Spending time on some of the country’s most beautiful courses can be quite an experience. However, trying to shoot your best score can be addictive and perhaps you want to play your game in moderation.
It’s even possible to play golf at night these days.
This leaves the question of whether or not you’re playing golf just a bit too much. How much golf is too much?
Let’s explore this and other questions.
How Often Does the Average Golfer Spend On The Course?
When it comes to the golfing business there’s an opinion of golf pros who play the sport from time to time. Quite on the contrary to this, an average golfer plays as many as sixty rounds a year. They also tend to practice for about 1 hour every week, and quadruple this for 4 hours weekly. This adds up to about 300 hours on the course per year.
The Consequences of Playing Too Much Golf
Even though it is vital to practice golf, putting in too many rounds of golf will not automatically mold you into a competitive player.
Especially if you want to play professionally.
Putting too much pressure on yourself to be able to play at a certain level of difficulty in the game could be doing more harm than good. Pace yourself and learn to take a break between practice.
Can Golf Negatively Affect your Body?
This seems like a silly question to ask seeing that golf is a fairly low-impact sport. On the other hand, accidents can happen.
Improper or an overuse of your body can give rise to many golf related injuries. The most common golf related injuries are found in the lower back. Others include the elbow, wrist, hand, or shoulder. For these cases you will need to see a medical professional.
How many Times a Week Can I Practice?
If you want to make real progress, we would advise that you practice about two to four times per week. If it is at all possible, you might want to double up your practice after work. Practicing in short intervals about five times or six times per week can be beneficial.
This depends on how many resources and time you have on your hands.
How Much Rest Should You Have Between Golf?
The amount of rest you need will mainly rely on your own physical and mental abilities. Remember that we are all different, and what may work well for you could be detrimental for someone else.
The key here is to listen to your body. If your body is taking strain it will tell you that you need to take a break.
An effective way to make the most of your weekly golf schedule is to work out how much you can handle. By doing this you can figure out how much you can play without feeling drained and plan your games accordingly.
Factors to Consider
There are a few things to consider when you want to monitor how much golf you are playing. These include:
- Finances
- Other Priorities
- Your own physical fitness
- Playing Course Availability
- Weather conditions
Finances
In today’s economic status quo it has become quite hard to become financially independent.
Now more than ever, both men and women have to work full-time jobs to ensure they make ends meet. The cost of playing golf can likewise be quite expensive. Green fees alone cost an average between $40-$50 per round.
By those calculations alone, you can expect to spend between $14,600 to $18,250 if you want to play every day for an entire year.
Other things that you need to think about is the cost of your gear. This includes your golf gloves, shoes, balls and clubs that you will need to make playing every day possible. Of course it would be nice to play golf daily well within your retirement age. On the other hand,
playing can get too much when you cannot cover your basic needs.
A viable way out of this predicament is a golf membership which allows you to pay a monthly or annual fee for admission to the course. There are different kinds of golf courses including municipal, public, semi private and private country clubs. You can expect to pay different amounts at these individual courses.
In general, it will be cheaper than paying the aforementioned amounts for playing every day.
Another good idea is to look into a few public golf course memberships. This allows you to mix and match your game so that you don’t grow tired of playing on just one course.
Other Priorities
Yet another limiting factor is that you may have different priorities in your life. While some may say that golf is the most important, investing too much time on the green will eat away at your personal relationships or other necessary priorities. This is where golf can become a bad thing.
Spending a lot more time on the golf course than your significant other, for example, can see you ending up in divorce court or left heartbroken.
Discovering a sense of balance is important and you will have to direct these priorities in life on an even scale.
A winning combination would be having a spouse or partner who has the same passion for the sport join you at the golf course.
Having a balance like this will let you spend quality time together, while loving the golfing experience.
Your Physical Fitness
In order for you to play as much golf as you like, you will have to make certain that you can handle the demands of golfing on a daily basis.
Regardless of whether you are driving around cart for every round, make sure that your back and other parts of your body will swing the club regularly.
Outside of your golfing activities, it is vital to stay in shape by doing a few walking and stretching exercises. Being physically prepared will allow you to get more rounds in.
Exercise like yoga or taking walks will help you become more flexible while building strength on your legs.
We would like to emphasize how important it is to stay healthy by performing decent stretching exercises and exercising as a whole. If you would like to play loads of golf in your retirement years, you need to make sure you are taking these day-to-day actions to be physically fit in your 60s and 70s.
Weather
Living in areas where weather is not ideal for golfing can set limitations. Ares in the United States, such as the Midwest, make golfing nearly impossible for more than a few months of the year. Snowy conditions and very little daylight makes playing golf inconceivable.
You will enjoy a round of golf on warm days throughout the year, but playing golf in winter times between December and February can pose a challenge. If you are lucky enough to live in warmer regions such as Arizona, you will find a lot more places to play.
Playing Faster
This may seem a bit off topic, but there are a few things you can do to make sure that you are not spending as much time on the golf as you might want to.
Prepare and Move Along
Having your club and ball ready will help you tee off much faster than the next person who is digging around for a tee when it’s their turn. When the ball is in the air, immediately start moving to the next point where you will tee off from. While you are on your way, take this opportunity to decide which side is best to hit from.
Limit the practice swings
Don’t you sometimes wish your regular wish was like your practice swing? Well, then just don’t take a practice swing. If you can’t change your swing, then simply set a boundary to do just one.
Clean Your Clubs While Moving
There are two time saving ways you can clean your clubs while on the green. If you are walking the course, hold the club and wipe it as you walk. When you drive around in a cart it would be best to be on the passenger side and prep your club on the way. This is just a way to save you from spending too much time on the course.
Conclusion
When it comes to knowing if you are playing too much golf, one of the biggest deciding factors will be your own physical and mental capabilities.
It is highly important that you listen to your body and let it decide if you are really up to do it.
Also take into account your own financial means to play more than you actually need to. Additionally, you also need to factor the impact it has on your personal relationships. We don’t want the “divorce rate for golfers” to be an actual thing.
When taking a break between golf games, you should pay attention to your own physical and mental wellbeing in the process. Don’t make too much golfing a bad thing.
