Tons of people enjoy the game of golf in its entirety, but for some, the only fun part of golf is seeing how far you can hit the ball. This is why driving ranges exist; not just so you can practice your drive easily, but so that casual players can more easily enjoy what is arguably the best part of playing golf.
Not only that, but spending some time at the driving range is a pretty solid way to burn a few calories also. The exact number varies from person to person, but the average person burns about 35 calories for every 10 minutes they spend at the driving range.
Today, we’ll be going over everything you need to know about burning calories at the driving range.
Calories burned at the Driving Range Calculator
How Many Calories Do You Burn at the Driving Range?
As we’ve stated, you’ll typically burn about 35 calories for every 10 minutes you spend hitting golf balls at the driving range. However, this number is dependent on a few things, including your own physical characteristics and how hard you’re pushing yourself at the range.
In general, the larger you are, the more calories you’ll burn. This is true regardless of whether your weight comes from fat or muscle. If you have more weight to move around, it’s going to take more energy to do so, so a larger person will always burn more calories from the same activity than a smaller person.
That being said, you’ll burn more calories if most of your weight comes from muscle as opposed to fat. If you compare two people of the same weight but one person has more muscle mass than the other, the person with more muscle mass will always burn more calories from the same activity.
There’s also the factor of your exercise intensity to consider. If you’re really taking your time and hitting one or two balls every minute, you’re obviously not going to burn as many calories as if you were to hit a ball every ten seconds, for example.
Can Playing Golf Burn a Lot of Calories?
Depending on how you play, you can potentially burn a lot of calories from playing golf. Once again, though, whether or not you will burn a lot of calories from playing golf depends on a few things.
The biggest factor in terms of calories burned from playing golf is whether you choose to use a cart to get from hole to hole or whether you choose to walk. Obviously, walking is going to burn a lot more calories than driving on a cart.
You’ll also burn more calories if you choose to carry your golf bag yourself, rather than having someone else carry it for you. A loaded golf bag can easily weigh as much as 20-30 pounds, so if you’re carrying one of those around all day you’re definitely going to get a pretty good workout in.
The length of time you play for matters as well, of course. If you play a full round of 18 holes as opposed to a half-round of 9 holes, you’re obviously going to burn more calories as a result. If your goal is to burn more calories, simply exercising for longer is never a bad way to do it.
Finally, the topography of the course itself can make a difference. If the course has a lot of dips and rises as opposed to just being entirely flat, you’ll burn a few more calories while playing on it (especially if you’re walking in between each hole).
As always, the actual number of calories you’ll burn from playing golf depends on a few things, but if you play a whole round of 18 holes you can probably expect to burn at least 1,000 calories.
Can I Lose Weight at the Driving Range?
Can you lose weight from playing a round of golf every day? Probably, especially if you’re not using a cart. Can you lose weight from spending time at the driving range, though? Probably not.
The fact of the matter is, aside from moving your arms and your core a little bit, hitting balls at the driving range doesn’t really make you work very hard. For the most part, you’re just standing still while you do it, which as you might expect isn’t really conducive to losing weight.
If you really want to lose weight while playing golf, your best bet is to get out and actually play a full game of golf. You can burn a pretty significant chunk of calories from a full round of golf, especially if you carry your clubs yourself and walk the whole way.
