According to the American Heart Institute, preliminary research by a stroke institute shows that playing golf at least once per month lowers the risk of death among older adults.

The study concluded that golf provides benefits such as stress reduction and exercise. And, due to its social nature and controlled pace, people often maintain motivation and the ability to continue playing golf even in older age and after suffering a heart attack or stroke.

Out of almost 5,900 participants, average age 72, researchers identified 384 golfers. During follow-up, 8.1% of the golfers had suffered strokes and 9.8% of the golfers had heart attacks. When comparing death rates among golfers and non-golfers, researchers found a significantly lower rate of death among golfers compared to non-golfers, 15.1% compared to 24.6%, respectively.

“While walking and low intensity jogging may be comparable exercise, they lack the competitive excitement of golf,” said Adnan Qureshi, M.D., lead author and executive director of the Zeenat Qureshi Stroke Institutes and professor of neurology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.

“Regular exercise, exposure to a less polluted environment and social interactions provided by golf are all positive for health,” said Qureshi. “Another positive is that older adults can continue to play golf, unlike other more strenuous sports such as football, boxing and tennis. Additional positive aspects are stress relief and relaxation, which golf appears better suited for than other sports.”

The May 13 issue of Golfweek magazine’s TBX (Toy Box Extra) included a story about the continuing rise in popularity of golf push carts. The headline read “A Big Push in Popularity” and the article said that push carts are becoming ‘cool’ and showing strong market growth.

The writer, James Achenbach, continued saying, “….these products bear little resembles to the two-wheeled pull carts of yore. ….they are attracting a whole new audience of health-conscience players who want to walk.”

Our very own founder and owner Rick Reimers said, “Push carts continue to grow in popularity. The first buyers 15 years ago tended to be the more mature golfers and every year since we see more and more younger players appreciating the benefits of using a push cart. As a matter of fact, in addition to the use on the junior golf tour and at the collegiate level, there are over 100 Sun Mountain push carts at the inaugural U.S. Amateur four-ball tourney this week.”

The story included Sun Mountain’s newest, smallest and lightest golf push cart, Reflex. See the whole story here.

Other push carts in our 2015 line-up include: the Speed Cart V1 Sport, MC-3 and the golf bag and cart in one, Combo cart.

We all know that Martin Kaymer was the banner-to-banner leader and winner of the 2014 U.S. Open with an impressive show of skill and calm under pressure. This 114th running of the US Open also had special meaning for eight Marines who possess these same qualities. [Read more…]