8 Golf Claims for Longevity and Healthspan: Myth or Truth?
8 TO ELEVATE. Written by the Editorial Team.
A swing lasts a couple of seconds and a round lasts four hours, so which of the two adds healthy years? The editorial team weighs twelve golf studies from our Lifestyle Medicine Research Hub, adds expert voices and gives every claim an honest verdict for women and leaders 40+.
Before seven on an autumn morning, the first fairway still holds the night's dew. A woman of fifty-two, who leads a team of forty and has not walked a continuous four miles since spring, stands on the tee with her phone silenced in the bag. The cart waits by the shed, and she has decided to leave it there.
The swing takes two seconds. The round gives four hours of steady movement outdoors.
Golf attracts big claims. Golfers live five years longer, golf protects the brain, golf is the perfect midlife exercise. Some of these claims hold up well, some rest on small groups of people, and one of them points at the wrong part of the game entirely.
Our Lifestyle Medicine Research Hub now holds twelve golf studies, from a registry of 300,000 Swedish players to a trial of memory in older adults and a study of women who worked as caddies. We read them for what they show, what they suggest and what they leave open. Eight questions follow, each with a verdict.
1. Do golfers live longer? Truth, with a footnote
In the Swedish golf registry study, Bahman Farahmand, Anders Ahlbom and colleagues at Karolinska Institutet followed 300,818 members of the Swedish Golf Federation. Mortality came out at 0.60 of what was expected for people of the same age, sex and socioeconomic status. That is about 40 per cent fewer deaths, which the authors translate into roughly five years of life expectancy.
The pattern held for women and men, in every age group and every social category. The most practised players, those with the lowest handicaps, did best, with a ratio of 0.53 against 0.68 for the highest handicaps. Ahlbom reads this as support for the game itself doing part of the work, because a low handicap takes a great deal of play.
The footnote comes from the authors. Registry members are people healthy enough to play, and they state clearly that they cannot assign the full 40 per cent to golf. The verdict: truth as an association, and a strong one. Proof of cause remains open.
2. Is the swing the secret? Myth, and a useful one to drop
A swing lasts a couple of seconds, while a round of golf lasts four or five hours. The dose of movement sits in the hours between the strokes.
Dr Andrew Murray and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh screened 4,944 records and mapped 301 studies in their scoping review for the British Journal of Sports Medicine. They found golf provides moderate-intensity physical activity, linked with better cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic profiles. Press coverage of the work reports players walking four to eight miles and burning at least 500 calories, with an electric cart cutting the distance to around four miles.
Murray has said that removing the walking, at the driving range or in a buggy, takes away some of the benefit while keeping a share of it. The swing still earns its place: it asks for rotation, balance and a steady grip. The verdict: myth, if the claim says the swing alone lengthens life. The walk and the hours outdoors deliver most of it.
3. Does one round help the heart and blood sugar? Truth, in small samples
In a study of 25 healthy older golfers, one 18-hole round lowered systolic blood pressure and kept blood glucose steady. Six kilometres of walking or Nordic walking nudged glucose up slightly. The group is small and the people were already healthy, so the finding is a pointer and no more.
The wider picture comes from the systematic review by Graeme Sorbie and colleagues in Sports Medicine. Of 572 articles screened, 23 met the criteria, and golf showed improvements in balance, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol and the ratio of HDL to total cholesterol. Body mass index mostly stayed the same, and the review calls the findings mixed, with studies that differ widely in design. The verdict: truth that deserves a footnote. Cardiovascular benefit is plausible and repeatedly seen. Larger, longer trials are still needed.
4. Does golf protect strength and balance after 65? Truth as an association
Three studies in the hub look at this. Golfers aged 65 to 79 had higher grip strength and better static and dynamic balance than non-golfers, though the design cannot show that golf caused the difference. Women golfers over 80 walked and stood up faster on a mobility test and reported better physical quality of life than less active women. In 29 women golfers aged about 69, thigh strength tracked functional endurance more closely than grip strength did.
That last finding carries a practical message. Dr Peter Attia, in his book Outlive, describes grip as our main point of contact with the physical world, from swinging a club to chopping wood, and he points to a large body of research linking midlife grip strength with survival. The golf swing trains the hands and forearms well. The legs need equal attention, and the hills of a walked round supply it. The verdict: truth as an association, with the legs as the quiet partner of the grip.
5. Can walking a course build bone? Encouraging, early and honest about its limits
The oldest golf studies in the hub follow women who worked as caddies. In Japan, caddies had stronger heel bone readings and lower bone breakdown after menopause than comparable women in sedentary work, though their employer funded the study. A 12-month follow-up of premenopausal caddies found hip bone density gains while a small group of desk workers gained none, with only six women in each group.
The Sorbie review gathers the same thread, reporting better bone density, stiffness index and strength in caddies, from just two studies. Bone density becomes a priority for many women after menopause, so these findings carry particular interest for our readers. They describe people who walk a course for a living, which asks more of the skeleton than a gentle round with a trolley. The verdict: encouraging, early and based on very small samples.
