What Percentage of the Time do you Walk for 18 Holes?

WLG1952 · Jan 22, 2020

I'm a 70/30 guy, walking about 70% of my 18 hole rounds. Maybe a little less.

It depends on the weather. On super hot, humid days, or really cold windy days I will ride.

Playing golf while walking just feels better..

Hecaviator · Jan 22, 2020

95%+. I find I play better and enjoy rounds much more when I walk. The walking requirement is one of the things I love most about the Bandon Dunes Resort courses. The requirement to take a golf car is why I will never play Circling Raven or Salish Cliffs again. Gene Bates ought to be doing hard time for those designs. 18 good holes on each course, but the holes don't flow together. Some of the distances from greens to the next tees boxes are longer than the Par 5s. Both courses must measure for walking purposes well over 10,000 yards. It is ridiculous. But maybe the owners wanted the revenue from carts. Cart rentals are a major revenue center for many courses, so I guess I understand resorts requiring golfers to ride.

I also carry my clubs about 75% of the time. If not carrying, I'll use a hand cart (trundler) that pulls rather than pushes. (My Sun Mountain 3-wheeled pusher gave it up about five years ago. I don't miss it.) I'm 74 and my wife and I regularly play 18 on almost any course in 3:30 to 3:40 minutes. My wife (72) also walks, uses a Sun Mountain 3-wheeler. We find we are often waiting on twosomes in front of us in golf cars, and almost always waiting for foursomes in golf cars. The more they spray their tee shots, the worse it gets.

All you riders who are able-bodied should do an experiment - walk your next 20 rounds and compare your scores and handicap to those when you were riding. I suspect that 60 to 70 percent of you will be scoring lower and bringing your handicaps down. At a minimum, your physical condition and overall health will improve. I have a lot of sympathy for those of you who have physical limitations that require you to ride. I have a good friend who has more replacement parts than my '91 Chev pickup, and he now rides. He also plays a round (very well) in less than 3 hours if the others in his group can keep up. He's not messing around out there. He is the playing partner who has me sucking gas after 18 holes.

Duffer Waldorf · Jan 22, 2020

Recently, I've walked more than taken a cart (60-70%). When it gets hot again, I'll hop in the cart more often (95%)

RetiredBoomer · Jan 22, 2020

There was this lovely par 54 executive course that I played at least a couple of times every summer. It was pretty, well maintained, and I could comfortably walk it with a half dozen clubs and an old fashioned pencil bag. Then I'd have a pint and a couple of chili dogs.

They sold it to a developer for house lots, damn them.

I walk eighteen at my club....never. Not at my age.