Admit it: there are times when standing over a golf ball, whacking the you-know-what out of it and reveling in the release that comes with it is therapeutic.
For those who work in golf maintenance, there are plenty of things to stress over: golfers who grouse, seemingly, about everything and demand increasingly unsustainable conditions, lack of employer loyalty, labor and budget issues, and looming pesticide bans. But there is a good side to the game of golf, a side that often gets overshadowed by negativity.
Sure golf is fun, and can be a good source of exercise, at least for those who walk and give a pass to the beer cart. Randy Wilson has even hinted at it in some of his TurfNetTV videos that cast a satirical eye on golf. But real scientific research suggests that the benefits of playing golf are far more than anecdotal. That is good news for an industry often in need of a public relations win.
According to research conducted by the University of Edinburgh and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, playing golf can help reduce the risk of anxiety, depression and dementia.
The researchers noted that those who play golf have a lower mortality rate than non-golfers, and are less likely to suffer the effects of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and breast and colon cancer. They also noted that those who take part in moderate exercise activity, like golf, have a reduced risk for bodily injury.
Just as real are the mental health benefits to playing golf.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, a not-for-profit agency based in England dedicated to identifying and addressing sources of mental disease, as many as one in six adults experience some form of mental illness. Left unmanaged, the fallout can be depression, anxiety, domestic abuse and even suicide.
According to research, playing golf can help reduce the risk of anxiety, depression and dementia and those who play the game have a lower mortality rate than non-golfers, and are less likely to suffer the effects of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and some forms of cancer.
Jenny Roe, Ph.D., an environmental psychologist at the University of Virginia, stress can be compounded today thanks to the proliferation of digital media. Multi-tasking leads to decreased productivity and in the ultimate paradox, she said, social media, while connecting people via their electronic devices, isolates people from one another. Both instances can lead to increased anxiety and depression.
Roe was not at superintendent Paul MacCormack's retreat last year, but she did talk about mindfulness and the role golf can play in achieving it.
A professor of design and health and environmental planning in the UVA college of architecture and the director of center for design and health, Roe says just being present in a green space can help people manage their stress.
Some of the benefits of playing golf are detailed anecdotally in an article published by Syngenta entitled "Golf Saved my Life" as part of the company's Growing Golf campaign.
The article shares stories of those who say playing golf helped them recover from their own battles with stress, anxiety and depression. They talk about how being outdoors is reinvigorating and how focusing on the game gives them a singularity of purpose so often missing in today's hectic lifestyle where the lines between work and family life have become so blurred it can be difficult to distinguish where one ends and the next begins.
When it comes to alleviating stress and promoting mindfulness, science says one of the best sources of therapy is right outside your office door.