6. Does golf sharpen the mind? Promising, with modest results
The strongest evidence on the brain comes from a 24-week randomised trial of golf lessons in 106 adults aged 65 and over. Compared with a health education group, the golfers improved on logical memory, and the other cognitive tests did not change.
A second study looked at the effect of a single round. In 25 healthy older golfers, one 18-hole round improved attention and processing speed, while the brain-related blood markers stayed where they were. A randomised result in one memory domain and a short-term lift in focus make a hopeful start. The verdict: promising, and still a single trial with a single clear result. Nobody can yet say golf protects against cognitive decline.
7. Does golf calm the mind? Plausible, and unproven
Australian golfers reported lower psychological distress and better general health than a general-population sample of about 16,000 people. The survey was cross-sectional, so it cannot say whether golf lowers distress or whether calmer, healthier people take up the game. The Edinburgh scoping review described the evidence on golf and mental health as limited.
The ingredients make the idea easy to believe: hours outdoors, company, one absorbing task and a pace that invites the nervous system to settle. Wallace J. Nichols, in Blue Mind, argues that time near water and in natural settings supports a calmer state, which would give courses by the sea a plausible extra. It remains a hypothesis. One further point belongs here for transparency: press coverage describes the wider Golf and Health Project as funded by the World Golf Foundation, so independent replication matters. The verdict: unproven, and a fair question for the next generation of studies.
8. Does golf add healthspan on its own? Truth, as one part of a pattern
Healthspan counts the years you live with energy and function, and Attia builds Outlive around the idea that those years can be trained for. His framework rests on strength, steady aerobic work and higher-intensity effort, all of which feed the physical capacity that keeps a person independent and well late in life.
Golf contributes moderate-intensity movement, time outdoors and a reason to keep going for decades, since players tend to continue into old age. It does not replace a strength session or an occasional hard effort. The Southampton and Birmingham researchers behind the strength and balance work looked at golfers playing at least 18 holes a week, and Murray's expert panel advises playing often, walking the course and warming up. Together they describe a weekly rhythm, and a single outing proves little. The verdict: truth, with golf as a generous anchor for a week that also includes some strength work.
What the evidence says in one paragraph
Golfers do live longer, and the association is strong. The walk and the hours outdoors carry most of the benefit, and the swing adds rotation, grip and balance. Heart, blood sugar, strength, balance and bone findings are encouraging and mostly small. Memory is promising, mood remains open, and none of it replaces strength training. For a woman in midlife, a walked round once or twice a week offers four hours of regeneration that look better supported than most wellness trends.
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What's next
If this has you wondering where to put it into practice, read 8 Mallorca Golf Destinations Where Calm Power Meets the Course, on eight places where the walk, the setting and the stay support one another.
Explore more on golf, movement and longevity in the Golf series.
Every study in this article sits in our Lifestyle Medicine Research Hub, where you can read each summary and filter the library by topic, from golf and sleep to mitochondria.
For the wider picture on energy, sleep and hormones after 40, explore our Lifestyle Medicine for Women 40+ resource.
FAQ
Does playing golf really add five years to your life?
Swedish registry data show about 40 per cent lower mortality among 300,818 golfers, which the authors equate to roughly five years of life expectancy. The figure describes an association, and the authors say that part of it may come from a generally healthy lifestyle. Golf very likely contributes, and the exact share is unknown.
Practical step: treat the five years as a signal that regular, enjoyable movement matters, and choose one round or one long walk per week to protect in your diary.
Is the golf swing itself good exercise?
The swing trains rotation, balance and grip, and it lasts only a couple of seconds. Most of the physical benefit comes from the walking and the hours outdoors across a full round.
Practical step: warm up your hips and shoulders for five minutes before you play, then let the walk do the main work.
Is walking the course better than using a cart?
Players who walk cover roughly four to eight miles in a round, while an electric cart reduces that to around four, according to the Edinburgh research. Dr Andrew Murray advises walking where possible, and a cart still keeps some of the benefit.
Practical step: walk at least nine holes of your next round, using a trolley or carrying a light bag.
Can golf replace strength training after 40?
Golf shows links with better grip strength, balance and leg function in older players, but the studies are observational. Longevity physicians such as Dr Peter Attia place dedicated strength work at the centre of healthspan, so golf works best alongside it.
Practical step: add two short strength sessions a week, with squats, hip hinges and carries, to support the legs that carry you around the course.
Does golf help the brain and mood?
A 24-week trial in adults aged 65 and over found improved logical memory after golf lessons, and a single round improved attention and processing speed in a small study. Evidence for mood is limited, with one survey linking golf to lower distress.
Practical step: choose a course with space and quiet, and notice how you feel an hour after finishing a round.
Who should take medical advice before starting golf?
Anyone with heart disease, high blood pressure, joint or back problems, osteoporosis, or who has been inactive for a long time should speak to a doctor first. Golf is generally gentle, and the swing can load the back and elbows.
Practical step: book a check with your doctor if you have any of these conditions, and build up from nine holes.
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