[ArrichMer]

Do you play better golf when you walk or ride? For purposes of this thread - let's forget that some courses are hilly, have great distances between holes or require you to take a cart. I'd like you to think of just playing the game - everything else being equal. I play better when I'm walking - I have a better sense of distances, I'm more focused and I always have every club I need with me.

[Mangoman]

Depends on the weather. If it's not hot/humid, I play well when walking. But when humidity starts to climb and the temp gets above 85 down here I don't play well when walking. I get fatigued on the back nine and my swing starts to suffer.

[meencegic]

I'm not sure it matters for me. I'm equally bad either way. If I walk I've always got the excuse that I'm wore out from walking and that's why I'm playing so bad.

I think I do play slightly better when I walk for the same reasons you mention.

[Dodoerabe]

I don't know that it matters to me. I used to walk sometimes but now I always ride. I scored pretty much the same. I prefer to ride all the time now. I am young enough, and in shape enough, I just don't want to walk.

[VtLe67WR]

When its hotter (>90*) i play better driving. when it's cooler (

[smirnoffdear]

I really enjoy the walking, so I'll do that whenever I can. I would have to put my temperature limit at around 95* though. I walked a round one day when it was probably around 100* at the hottest, and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much, although I'll bet if I took it just a little slower and had enough liquids, it would have been better. May have been a good time to pull out that umbrella!

[ArrichMer]

Ok - let's try again. It's a crisp cool day so you're comfortable walking or riding. The course is fairly flat and even so you don't have to be a mountain goat to walk. Would you play better if you walked or if you rode? Or does it not matter? I'm talking about your mindset, focus, course management, attitude and ball striking - not about whether you are hot or tired.

[smirnoffdear]

Okay, I'll try again...

Something about walking just allows me to be a little more connected to the round, so my mind is a little more focused on what's going on in my game. I have more time to think about my shot as I approach it, and as you said, I have all my clubs and I don't have to spend any CPU cycles worrying about leaving a club behind. I don't feel like I'm "rushing" my game as I sometimes feel when driving from shot to shot. And when my attitude is better, my shot making follows along.

So, in short, I play a better game when I'm walking and much prefer that (even if maybe my score doesn't reflect it).

[Audi_z]

I prefer to walk. How I play is of no consequence, as it most likely be the same if I walked, or went for a ride. I might play a little better walking if I am not sharing a cart. Pleasant conversations tend to distract me from my golf game, which I do not mind. Walking tends to have me off by myself between shots. In hotter weather I seem to get tired on the last 3 or 4 holes, more so than if I ride. I just have to slow down, and focus a little more on what I need to do to combat the fatigue.

If weather was a concern, then windy conditions might have me riding more than walking. In colder weather I always walk.

Is it just me, or has this question been asked before, in a similar manner on THP? Maybe it is a duplicate of a question I read on the other golf sites I visit.

[connandoilee]

I used to always walk, more for cost consideration than anything else. Problems with my feet, then knees, just made it hurt to walk all 18 holes, so I started taking a cart for the back 9. Now it's gotten to the point where I ride almost all the time.


My handicap hasn't changed one iota because of the transition.

[ArrichMer]

Is it just me, or has this question been asked before, in a similar manner on THP? Maybe it is a duplicate of a question I read on the other golf sites I visit.

You must know by now that no questions are new. There are only so many things we can say about golf, but we say them over and over. Isn't that the point of being here?

[Audi_z]

For some I suppose it is......

You must know by now that no questions are new. There are only so many things we can say about golf, but we say them over and over. Isn't that the point of being here?

[trilochana.nejman]

Ok - let's try again. It's a crisp cool day so you're comfortable walking or riding. The course is fairly flat and even so you don't have to be a mountain goat to walk. Would you play better if you walked or if you rode? Or does it not matter? I'm talking about your mindset, focus, course management, attitude and ball striking - not about whether you are hot or tired.

I walk for a variety of reasons:

• To me, walking is to golf, what dribbling is to basketball - it's part of the game.
• Walking allows me to better "feel" the course; its contours, its firmness or softness, the way the wind moves through it.
• Walking allows me the time to either celebrate a great shot or get mad at a bad one before I have to hit the next shot.
• It allows me to understand what my next shot will have to do because I see the hole unfold slowly as I walk towards my ball and I can strategize and adjust my thinking along the way.
• Walking allows me to pace off yardages, if need be, without having to hold anyone up.
• Walking often lets me "read" a putt or chip before I get to the green so that I won't need to take as much time doing so once I get there.
• Walking allows me to bring all of my clubs with me wherever I go so that no matter what situation I'm faced with, I'll always have the "right" club available.
• Walking allows me to be alone with my thoughts or to hum a tune to myself and allows me the time to enjoy it before I get to where I'm going.
• Walking (and carrying my bag) allows me to take care of any housekeeping like cleaning a club or scraping some mud from its grooves all while moving towards my next adventure.
• Walking gives me the time needed to replace divots and fix ballmarks since I walk past them anyway rather than speeding off in a vehicle as if I were late for an appointment.

I like to feel the grass and the terrain and I like to experience the strain of climbing a hill when I'm getting tired and the refreshing feeling of walking down the other side as a breeze kicks up. I like to take in all of what's out there; the wildlife, the sounds, the smells; I like the click of my clubs as the bag moves with each step I take.

But most of all, for me, walking allows me a measure of solitude and a chance to experience a round of golf on a purely personal level and it allows me to really absorb everything and feel as if I'm a pert of something rather than just feel as if I'm just passing through on my way to somewhere else.

When I'm on a golf course, there's really nowhere else I'd rather be.


-JP

[Muhabsssa]

Walk. It's not just golf. Given the option, I'll walk anywhere before getting in the car. It's just not always practical.

[erubresen]

For some reason I play better when I walk, not sure why though.

[*Playergirl*]

I always play better if I walk, when I ride I feel rushed and my "rhythm" is off so I play much worse.

[Franchise]

I play better when I walk. I will usually walk if given the choice and I try to play courses that are walker friendly. The only times I would not walk when given the choice is playing in AZ in the summertime, or if I'm playing 36 in a day.

[Yinekol]

I think I play better when walking. I think you have a better visual of your next shot and can plan your attack better than when riding. Plus with your scenario of it being a cool crisp day, it just doesn’t get any better than walking the course.

[suiviouse]

I've never been on a cart, so I can't comment on that side of things. But I do love to walk the course. Fresh air, exercise and a golf course. What more could a body ask for?

[WenPyclenoWex]

I play better when I walk. I will usually walk if given the choice and I try to play courses that are walker friendly. The only times I would not walk when given the choice is playing in AZ in the summertime, or if I'm playing 36 in a day.

As a general rule of thumb, I walk until the temps top 106. Hotter than that and I ride just to avoid heatstroke. During the summers here in Tucson, most people try to get out and play very early. I never understood this. The courses are watered at night and as soon as the sun hits the course, the artificial humidity shoots up to about 80%. If you wait til 2PM, the humidity has burned off and you almost always get a nice breeze. I am more comfortable then.