Is walking in golf just as important as the swing?
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Walking a golf course can be more beneficial than simply burning a few calories. According to an expert putting coach, it can give you quite the performance boost.
Golfers spend countless hours and ways trying to become better putters. They’ll buy the latest models, study green-reading systems and spend evenings working on their game on the practice areas.
But what if one of the simplest ways to improve your putting doesn’t involve changing your stroke or technique at all?
Golf buggies are viable alternatives for those who are unable to walk the golf course. For those who can, however, they may just be a performative hinderance.
Specialist putting coach Scott Anderson believes ditching the buggy could be the key to unlocking greater performance with the flatstick. Those who walk the course could be gaining valuable information way before even stepping foot onto the short grass.
From slope reading to building a more consistent pre-putt routine, he argues the walk between shots may have a greater significance than most of us may realise.
Feeling the course
One of the biggest advantages of walking, according to Anderson, is that it naturally encourages golfers to absorb their surroundings. Whether that’s the undulations of the surface or the firmness of the turf.
“Walking to the hole, you’re feeling if you go in uphill, downhill, and so on,” he said.
“It might be a subconscious thing, but you’re giving yourself an understanding of what you are feeling, what you’re walking on, as opposed to riding the buggy up it, then you get out the buggy, then walk in onto the green. You’re not getting the whole picture.”
For those who struggle to read greens and gauge the break of putts consistently, Anderson believes this information gathering can be invaluable. It prevents golfers from being underprepared for the more drastic or severe gradient and elevation changes they’re about to face.
Better focus means better putting
With all the challenges putting offers up, it can become just as much of a mental test as a physical and technical one. The Cheshire-based golf instructor believes that walking can have a positive impact on guiding golfers into a more relaxed but focused state of mind.
“I think that if you’re walking up to a green, you’ve got a better focus on what’s going on around you,” he explained.
“You’re getting a feeling of what the putt is doing as you’re walking up to it because your focus is on what you’re about to do.
“I think if you’re driving a buggy, you’re focusing on driving the buggy and not what’s around you. You’re thinking of the path to take the buggy on as opposed to what you’re about to do.”
For Anderson, it is very much a case that walking encourages golfers to think about the shot in front of them. A buggy can introduce distractions, like staying vigilant while at the wheel, which often takes their attention away from their game.
Ultimately, this can result in a shot or two lost.
“So I think walking up to it gives you a better focus on what’s about to happen or what you’re about to try and perform.”
Develop a routine for greater consistency
Play how you practice and practice how you play. How many times have you heard that piece of advice from sports coaches? Golf really is no different.
And perhaps the strongest argument for walking a golf course relates to the routine it helps to implement.
Anderson points to how elite golfers spend countless hours working on their game, but not without a repeatable structure.
“A lot of research shows that performance is hindered by lack of routine and whether that’s routine quickening up, whether that’s routine slowing down, missing bits out, and so on,” he added.
“If I said to players, and this links to, obviously, the tour players, if you have a player that is walking the golf course, when they play in the tournament, you are sticking to the same process, the same routine.
“You take someone in a buggy, the routine’s out the window because they’re not getting that feel walking up to the green, they’ve missed steps out in the process. It has been highly researched and that (a lack of routine) is what hinders performance.”
Anderson, who has coached various tour players, is under the belief that walking actually helps to develop a routine. For putting specifically, where confidence and consistency are so closely linked, maintaining a repeatable process can be crucial.
“100% walking (helps maintain a routine), getting the feel of the green reading, but doing the same every time, every hole,” he added. “But you know, this game’s hard enough.
“We’re looking for repeatability in this game, as much as it is probably near on impossible to get it repeatable every time. We’re looking for the best opportunity, and the best opportunity is routine, building it in, same every time.”
“The shot is performed off the routine, not the other way around. You’re not hitting the shot to then cause the routine. It needs to be the other way around.
“If you’re in a buggy or you’re doing this, you’re doing that, you’re not getting that same repetition of process.”
Stewart Golf
For over two decades, Stewart Golf has been transforming how golfers experience the course, focusing entirely on engineering the ultimate walk.
Hand-built in Great Britain, these premium electric trolleys allow passionate players to stroll the fairways completely hands-free, letting them focus on their game just like a tour professional.
By removing the physical strain of carrying or pushing, Stewart Golf ensures that walking the course becomes a pure pleasure, allowing golfers to truly immerse themselves in every step of the round.
