Why do you walk when playing golf?

[sjduffers]

I selected the first 3 points (cheaper, exercise and play better) as well as enjoy the course more/sightseeing. I truly believe that the game of golf is better when walking: it's more of a continuous motion rather than start/stop and repeat, as happens in a cart.

I probably walk 2/3 to 3/4 of my rounds and those rounds when I don't walk is because the course is too difficult (or impossible) to walk due to long distances between greens and tee boxes, or because everyone else (not just in the foursome) rides, like in a club tournament...

[Good Ash]

As many have said, to me I just enjoy the game more when I walk.  I am really conscious of my pace of play and to me it usually seems that walking is faster, maybe it isn't but because I'm always moving it just seems that way.  Riding in the cart always stresses me out, your buddy's trying to tell you a story while your getting out, grabbing your club, nodding at him, the whole time thinking your ball is somewhere in the rough, shouldn't you be looking for it???  Also as a lefty when i was starting out I noticed I was for the most part on opposite sides of the fairway.  

There was also one round a few years ago where I was walking, by myself, and started out 2 over after 8 holes.  A single in a cart caught up to me and asked to join up.  I jumped in the cart and 10 holes later, carded a 95!!  I don't think I actually play better walking but I always remember this round so I have a preconceived notion that I do.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 1/31/2017 at 10:20 AM, bkuehn1952 said:

I originally walked because it was cheaper.  As I have aged, it is a nice way to get a bit of non-aerobic exercise (while saving money!!).  I have also noticed that walking allows me a bit more sightseeing time and less time watching where we are going in a cart.  Also, I think I play a bit better when walking, but that is totally anecdotal.

Many of my golf buddies have gotten used to carting and they want to ride.  So I ride to be social but it bugs me a bit and as payback, I make them drive.

I'm with you. Back when I was young and poor it was all I could do to afford the greens fees. I wasn't about to pay for a riding cart too! Also, I was young and strong and thought that riding carts were for fat old men and sissies!

But, time goes by. Having played every sport available to us at the time, I acquired my share of knee and ankle injuries, including an ACL reconstructed right knee, which was done about 40 years ago. After walking and carrying for a long time, I noticed that my knees didn't like that anymore!

So, I bought a pull cart and continued to walk. Then that got to be too much. I found my game falling apart in the latter stages of a round. You lose your legs, you lose your swing! So, a few years ago I started riding, mostly.

But on occasion, I'll pick a hole here and there where I'll walk and let my partner drive the cart. This is to just loosen and "heat up" the legs a bit. you could do the same thing bkuehn. Just pick a hole here and there to walk, and let your partner drive the cart.

[Shooting29]

I'm a rider. I walked less than 5 of my 90+ rounds in 2016. It does make me a little sad as we ised to never ride. Our foursome always walked. Now everyone rides so I got to where I rode too. This year I am making an effort to walk more. I chose the exercise, save money options, but I also chose the option walking when it's cart path only. 

I hate riding when it's cart path only.  I end up carrying my bag to my ball for most approach shots because you don't know the lie or the distance. And if you carry a couple clubs you might leave one lay or you grabbed the wrong one and you either have to make due or take the walk of shame. 

[boogielicious]

I walk for the same reasons as many noted above. I don't feel I play as well riding. 

Also, as my friend says, "Golf is a walking sport!".

[Barbarian]

I walk about 75% of the time during the week. Are any of you carrying your bag? I just can't carry anymore. Back gets stiff by 7th hole. I tried carrying just 1/2 my clubs for awhile (1 wood and odd or even irons) but that gets old. My course actually discourages push/pull carts and outlawed them for a long time, but they have been letting me use one for the last year or so. Actually, I've gone by the golden rule - ask for forgiveness instead of permission and they haven't stopped me.

[No Mulligans]

51 minutes ago, Barbarian said:

I walk about 75% of the time during the week. Are any of you carrying your bag? I just can't carry anymore. Back gets stiff by 7th hole. I tried carrying just 1/2 my clubs for awhile (1 wood and odd or even irons) but that gets old. My course actually discourages push/pull carts and outlawed them for a long time, but they have been letting me use one for the last year or so. Actually, I've gone by the golden rule - ask for forgiveness instead of permission and they haven't stopped me.

Using a push/pull cart doesn't break with tradition any more than not using a caddie.  Actually, given you don't have a caddie, using a push cart, i.e. not carrying your bags is closer to tradition than carrying your bags in that it's easier.

I'm with you, I don't see any reason to risk injuring my aging back.

Strange a course would allow walking but not push/pull carts.  Don't ask, don't tell is a good strategy.

[WUTiger]

My home course, along with several other courses under our management group, sets in a residential development.

In these courses, you find three or four stretches where it's a quarter-mile from the green to the next tee. If it's a busy day, the walkers get run into the ground. Plus, carts are required during peak time.

