Looigi

https://group.bmj.com/group/media/lat...e-over-golfers

wolfchild

Another irrevelent scientific study...The reason I cycle is because I enjoy it, not because I am trying to break longevity records. I really believe that longevity has to do with the "genes" more then anything else.
Diet and excercise is important but it only plays a small part in the overall equation. Medical science has done more to increase lifespan then anything else. It's really ironic that some smokers/drinkers live longer then healthfood nuts.

rogerstg

+1. I'm not an Olympian, and nobody would mistake me for one.

CB HI

They are comparing competitive golfers who have to walk the course (unlike leisure golfer who ride carts). Not to mention that competitive golfers do significant fitness cross training.

Now take a leisure golfer and compare them to commuting cyclist, and you will find a very different result I suspect.

LarDasse74

I like this statement:

"...[participants in contact sports] are at an increased risk of death in later life, the data show."

Oh no! An increased risk of death later in life! Since the risk of dying is a 100% certainty for everyone, does an increased risk later in life mean there is a decrease in risk earlier in life? Or will some people die more than once?

Myosmith

I'll live longer as a cyclist than I would as a golfer, because if I was forced to replace cycling with playing golf, I'd shoot myself

itsmoot

Data shows increased risk of death later in life?

I should get funded to collect such data.

bikepro

Put another way: Golfers just seem to live longer due to the relative perception of time -- time must really drag by while watching a little white ball fly off.

erig007

What about those who play golf riding a bicycle?

Velo Dog

that, plus time passes very slowly when you're playing golf.

iheartbacon

lostforawhile

biking can be dangerous here, the bike trail goes by the golf course, have to watch out for incoming!! another good reason to wear your helmet!! of course if I played golf I would die of boredom

009jim

Person who plays golf maybe lives longer because he/she have collision and kill cyclist on way home after extended period in the "nineteenth" hole.

WingSuit

that is hard to believe most of the golfers I know, including four of my neighbors, just use golf as an excuse to drink while they are playing then again when they get done.

missjean

lol!

Booger1

Our money hard at work.....

The best thing to do to increase your lifespan is....PICK YOUR PARENTS!

Let me know when THAT study comes out......

StephenH

Something else you'd have to look at is the fitness those people had later in life. If you cycle competitively when you're 25, then spend the rest of your life sitting on your butt eating bacon cheeseburgers, does that exercise 40 years ago really make a difference when you're 65? That is basically the link they're making. You have to assume that people who were athletic at one time stayed that way.

redbike72

It's amazing that somebody would publish a study based on such a small sample group.... you might as well say that ambidextrous people who ride unicycles have a greater risk of Soviet era satellites falling on them.

Shimagnolo

Golf bores me, but I can see advantages of the career of a pro golfer:
- Get to work outdoors on nicely manicured lawns, (no sitting in a cubical).
- Get to make personal connections with the upper class.
- Very little risk of career-ending injuries.
- As long as you can walk, you can keep playing into your golden years.

hamster

It means that, at any given age, the odds of dying during a certain period of time are increased. It also implies shorter life expectancy.

They are looking at golfers who participated in the Olympic games. I didn't know that golf was ever part of the Olympics, so I had to look it up. It was, in fact, featured on two occasions, in 1900 and 1904. I have no idea how people played golf or trained for it in 1904, but I'm pretty sure that there were no carts back then.

Cycling was different too. Doping was legal. Most modern performance-enhancing drugs were yet unknown, but cyclists consumed ephedrine and even cocaine like candy. Amphetamine was only discovered towards the end of the period they were studying, but its use among the younger generation of cyclists was also widespread.

In fact, the title is misleading. The article says that "high cardiovascular intensity" sports gave no longevity advantage to Olympic athletes, compared to "low cardiovascular intensity" sports. In the set of "low intensity" athletes, golfers were only a small subset since golf was only part of the Olympics for a short time. I think that the set was mainly composed of fencers and shooters.

Keith99

Good point. And likely one where Golf benefits as it often is kept up late in life. My Great Grandfather on my mother's side was under a 6 handicap well into his 60s.

And how many Golfers have you heard of doping? At the top levels for aerobic sports it is highly likely that they dope at some point. How many cyclists have to live how many years longer ot offset one Marco Pantani who dies young?

Keith99

Going back that far insures that the golfers were upper class. There are survival advantages to having money.

Oh and competitive golf never allowed carts as have already been pointed out.

rydabent

Pay no attention. It is just another screwed up study by someone that made sure it came out with their preconceived results.

When I retired I had a choice of golfing with guys I worked with or cycling. While one friend needs to ride a cart to golf, they all do. Go whack get on the cart, get off walk a few steps and go whack again--repeat as necessary. There is no way what so ever that golfing with a cart can be called exercise. While all people are different, there is a huge difference between me and the health of my golfing friends. As someone said to make things worse after no exercise while golfing, they set in the club house and drink beer after the game.

Sad to say but I probably will be on one of the handles of their caskets sometime in the future.

tagaproject6

Another excuse for the lazy to keep up their lifestyle.

jon c. 

Playing golf while riding in a cart is not nearly as satisfying as walking the course. Unfortunately, the revenue stream from cart rentals has caused many courses to mandate them much of the time. My course only requires them on weekends, but I wish they'd walk then as well. Especially in the winter. Courses use the excuse that carts are needed to speed play, but I really don't think they make much difference. I can play in 3 hours or less while walking. Weekend rounds have everyone in carts and generally take over 4 hours.