Does Carrying Your Golf Bag Burn More Calories?

It’s easy to assume that a golfer carrying their bag around the course would burn more calories during a round of golf than those who either push a trolley or let an electric trolley take the strain.

However, a new independent study has found that’s not the case. It focused on 16 elite college golfers either carrying clubs, pushing a trolley or using a Stewart Golf Q Follow electric trolley.

Graeme Close, Professor of Human Physiology at Liverpool Moores University, who led the study, explained the health benefits were almost identical regardless of how the clubs were transported. He said: “What I would really want to emphasise is; don’t think you’re losing your health benefits by putting your clubs on an electric trolley. The benefit is coming from walking.”

Close, who heads up nutrition for the DP World Tour and is a Nutrition Consultant to both the European Ryder Cup Team and England Rugby Union, continued: “In my role with the DP World Tour it is vital that elite golfers can efficiently fuel performance. This study is the first of its kind to accurately measure the physical effects of golf on the body.”

The study, which has been published in the European Journal of Sports Sciences, compared the Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) between the three methods of carrying clubs, and found the differences in calories burned/TEE during a round were negligible across all three, with walking the biggest factor. 

“By far the major contributor to the energy expenditure of golf is walking itself,” reiterated Close. “The act of striking the ball or carrying the clubs is a much more minor contributor than walking.”

While the study is undoubtedly good news for players who opt to use a trolley rather than carry their own bag, there was one caveat – it might not make you feel like you’re doing enough to burn calories when using a trolley.

That's because Close also analysed RPE, which is a measure of how a person feels as opposed to their physical response. Perhaps unsurprisingly, carrying a bag had the highest RPE. In other words, golfers felt they were working far harder and burning more calories when carrying a bag, even though they weren’t.

The Stewart Q Follow gave the lowest RPE and was also the only mode of transportation that participants found ‘very easy’ when asked to assess the perceived level of exercise for each round.

Close explained: “The perceived effort of the electric trolley was much lower, and I guess that makes sense because you know if you walk a course and you’re not having to actually think about either pushing a trolley or carrying clubs then of course it feels easier and that’s what we measured in this study.”

So, there’s no need to feel guilty about burning enough calories if you opt for a trolley to carry your bags. However, convincing yourself you're doing enough could be more difficult.