October 26, 2022
For Immediate Release Denver, Colorado
The Colorado Golf Association, the premier advocacy and membership organization for amateur golfers in the Rocky Mountain Region, announced a new partnership to focus on health, fitness, and wellness research. Ed Mate, CEO/Executive Director of the CGA, announced that the CGA would work with the Colorado Center for Health & Sport Science to study how golf improves health, wellness, and even fitness.
“This partnership with the CCHSS allows us to work with an organization that has strong & diverse research abilities, a stellar track record of peer-reviewed publication, and understands golf,” Mate noted. The partnership initiated the current study on energy expenditure in different modes of golf transport and play, thus actually calculating health and fitness benefits from play. The study has been occurring at CommonGround Golf Course, the home course of the CGA, and is projected to conclude later in October, with publication soon after to report and document the findings.
Neil Wolkodoff, Ph.D., Medical Program Director of the CCHSS, noted, “the CGA is the perfect partner for this and future research projects because of their broad membership and golf stature, and more importantly, their emphasis on the health and wellness benefits of golf.” Wolkodoff further noted, “this is the first study to measure energy expenditure and thus health benefit from three modes of transport and play. “He added that the study also correlates the mode of play to mental focus and score. “This will help define the relationship between walking modes and focus/score, something always discussed but never researched,” Wolkodoff noted.
Results are projected to be fully published in an academic journal, presented at the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting, and distributed within the golf industry through the CGA.
This partnership coincides with the CGA’s “Fall Fitness Finish”, a member event to award prizes to the Colorado golfers that take the most steps while playing golf during the fall season. This is the second year of this initiative, and participation increased by 57% from its’ inaugural year to now. Ed Mate shared, “At the conclusion of this partnership we will better understand the wellness impact of a fun event like our “Fall Fitness Finish” and the millions of rounds of golf our 76,000 members play every year.”
CGA Contact: Ryan Smith, Chief Development Officer, 720-427-0862
rsmith@coloradogolf.org | www.coloradogolf.org
CCHSS Contact: Neil Wolkodoff, PhD, Medical Program Director, CCHSS
neil@cochss.com | https://cochss.com