Last Night we were fortunate to have an awesome round of golf at McKenzie Meadows, a perfect temperature, no wind and no pesky bugs. Afterwards we stopped for a bite and what we observed was a couple of our groups of gals doing the same and having a great time laughing and chatting. This made me think of a couple of articles we recently received from a long term member and Golf Canada so I thought we should share some insite into the benefits of golf.
Golf Canada believes that golf has always been a positive addition to our healthy, active lifestyles and especially now as we try to navigate the uncertainty surrounding COVID – 19. It is a huge benefit to our physical and mental health.
There was also a lecture at Stanford University on the mind-body connection – the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that “ one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman; whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.“ what we observed at McKenzie last night supports this so much, girls just want to have fun. We are so glad that we can we can give people an outlet to get away from the stresses of this crisis, and that we’re playing a small role in our collective recovery,”
Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time” helps us to create more serotonin – a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.
In addition Golf Canada research suggests players burn approximately 2000-2500 calories during a round while walking a minimum of 9,000 metres. Golfers will exceed 10,000 steps over 18 holes. We are thinking that this is a good thing and will off – set those early happy hours and wine consumption during our lock down.
Being on the golf course has given us a sense of normalcy and it is a proven fact when you notice how busy the the golf courses all are. Brian at Sirocco said that the tee sheet has been loaded from 7am to 7pm since opening and the Golf Canada article also states
“The tee sheet has been busy. We couldn’t accommodate all the requests to play the first weekend, says Fox from Islington, showing that people are just anxious to get back to something that makes them feel as if they are doing something as normal as possible these days.”
During an unprecedented time in our history, when we combine all the good things about golf (social health, physical health, mental health, fun, positive economic impact, environmental benefits, and more) it gives us hope for what can come on the other side of this pandemic. We have received a number of emails from members who have been out there and who are so grateful for the opportunity as it has given them to feel normal again. We too are so grateful to the golf courses who have supported us and made this possible.