Golf is a very popular sport with millions of players across the globe. I recently picked up the game and while my performance is less than exemplary, I still have a great time playing and I hope to continue to play throughout my future. This sport is especially popular with retired adults as it is not terribly hard on your body. Recent research from Sweden suggests that it may be worth while to start playing if you have not already.

Bahman Farahmand from The Institute of Environmental Medicine in Stockholm, Sweden and four others set out to find a link between golf and mortality rates in his home country. Their study compared the Swedish Golf Federations membership registry with the National Mortality Registry. The study was carried out starting in January of 2006 and finishing in April of 2007. At the beginning of their research, there were 300,818 registered golfers in Sweden. All Swedish citizens have a 10-digit ID number that is used un all national registries, making it easy to compare the two lists. While looking at the 300,000+ golfers, the researchers noted things such as age, sex, membership dates, and golf handicap. After the 15-month test period was over, the team recorded 1,234 deaths among Swedish golfers. The team would then measure these results against the national mortality rate to determine the SMR (Standardized Mortality Ratio).

After breaking up the golfers into groups based on age, sex, and handicap, 100% of the groups were found with 95% confidence to have a SMR below 1.00, meaning they are less likely to die at any given time than the general population of Sweden. Furthermore, golfers with the lowest handicap (a measure of golf score) had the lowest SMR, meaning that the better or more frequent golfers had a lower mortality rate.

Even though this was only one study, it included over 300,000 subjects, making it more reliable. As I previously stated, I just started playing golf. If this study is accurate, then there is even more reason to keep playing!

Study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2008.00814.x/pdf

Picture: http://www.nmshousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/golf.jpg

Works Cited

Farahmand, B., Broman, G., De Faire, U., Vågerö, D. and Ahlbom, A. (2009), Golf: a game of life and death – reduced mortality in Swedish golf players. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 19: 419–424. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0838.2008.00814.x