Calories burned golfing but riding in cart?

dianemath
dianemath Posts: 1 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone know about how many calories you would burn golfing, but riding in the cart. MFP claims over 1200 calories and I really don't think that could be correct. Maybe I should cut that in half. Any ideas?
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Replies

  • BGLASGAL
    BGLASGAL Posts: 1
    The units are not given when you enter your info so you don't know if they are asking for holes, minutes or hours. I agree with you that the 1200 number is bogus. Hopefully someone knowledgeable will respond as I had the same question.
  • PeachyPlum
    PeachyPlum Posts: 1,243 Member
    Try this. Of course, you can only enter the minutes you actually spent "golfing" and not the entire time you were out on the course. :smile:
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    Does anyone know about how many calories you would burn golfing, but riding in the cart. MFP claims over 1200 calories and I really don't think that could be correct. Maybe I should cut that in half. Any ideas?

    It is highly likely that it would be 300 calories per hour IF you walked everywhere. If you were riding in the cart, the amount of calories you are now burning is minimal.
  • dansls1
    dansls1 Posts: 309 Member
    I know I have read on mulitple sites that walking with a pull cart burns 800-1200 per 9 holes. I don't have a HRM but I put my phone in the bag with the GPS on and the bag travels about 3 miles, without taking swinging and walking to and from the bag into consideration. I estimate at 800 and figure it may be a bit lower.

    http://golf.about.com/od/fitnesshealth/a/golfphysical.htm - this site says ~400 per 9 riding (and a bit under the 800 I've seen other places for walking with a push cart).
  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
    Depends on how many cocktails I have while carting around?
  • jagger27
    jagger27 Posts: 79
    Depends on how many cocktails I have while carting around?

    right!!! :) that's what I was thinking too!!!
  • mountainmare
    mountainmare Posts: 294 Member
    I do golf and do use a cart--last round was 150 min and 760 calories. Middle of the road course. It has varied from around 650 to 900 (really hard course--lots of swings--lots of bad words)
    This is from my HRM--after subtracting BMR
  • ntanner15
    ntanner15 Posts: 1
    I just played 9 holes (about 100 mins) with zero wait time while riding a cart. MFP says I burned 700 calories; I'm was skeptical as well. However, I checked an exercise calculator on another site and it said I burned 788 in the same time. My levels are going to be higher because of my weight (265) but I seem to lose a couple pounds the next morning, do I can't argue.
  • stuckinsecond
    stuckinsecond Posts: 39
    I have the same issues regarding other exercises too (mowing lawns, gardening are big burns compared to circut training, ect). I think in general, unless you know for sure the data is indeed correct, your better off low balling it.
  • iowasports
    iowasports Posts: 1 Member
    Here's one study on it ... says you burn about 400 calories per 9 holes riding a cart.
    http://golf.about.com/od/fitnesshealth/a/golfphysical.htm
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    Your in a cart and walking back and forth.. not very many. Not enough to count.
  • lazra79
    lazra79 Posts: 36 Member
    My thoughts are that of some other people on here. I have been having the same issue in calculating and I estimate I am actually golfing about 30 -45 minutes out of the 120 minutes I am out there so I would input the actual amount of time spent hitting the ball and walking etc....I do the same with bowling. :)
  • sradams1
    sradams1 Posts: 69 Member
    I play 9 holes in a league every Thursday in the summer. I don't even count my cals. Becasue i figure i am drinking them right back. Its not really exercise for me, just fun!
  • LJCannon
    LJCannon Posts: 3,636 Member
    :drinker: bump
  • KCoolBeanz
    KCoolBeanz Posts: 813 Member
    Depnds how many 12 oz curls you've done while riding in said golf cart.
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
    Maybe 50-100 an hour. The problem here is most of you are including BMR in the calculations. Sorry but you're not burning anywhere near that much.
  • alienrite
    alienrite Posts: 314 Member
    I burn about 1,700 calories riding a cart and 2,100 calories walking. My Fitbit clocks me walking the course at about 8.5 miles which might be a little off since me walking around the green doesn't really cover the same ground as my walking down a fairway or between holes. Endomondo has my same course at 7 mile walk. It is for a 5 hour round and works out to 340 calories per hour riding and 420 calories walking which is about right (slightly more than my slow walking rate). I feared they were too high for a long while but I've check many sources and they all come up about the same. I also eat back most of my exercise calories and continued to lose weight even though I logged several rounds of golf a week over the last year.
  • Clschuler
    Clschuler Posts: 11
    I know I get over 10,000 steps when I golf, however, I am left handed and playing on the opposite side of the fairway from the cart usually. LOL.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    The problem with leisure activity studies is that the numbers look like more than they are because they are spread out over a long period of time and they don't take into account what you do the rest of the day.

    I've seen all the studies and all the numbers--all I can say is that when I was at my heaviest, I played golf at least once a week from March through December and I never lost an ounce. And that's walking 18 holes and playing faster than most people do in a cart. And I'm sure some people have lost weight playing golf, but I have never met anyone who has. In fact I only started losing weight when I stopped golfing and starting using that free time to do some real exercise again.

