

LOL - he uses one every day already, so maybe he has some data?!?

I guess I missed that part. My points still stand though: That you can't just use the scorecard yardage to get a total distance (as he seemed to be implying), and that one doesn't have to play "pretty bad" in order to log 7 or 8 miles, since many (myself and test subjects in many studies) do get that kind of yardage without having to play badly to do so.  Dave is a single data point, and that single data point doesn't make the statement "To get 7 or 8 miles out of it you'd be playing pretty bad" necessarily true. That's all I'm saying.

[dak4n6]

We're nitpicking. Walking even 6 miles with a bag on your back, constantly picking it up and putting it down, esp in summer heat, requires some endurance. Period. Even my 16yr old son complains about walking because it tires him out..

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

We're nitpicking. Walking even 6 miles with a bag on your back, constantly picking it up and putting it down, esp in summer heat, requires some endurance. Period. Even my 16yr old son complains about walking because it tires him out..

The people consistently saying there's no fitness or endurance component to lugging your bag around for 18 holes seem to be either A.) very fit or B.) people who always take power carts.

[Archie Bunker]

You are cheating yourself on some great exercise if you don't walk. Take a pull cart if you insist on a full set of clubs in a big bag. Carts are fine for extremely hot, humid days, handicapped people, or for those courses designed with real estate in mind - the ones where the next tee is 1/2 mile away. Personally, even though my membership does not charge me for carts, I will always walk until I get too old to walk. Then I'll take a cart!

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by Archie Bunker

You are cheating yourself on some great exercise if you don't walk. Take a pull cart if you insist on a full set of clubs in a big bag. Carts are fine for extremely hot, humid days, handicapped people, or for those courses designed with real estate in mind - the ones where the next tee is 1/2 mile away. Personally, even though my membership does not charge me for carts, I will always walk until I get too old to walk. Then I'll take a cart!

I ride because most days that's all I have time to do. The only time I can walk is on weekends. People make the choice for a variety of reasons. I don't assume riders are avoiding exercise any more than I assume walkers are golf elitists. Honestly I don't care how people play the game as long as it doesn't interfere with how I play it. When I ride I make an attempt to play with other riders and vice versa when I walk. The goal being everyone in the group maintains a similar pace. Even with strangers I try to be part of the group.

[The Bogeyman]

Wow, I can't believe so many people walk on a regular basis.. I am 25 and in good physical shape and the couple of times I have walked even nine holes it was absolutely dreadful. But I do live in Florida and shoot around 100. I find driving a much more pleasurable experience. I usually drive my cart pretty slow, observing nature and such. I go on nature paths, jog on the beach etc. I love outdoor activities.

I find being on the course very relaxing but not while it's 110 degrees and I'm sweating bullets and humping a golf bag around. I just started playing at the start of the summer so it's been very hot and humid every time i've ever played.

maybe I will try again once it cools down a bit. but for now..SHOW ME THE CART!!