The Royal Spanish Golf Federation has promoted, together with Solán de Cabras, the Desayunos Golf es Salud, a round table made up of prestigious medical specialists who, periodically throughout the year, will discuss the health-related benefits of playing golf.
Gonzaga Escauriaza, President of the RFEG, was in charge of welcoming the participants to the premiere of this initiative, a series of speakers of great relevance, mainly related to the Cardiology specialty, who made it clear in their speeches that golf is a sports specialty with very positive peculiarities, which combats sedentary lifestyles, helps prevent cardiovascular deficiencies and promotes social relations.
“Our objective, in the first phase, is to communicate that golf is healthy, and in this sense it is essential to involve the specialists, the doctors. That is why we want them, in addition to advising us, to experience the practice of golf in first person, providing them with initiation courses, an intermediate step that culminates in recommending golf to patients who consider that it can be beneficial for their health”, said Gonzaga Escauriaza.
José Antonio García Donaire -see his curriculum vitae and that of the other speakers below-, a close collaborator of the RFEG in the dissemination of the values and benefits of the sport of golf in Spanish society as a whole, emphasized that “the World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘physical, psychological and social well-being’, three concepts that are very present in golf, a sport with 55 million practitioners worldwide, including a significant number of elderly people. Sedentary lifestyles and poor eating habits are two of the main causes of death and contribute to reaching the final years of our lives in poorer condition. That is why it is so important to enjoy a sport that we can practice for many years, such as golf”.
The trend is unstoppable,” continued José Antonio García Donaire, “we are living longer and longer, and that’s why we have to take care of ourselves and do sports all the time. It is necessary to acquire good habits from the beginning and develop them throughout life. In this sense, golf is a beneficial activity, even for people who have had heart problems, and contributes to increasing life expectancy.
For his part, Feliciano Pérez emphasized that “we are responsible for our own health. Our environment, our way of living determine to a great extent our physical and mental state. There is scientific evidence that sport even contributes to the regeneration of disease precursors, which is why the practice of sport is more than recommended. In this sense, golf, due to its characteristics, encompasses a series of benefits that increase even in the age group, already more mature, where diseases are concentrated. The physical activity it requires and the sociability it promotes are healthy aspects to be taken into account”.
Araceli Boraita then differentiated between the health of top-level athletes “which is very good, much better than it was years ago thanks to the monitoring programs that have been in place for some time” and the health of amateur athletes “who do not have the millimeter control of professionals. That is why we must distinguish between top-level competition and the rest”.
From the Spanish Association of Cardiology,” said Araceli Boraita, “golf is considered a low cardiovascular demand activity, which nevertheless allows many people to practice it. In this sense, the benefits of golf are not only limited to the cardiovascular field, but also extend to issues related to coordination, metabolism and hypertension”.
In his speech, Juan Antonio Corbalán said that “golf is a phenomenal sport in adulthood. When you are a child or adolescent, golf, from a healthy point of view, should be something complementary, since children need a more aerodynamic exercise, of depth, of power. However, a good genome can be spoiled by bad habits, so we must make an effort to transmit that golf is a sport that can be practiced at any age, that it is an activity that has an impact on happiness and, therefore, on health”.
Ricardo Ortega supported the idea that “in golf, aerobic exercise is great. The intensity of the effort is different in some players than in others. It is not the same to go for a walk as it is to play the holes faster. The more intensity we do, within normality, the more health benefits we will have. That is why it is fundamental to play walking and pulling the cart if possible”.
Felipe Hernández focused his speech on highlighting the benefits of physical activity in general and golf in particular for people who have even experienced severe heart problems. “It is necessary to emphasize again and again that, with proper medical control, it is very beneficial to exercise, to walk, to do gentle aerobic activities. Golf fits in perfectly with this idea because it is an alternative that, in addition to providing that, promotes socialization, which is fundamental for recovering from any ailment.”
Iván J. Núñez emphasized that “this initiative is very important to make society aware of the need to do sport for its health benefits. Golf is a very positive activity for everyone due to its special characteristics, which favor physical, psychological and social stability. It is necessary to emphasize the economic benefits that it generates to the Social Security. It is better to do sport and prevent illnesses than to take pills”.
In the penultimate intervention, Roberto Gómez, with a position of responsibility in SAMUR, stressed that “it is vital to be aware of how important it is to have defibrillators in golf clubs and that workers know how to use them. These devices save lives, also on golf courses. We must also insist that the clubs ensure that the evacuation exits are well placed and clearly visible” before agreeing with the general opinion that golf is a healthy sporting activity, especially from a certain age onwards.
Finally, Juan Carlos Salinas acknowledged that he prescribes, from the Health Center where he works, “to practice sports regularly in general and golf in particular. As if that were not enough, it is a sport that can be practiced with children and even grandchildren, a great advantage from the point of view of socialization and, therefore, for the benefit of health, an aspect that is unfeasible in the vast majority of sports disciplines”.
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