    During the season when most people play, 18 holes can take up to 5 hours. On a cart, I doubt the actual physical movement is much more than a person would spend watching the US Open on TV and getting up to go to the bathroom and get a snack every now and then.

    If someone is playing and walking 18 holes 4-5 times a week, that might be a different story. But IMO, someone who plays occasionally--2-3 times a month--is fooling themselves is they think they are doing anything substantial.
  • RunnerElizabeth
    RunnerElizabeth Posts: 1,091 Member
    My guess would be not that many, and too difficult to come up with a good guess, so I wouldn't count it, just consider it bonus. Not meaning that you can eat more than normal on a golf day, just eat the same and know you probably burned a little more than a normal day.

    Of course this is coming from a person who refuses to own a car. I walk everywhere and can't imagine taking a car to the grocery store, so the idea of using a car during sport is completely foreign to me.
  • Fitwam
    Fitwam Posts: 275 Member
    I do wear my HRM when I play and depending on weather (if it's a cool day or 95 degree weather day) my calories change. I average anywhere between 800 to 900 riding in a cart and around 1100 to 1200 when I am pulling a cart or carrying the bag! I just like to see what calorie burn I have...so hence the HRM...mainly for curiosity. I don't really eat any of that back! haha (now I may drink some of it back after the round or during the round...all depending on how I am playing..lol) :drinker:
  • BEERRUNNER
    BEERRUNNER Posts: 3,046 Member
    I think I might burn around 800 or so calories over 18 holes.......this is why...
    I jog to and from cart about 1/4 of the time......
    I take at least 4-5 "practice" swings EVRY time Im gonna hit the ball
    I suck...............so I never par ......thus taking way too many swings.
    I try to crush the ball which results in horrible reslts every now and then. :drinker:
  • MG_Fit
    MG_Fit Posts: 1,143 Member
    Golfing usually ends up as a wash for me.

    The drinking offsets it.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    why don't you just get out and walk?

    I don't understand posts like these. Seriously. They make my head hurt.
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
    Hrm does not work for golf and will give a heavily inflated number because of this.. Heat will also give an inflated number. There is zero chance you are burning that much. Or even half that much
    I do wear my HRM when I play and depending on weather (if it's a cool day or 95 degree weather day) my calories change. I average anywhere between 800 to 900 riding in a cart and around 1100 to 1200 when I am pulling a cart or carrying the bag! I just like to see what calorie burn I have...so hence the HRM...mainly for curiosity. I don't really eat any of that back! haha (now I may drink some of it back after the round or during the round...all depending on how I am playing..lol) :drinker:
  • alienrite
    alienrite Posts: 314 Member
    Golf, walking and pulling clubs (per hour)
    254 cal for a 130 lb person
    303 cal for a 155 lb person
    351 cal for a 180 lb person
    400 cal for a 205 lb person

    Golf, using power cart (per hour)
    207 cal for a 130 lb person
    246 cal for a 155 lb person
    286 cal for a 180 lb person
    326 cal for a 205 lb person

    Calculations are based on research data from Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. Pretty much matches my HRM and GPS based tracking too.
  • paulyoung1703
    paulyoung1703 Posts: 29 Member
    I have been trying to get a definitive answer on this front. Web searches show varying figures.

    I walk the course (buggies are not allowed in qualifying competitions anyway), but I do have an electronic trolley at the recommendation of my physio (lower back problems). GPS has it as a six mile walk for the 18 holes, and I cover them in about 3.5 to 4.5 hours depending on how busy the course is at the time and how many others are playing with me.

    MFP has me at 1,193 kcals for 240mins of "Golf, using power cart". I'm not sure if this means riding a buggy or not, but I'm not carrying nor am I pulling/pushing a trolley. Using an electric trolley like mine is not the same as having a caddy take of your clubs; far from it, it still takes some manual effort.

    It's certainly not exercise in the same way as gym sessions, but to say it's 'little to no' calorie burn doesn't seem right to me. I mean if you went walking for four hours that would count, right? The course is a little hilly, plus you have the swinging of a club 50 times to hit the ball (not counting putting) and it is a dynamic movement not devoid of effort.

    I keep the MFP calculation as is, but tend not to eat back all the cals... probably about 60-70% of them.

    Because the weather is nice, I play about four 18 hole rounds per week at the moment and I do count it as part of my exercise plan.
  • Releven
    Releven Posts: 63 Member
    I usually just count golf as a null because after the 2nd hole I'm already yelling profanity and wanting to get bombed because I suck so bad at it, that I figured the golfing and temper tantrums I throw during it evens out the 12 pack I took out during lol


    Edit: On a serious note, I'm 205ish pounds and my Nike fuel band calculates 9 holes at between 270 and 310 calories burned.
  • Marionville
    Marionville Posts: 5 Member
    So - now "a good walk spoiled", isn't even a bad walk? :-)

    Just try walking!
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Maybe 50-100 an hour. The problem here is most of you are including BMR in the calculations. Sorry but you're not burning anywhere near that much.

    I'd go with this. Driving and brief walks with a few arm swings is not gonna burn much.

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