Your Doctor Should Be Prescribing Golf. The Science Says So.

What a landmark study of 5,000 research papers reveals about the sport that could add years to your life — and life to your years.

Let's start with an admission: if you are a golfer, you have probably spent years defending your habit.

"It's not real exercise." "You just ride in a cart." "Four hours for eighteen holes — really?"

You can stop defending it. Because science — serious, peer-reviewed, published in one of "the world's top sports medicine journals" type of science — has just handed you the most satisfying comeback in the history of the 19th hole.

Golf, it turns out, may be one of the most powerful health prescriptions an aging adult can give themselves. And the evidence is not modest.

The Study That Changed Everything

In 2016, researchers at the University of Edinburgh completed the most comprehensive review of golf and health ever undertaken. Led by Dr. Andrew Murray — now Chief Medical Officer of the European Tour — the team reviewed over 5,000 scientific papers, publishing their findings in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, arguably the world's top sports science journal.

What they found was, by the standards of sports medicine research, extraordinary.

"40"

major chronic diseases that golf can help prevent or treat — including type 2 diabetes, heart attack, stroke, depression, dementia, and breast and colon cancer (Dr. Andrew Murray et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016)

This is not a claim that golf cures disease. It is something more precise and more meaningful: golf, as a form of regular moderate-intensity physical activity that combines walking, mental engagement, social connection, and time in green space, delivers the same broad protective benefits that decades of exercise science have associated with that combination of factors. And it does so in a form that people enjoy, sustain, and return to year after year.

That last point matters more than you might think. The single biggest failure of exercise medicine is adherence. People start programs and stop them. Golf has a natural retention mechanism built into its DNA: it is social, it is strategic, it is competitive (with yourself), and for many people it is simply one of the great pleasures of being alive. You do not need willpower to play golf. You need a tee time.

Five Extra Years. For Everyone.

Before diving into the specific disease benefits, let's sit with the most headline-worthy finding in the research — because it deserves its own moment.

+5 Years

average increase in life expectancy among regular golfers — across all ages, both genders, and all socioeconomic groups — compared to non-golfers (Swedish Golf Federation study, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports)

The Swedish study followed 300,000 members of the Swedish Golf Federation and compared their mortality rates against the general population. The result was a 40% reduction in mortality risk — translating to approximately five additional years of life.

What makes this finding particularly compelling is the phrase "all socioeconomic groups." Golf has long carried a reputation as a sport of privilege. But the longevity benefit was not limited to those with premium club memberships and expensive equipment. It showed up across the full population of golfers. The activity itself — the walking, the fresh air, the social engagement, the mental challenge — appears to be the mechanism, not the lifestyle surrounding it.

Golf is a sport with an unusual asset: people keep coming back to it for decades. That long-term consistency is exactly what exercise science tells us is required for lasting health benefit.

What Happens to Your Body on the Course

Non-golfers often underestimate what a round of golf physically involves. Let's be concrete.

4–6 miles (8-12 km) walked during an average 18-hole round

800–1,400 calories burned walking 18 holes — comparable to a five-mile run

10,000+ steps taken per round — meeting or exceeding recommended daily targets

4–5 hrs of sustained low-to-moderate intensity aerobic activity per round

A 2023 Finnish study comparing golf directly against Nordic walking and regular walking — in adults aged 65 and over — found that despite golf having a lower exercise intensity than Nordic walking, its longer duration and total energy expenditure produced greater improvements in blood lipid profile and glucose metabolism. In other words, golf outperformed a dedicated walking workout on some of the most clinically important metabolic markers.

The physical benefits documented across the research include:

• Cardiovascular health: Reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure, improved HDL ("good") cholesterol, and lower resting heart rate

• Metabolic health: Improved insulin sensitivity, reduced blood glucose, and favourable changes in body composition — particularly reduced waist circumference

• Musculoskeletal health: Improved balance, coordination, core strength, and muscle endurance — all critical for fall prevention in older adults

• Bone density: Research on caddies found significant increases in bone mineral density — suggesting that load-bearing activity during a round builds skeletal resilience

On the question of walking versus riding: the research is consistent. Walking the course amplifies every physical benefit. Golfers who walk burn roughly twice the calories of those who ride a cart, and the musculoskeletal benefits are substantially greater. If the course and your health allow it, walking is always the recommendation.

The Brain on Golf: A More Interesting Story Than You Expect

This is where the science gets genuinely surprising — and where golf distinguishes itself from most other forms of exercise available to older adults.

Golf is not just a walk. It is a cognitively demanding walk. Every shot requires spatial reasoning, distance estimation, wind calculation, lie assessment, club selection, and shot shaping. Every round involves memory, strategy, risk assessment, and emotional regulation across four to five hours of sustained concentration. The brain is working as hard as the body.

A 2023 study from the University of Eastern Finland — measuring brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein directly associated with neuroplasticity and cognitive protection — found that a single 18-hole round of golf produced measurable improvements in cognitive function in healthy older adults. BDNF is sometimes described as "fertilizer for the brain." Golf, it appears, is one way to stimulate its production.

