Sports
How walking could lead to lower scores (and the handy items you’ll need)
If you’re not walking the golf course at least some of the time when you play, there’s a good chance your scores could be suffering as a result. If you don’t believe me, just ask golf course architect David McLay Kidd, who grew up playing some of Scotland’s best courses and has since learned how different it can be playing golf on this side of the pond — and too often seated in a golf cart while doing so.
“Walking is the purest form of playing golf,” he says. “You can feel the slope of the ground. You’re feeling the wind and the temperature and the softness of the surface. Just those things alone make a huge difference in [how you hit] a golf shot. A golfer from my part of the world is probably subconsciously suckling in all of those things as they’re walking and chatting with their buddies. And because they’re walking, their blood is bumping a little bit, so they’re loose and can make a smooth stroke [when it’s their turn to hit].”
If that’s not enough evidence to convince you that you should be walking more when you play, consider all the time you get to appreciate where you are while you’re walking down a fairway. Now think about how much of that time is spent following cart paths and driving along the periphery of the landscape that you’ve paid good money to see and experience. That’s why some of the country’s most celebrated golf courses and resorts, such as the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, the Straits course at Whistling Straits, and Bandon Dunes are all walking-only.
“If you’re going to a place like Bandon Dunes in order to experience the landscape, the environment, the weather, how do you do it from a golf cart?” McLay Kidd says. “You can’t. In every avenue of life, we’re all striving for authenticity and experience. But when you play golf in a beautiful place without walking, you’re getting neither.”
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Hoofer Lite 2023 Stand Bag, Black/Yellow – PING Golf
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By now, you’re likely ready to get out and walk the course the next time you tee it up. But if you’re unaccustomed to playing golf that way, there’s a short list of products and gear that will ensure you do it comfortably — and that means you’ll also thoroughly enjoy the experience.
As you might expect, it starts with the right golf bag. These days, there’s no shortage of lightweight stand bags on the market, and their lightness is key. Take a look at most PGA Tour players’ bags and one thing is clear: they look heavy. That’s because they are heavy, which is why the world’s best not only pay someone else to carry their bags, they also offer them as much as 10 percent of their winnings to do it. So if you’re shouldering your own bag, consider Ping’s Hoofer Lite Stand Bag or TaylorMade’s FlexTech Super Light Stand Bag, which weigh 5 pounds and 3.9 pounds, respectively.
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When you’re loading up that bag, also take stock of how many balls you’ll need — packing excess Pro V1s is the fastest way to take a light stand bag up a few weight classes. Start paying attention to how many balls you typically lose during a round of golf. Once you know that, you’ll be better equipped to carry the right amount. That number could vary based on the course you’re playing or the day’s conditions, but chances are the two dozen balls that might be floating around in your bag are more than you’ll need.
You may also want to consider a golf bag organizer like Jolly Golf’s The Purist. It designed to hold all of the things you might need during a round — tees, ball markers, gloves, divot repair tools. There’s even a pocket for your phone, wallet and a clasp to hold keys or jewelry. Not only does it help to streamline your bag — you don’t really need that pouch stuffed to the brim with tees — it also lets you store everything in one place, which means that sleek carry bag with just a few pockets has all the storage area you need.
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If you’re planning to walk most of your rounds, you’ll likely want to invest in a rangefinder, since you won’t have access to the GPS-aided course maps that many golf carts now feature. I’ve been using Bushnell’s Pro X3+ Laser Rangefinder for the last couple of years, and I swear by it. That said, Mileseey’s GenePro G1 Rangefinder offers the best of both worlds: laser-powered distance measuring and a 2-inch touchscreen that sports GPS-aided course maps. With this Swiss Army Knife of a golf accessory, you won’t even miss the latest golf carts’ bells and whistles.
The most important gear, as you might expect, are your shoes. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that not all golf shoes are designed for the rigors of walking rounds. Think of them like golf bags. Some bags are specifically engineered for golf carts. Likewise, some shoes are designed to perform well during the swing, but they’re not ergonomically designed to feel good after 15,000 steps. As a general rule, sportier, spikeless styles, such as the Ecco Biom C5 BOA, FootJoy’s Pro|SL, and True Linkswear’s Antigravity Spikeless Golf Shoes are well-equipped for walking rounds. That being said, I recently wore a new pair of Payntr Golf’s Reserve Classic Tour RS for a walking round and was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable they were right out of the box — and how comfortable they were walking the entire day, especially considering they’re a more classically designed spiked offering.
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Your socks matter, too. In fact, McLay Kidd insists they’re most important, so much so that he always carries a fresh pair in his bag so that he can change them after 18 holes (if he’s playing 36 in a day) or sometimes even after 9 holes if the conditions call for it.
When it comes to socks, 100% cotton is the kiss of death, as the fabric absorbs sweat and can then crease and bunch in ways that can cause blisters. A synthetic blend is better, especially if it’s constructed to be performance-driven and compression-like. My sock drawer is full of Swiftwick styles, all of which perform admirably on the course.
Finally, if the thing that’s holding you back about walking is actually carrying the bag on your back, there’s no shortage of well-designed push carts on the market that can alleviate some of that stress (Sun Mountain’s Speed Cart X is one of the leaders of that pack.) That said, on some courses — the Irish at Whistling Straits, for example — pushing or pulling a cart across rugged terrain can actually be more arduous than shouldering the bag and letting your legs do the heavy lifting.
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