(HealthDayNews) -- A day on the greens may be par for your course, but it isn't real exercise, experts say.
Fitness guidelines recommend moderate activity for 30 minutes a day, but that means nonstop activity. Golfers typically walk a few minutes and stop, then walk a few minutes and stop. That may add up to more than 30 minutes of walking, but it's no cardiovascular workout.
As for actually hitting the ball (or trying to hit it), experts say swinging a club is not good exercise.
Whether you carry, pull or cart your clubs will determine how many calories you use. A 170-pound golfer who plays for one hour will burn 318 calories if he carries his clubs, 252 if he pulls a wheeled bag cart and 186 if he rides in a golf cart. By contrast, a 3-mph walk will burn 246 calories and a 6-mph run will burn 750.
In other words, there's golf -- and then there's exercise.