When I walk:

* Par 3 courses
* Shorter 9-hole courses
* The temperature is under 90*
* A full-length course where a fair number of golfers use pull carts (local culture)

[Hazsa]

I chose other. Here in the UK, or at least all the courses I've played, those riding a cart are in a minority. Usually it's just the older guys who do. Younger guys who ride look stupid because they've spent 15 quid to spend most of it sat there waiting on the guys in front to clear.

We don't even have 'cart paths', so they're banned for a lot of the year. 

 

[billchao]

I walk to save money. Carts around here are about $18/round. It costs me $30 to walk on the weekends.

The only times I will ride are if the cart is included or it's raining. 

[Archie Bunker]

I walk for the exercise it provides. I hate going to the gym for exercise, since I find it pointless and boring. In spite of the fact that I don't pay for carts on my home course, I rarely take one (unless it looks like rain or is unbearably hot). I will continue to walk until I am too old to do so.

The cart guys at my club just don't understand why I prefer to walk, knowing that carts are free for me. Sad to see so many young people who refuse to play unless they ride around in a cart.

 

[Buckeyebowman]

On 2/2/2017 at 0:44 AM, Shooting29 said:

I'm a rider. I walked less than 5 of my 90+ rounds in 2016. It does make me a little sad as we ised to never ride. Our foursome always walked. Now everyone rides so I got to where I rode too. This year I am making an effort to walk more. I chose the exercise, save money options, but I also chose the option walking when it's cart path only. 

I hate riding when it's cart path only.  I end up carrying my bag to my ball for most approach shots because you don't know the lie or the distance. And if you carry a couple clubs you might leave one lay or you grabbed the wrong one and you either have to make due or take the walk of shame. 

This reminded me of something I saw 2 guys using a couple years ago. It was a metal pole about a yard high with a grip on top and a spike on the bottom that you could sink into the fairway. There were brackets attached to it that would hold clubs.

It was cart path only that day, and when we'd get to the vicinity of their ball, they'd load up about 3 clubs in this gizmo and carry it out there. Once they selected the club they wanted to play, they'd stick the gizmo in the ground. It would stand vertical, so no way to lay it down and forget it!

It helped around the greens too. Some of the green complexes on this course are huge. If one of them hit it off the green away from the cart path, he'd just load up the gizmo with a variety of chipping and pitching clubs, and his putter, and go play the shot. They never had to make the "walk of shame" back to the cart for another club.

Oddly enough, though I thought it was a pretty neat idea, I never asked them who made it or where they got them. They were from the Pittsburgh area, as I recall. I've never seen one in a golf shop around here. Maybe someone else knows.

 

[Jmdmbike]

I voted exercise and play better. The benefits of walking for the exercise are clear and the main thing. Plus I enjoy the walk on most courses and feel I get into the round and play better as a result. 

[Hardspoon]

I voted for a few options, but the primary reason is that I simply enjoy it more.

There is a "hecticness" about cart golf, particularly when the cart is shared, that takes away some of the enjoyment for me. It's weird that my play should be interrupted by going to find someone else's ball. It's also something else to think about (do I go to my ball first, or yours? Do I park behind the ropes, or go around and park on the path closer to my ball?)

There is a simplicity to walking golf that I really enjoy. Hit ball. Walk to ball. Hit ball again.

Many courses near me are too hilly to walk, but that's a big part of my selection process for where to play. I lean toward the few that are walkable. 

[mistermuhl]

If you walk when it's not peak hours, I find that you will be able to play alone a good bit. Hitting 2 balls is some kind of satisfying. Playing best ball with yourself is truly a fun way to get better. 

[shanksalot]

I will also add this to my previous post. When playing a course that does not bode well for walkers my wife and I take turns walking. I walk the odd holes and she walks the even holes. This way we get to get some exercise and also don't get too tired because the course is too hard to walk 18 at our age.

[Hacker James]

For years I walked the course either carrying a bag or push/pull cart. Various reasons.

Save $

not having to drive looking for partners' ball

but mostly, taking the time to walk straight to the ball gives better perception of the upcoming shot, visualizing, e.t.c. If you cart, you just get up to the ball too fast and don't have time to really consider the big picture.

Nowadays, I mostly cart. All the obvious reasons with stamina probably the foremost. Not to mention my cart bag is a heck of a lot heavier than a stand bag.

[jmanbooyaa]

I walk to save money. A bit of excercise and it is virtually impossible to leave a club behind. Think about it how many times have you seen a cart zipping from tee box to green across the course with someone asking if you found a wedge and or other club. I use a push cart and my clubs come with me to every shot i hit. I do also believe that walking can be faster. Too many times I witness a group not understanding the concept of the cart. 2 to a cart 1 players hits left another  either fairway center or right. What does said group do. Drive to a ball the other player sits in cart and waits for partner to hit than off to the other ball and clun selection. Add this to mutliple shots per hole and over 18 holes. That makes for a very long day behind said group. Also image it is a foursome. Painful.