Golf's combination of physical movement, mental strategy, and social engagement creates conditions that exercise science increasingly recognizes as optimal for long-term brain health.

Research from Sheffield Hallam University found that regular golfers reduce their risk of dementia by approximately 30%. The proposed mechanism is the combination of factors that golf uniquely assembles in a single activity: aerobic exercise, cognitive challenge, social connection, and time in natural green space — each of which independently reduces dementia risk, and which together appear to be synergistic.

For anyone following the emerging science on Alzheimer's prevention — a topic we have explored in earlier Wellura articles — this convergence of risk-reducing factors, in a single enjoyable activity, is significant.

The Mental Health Case: Quiet, Underrated, and Real

The mental health benefits of golf have historically been the least studied dimension of the sport — researchers at the University of Edinburgh named it explicitly as a priority gap when they published the 2016 review. The evidence which does exists is consistent and encouraging.

A study from the University of Madrid, conducted in partnership with the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, found that golfers have three times fewer mental health disorders compared to the general population. That is a striking ratio, though researchers are careful to note the direction of causality: people with better mental health may be more likely to play golf, rather than golf causing the improvement. The likely truth is both.

What the Research Attributes to Golf's Mental Health Benefits

• Sustained time in green space, which is independently associated with reduced cortisol (stress hormone) levels and improved mood

• Social connection — golf is almost always played with others, and social engagement is one of the most robust protectors of mental health in older adults

• A sense of purpose and routine — regular tee times create structure, which is particularly valuable during life transitions like retirement

• The meditative quality of the game — golfers consistently describe the sport's ability to occupy the mind completely, crowding out rumination and anxiety

• The confidence and self-efficacy that come from maintaining a physical skill over time

• Exposure to natural light, which regulates circadian rhythm, sleep quality, and vitamin D synthesis

For adults navigating retirement, loss of professional identity, or the challenges of aging — all of which carry significant mental health risk — the structured social world of golf offers something that is surprisingly hard to replicate: a community with shared language, friendly competition, regular contact, and a reason to get outdoors regardless of the season.

You Don't Even Have to Swing a Club

One of the more unexpected findings from the University of Edinburgh research involves golf spectators — and it is worth sharing because it re-frames who this article is really for.

A study published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine found that spectators at professional golf tournaments averaged over 11,500 steps per day — exceeding the recommended daily target. More than 82% met the recommended daily step count simply by watching. Spectators also walked between five and six miles on average and burned over 1,000 calories per day at events.

The follow-up finding was even more interesting: 40% of spectators increased their physical activity levels in the three months after attending a golf event. The sport, it turns out, is motivational even to those watching it.

The implication for families is direct. Taking an aging parent to a golf event — even if they no longer play — is a meaningful health intervention. So is encouraging a parent who has drifted away from the game to return to it, even in a modified form.

Golf Is Adaptable — and That's Part of the Point

• Nine holes is as valid as eighteen — and provides many of the physical and social benefits

• Adaptive golf programs exist for players with mobility challenges, balance issues, or disability

• Riding a cart still delivers meaningful social, cognitive, and fresh-air benefits — even if the physical gains are more modest

• Golf simulators and indoor putting provide cognitive and social engagement year-round, including through Canadian winters

• Walking a course with a push-cart sits between carrying and riding in terms of physical benefit — and is increasingly common among older golfers

What This Means for Aging at Home

At Wellura, we think about health holistically. Independence at home is not just about managing illness — it is about sustaining the activities, relationships, and routines that make life genuinely worth living.

Golf, viewed through the lens of the research, is one of the most well-evidenced of those activities. It delivers physical conditioning, cognitive stimulation, social engagement, and emotional well-being in a single afternoon. It is sustainable for decades. It scales with ability. And it gives people a reason to get out of the house, move their body, and be among others — which, for older adults living independently, can be exactly the difference between thriving and declining.

The families we work with often ask what they can do, beyond formal care, to support a parent's health and independence. The answer is usually: protect the things they love. If your parent golfs — or used to golf — that connection is worth nurturing. Transportation to the course. A push-cart instead of carrying. Nine holes instead of eighteen. Whatever form the game takes, the evidence suggests it is worth finding a way to keep playing.

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Sources & Further Reading

Murray A.D. et al. — "The relationships between golf and health: a scoping review," British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016 (review of 5,000+ papers).

Farahmahd et al. — Swedish Golf Federation mortality study, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.

Kettinen J. et al. — "Cognitive and biomarker responses in healthy older adults to an 18-hole golf round," BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 2023.

Sorbie G. et al. — "Golf and Physical Health: A Systematic Review," Sports Medicine, 2022.

Murray A.D. et al. — Golf spectator health study, BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.

Golf & Health Project: golfandhealth.org.

World Golf Foundation / R&A Golf & Health Report.