Exercise at the Golf Driving Range

Last Updated on April 4, 2016 by Michael Brockbank

Anything you do outside of your regular routine is beneficial for fitness. Although the golf driving range doesn’t deliver the intensive workout as some other exercises, it can still help you burn excess calories while firming up several muscle groups. Today, I’m going to delve into how the driving range can be helpful for those looking to experience a healthy lifestyle. You don’t even have to know how to play in order to reap the benefits.

How the Golf Driving Range Is Beneficial for Health

There are multitudes of ways that golf can be a boon to healthy living. As long as you go into the game with the idea of exercise and not get stressed about playing poorly, it can be great for both body and mind. Here are some of the ways that you could experience greater health by taking 30 to 40 minutes of your day to visit the driving range.

Constantly On Your Feet
Any activity that keeps you on your feet increases the heart rate. This is why standing desks are so popular in many offices. The more you’re standing, the greater the calorie burn throughout long periods of time. When at the driving range, you’re standing at the tee and repetitively swinging your club.

Low Back Exercises
Bending over to tee-up a golf ball works out your lower back and hamstrings. It’s this repetitive activity that helps develop those areas. For example, I’ll buy two tokens worth of balls on a normal day. This gives me approximately 50 golf balls on the driving range. I will bend over to put the ball on the tee that many times throughout the entire visit. Being as out of shape as I am, I can definitely feel the work on my back. However, it’s getting much easier each time I go out to the range.

Extensive Secondary Muscle Workout
Although your lower back will get the majority of the exercise, most of the muscles in your body will experience a workout as well. From standing, walking and swinging, it’s an incredible way to add physical activity to a wide range of muscles. While playing golf, you’ll work on:

• Lower back
• Traps
• Shoulders
• Obliques
• Forearms
• Abs
• Quads
• Triceps
• Middle back
• Lats
• Hip flexors
• Hamstrings
• Calves

Good Calorie Burn
When at the driving range, I’ll burn approximately seven calories per minute. Considering that I’ll burn 1.6 calories per minute sitting at my desk, the activity is much better than being glued to my computer for extended periods of time.

Relaxing the Mind
Personally, I find golf to be extremely peaceful and relaxing. There are a lot of people that tend to get extremely frustrated with the game. As long as you have the right mentality when heading up to the golf driving range, it can be quite a serene experience. I’m outside surrounded by green vegetation, the air quality is better, I can hear the fountain on the 4th hole nearby and it’s far quieter than standing in my front yard. It’s just me and the bucket of balls out in the sun for a half-hour.

Ways to Get More of a Workout On the Range

There are many ways you can get even more of a workout while playing the course, but I’ll cover that in another article. Today, I am just going to point out a few ways you can add more to the workout while at the driving range. If you want to enhance the experience before hand, I’d suggest doing standing toe touches. They can be helpful in reducing low back strain.

Weighted Club
I have a weighted 8-iron that is used for training hand grip and swing posture. This club has done an excellent job helping me learn the perfect grip and teach muscle memory for swinging. It’s also an incredible way to add greater calorie burn during the activity. As the club weighs more, it will affect many types of muscles from the waist up.

Fast Paced Swinging
Burning calories is affected by how fast you can get the heart beating. By taking less of a pause in between balls, you can keep the body in motion for a better burn. For example, one day I burnt 228 calories in 32 minutes by keeping a regular pace while I only burned 198 today in 38 minutes. I slowed down today so I could keep in pace with my dad.

Tee-up Every Ball
While on the golf driving range, it can be tempting to switch to your irons and hit the balls from the grass. If you tee-up every ball you swing at, you’ll get that lower back workout I mentioned earlier. This will also help increase the heart rate as you are bending over repeatedly while using more of your muscle groups.

Park Away from the Course
Parking as far as you can away from the golf driving range gives you additional walking time. Every step you take will be reflected in proper health, especially when you’re carrying your clubs – which could be another 15 to 20 pounds of weight. Too many people take the easy route and relish in parking as close to a facility as possible. I enjoy parking in the boonies only because it increases the amount of steps I get in any given day.

A lot of people don’t understand why golf has such an attraction for many. When I’m on the course, I know I’m not in the PGA. I’m looking to simply enjoy myself while being outside in the beautiful nature landscape. As long as you can refrain from becoming frustrated, you could experience a peaceful and physically active sport. Whether you’re on the driving range or outside tossing a Frisbee about, make time to get outside and get the blood flowing. It could be more beneficial than you may realize.

About Author

Michael Brockbank

Since 2015, Michael has put in the effort to lose more than 80 pounds by gamifying fitness and eating proper portion sizes. He conducts extensive research into various health and fitness products to provide the best answers possible according to his own experience and knowledge.

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