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20150615_me_take_a_swing_at_this_golf_is_exercise_cart_or_no_cart.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1128&aggIds=413970894&d=291&p=3&story=413683367&t=progseg&e=414552994&seg=8&ft=nprml&f=413683367
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When we asked adults who play sports which one they play the most, golf topped the list. That's right: Our poll finds that a day on the links beat out soccer, softball and tennis.

My first reaction was: Whaaat? Golf is played by people riding around in motorized carts; how much exercise could you possibly get?

So, with a fair amount of skepticism, I ventured out to Sligo Creek Golf Course, a municipal course in Silver Spring, Md., to try to answer this question.

The first golfer I met came striding off the 9th hole, pushing her clubs with a pushcart. Sweat covered her brow. "No cart?" I asked.

Nope, Kelly James told me. "I've gotten well over 10,000 steps playing golf," she said. And that's not all. The game's full of athletic moves.

"You're swinging — big swings — to drive the ball," James says. That uses lots of muscles. "There's even a little yoga," she says, if you consider the balancing, and the turning and twisting of the torso — and the overall meditative aspect of being on the course.

Hmm, I thought. Maybe I'd underestimated the game.

The World Golf Foundation estimates that golfers who walk an 18-hole course clock about 5 miles and burn up to 2,000 calories.

But here's the rub: About two-thirds of golf in the U.S. is played in motorized carts. Some resorts and private courses even restrict walking and require carts.

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Why is the cart culture so dominant? There are lots of reasons, according to Steve Mona, CEO of the World Golf Foundation. For example, carts are a source of revenue for golf clubs. They enable golf facilities "to get more people on the course and get them around the course faster," Mona says.

Another reason: Carts can help older people and others unable to walk long distances keep playing the game.

"I started playing when I was 9 years old," golfer Gary Metzger told me. And over his lifetime, he says, he's played a lot of sports. But after two hip replacement surgeries and operations on his knees, "it's one of the few things I can still do." What Metzger loves about the game, he says, is that "it's the one sport you can plan to play the rest of your life."

I clipped a pedometer on Gary's golf partner, his wife, Karen, to see how many steps she'd get during a round of golf using a cart.

She surprised me, clocking 2,880 steps — more than a mile — during nine holes. "Wow, that's great," Karen said, when she saw the number.

Mona says that the distance she covered is pretty typical. The distance can vary — better golfers, with more accurate shots, may walk less than golfers who have to chase after more shots in the rough — but the foundation's research finds that even golfers using a motorized cart can burn about 1,300 calories during an 18-hole round.

"There are lots of places you can't take a cart," Mona explains. You can't take it on the teeing grounds, the greens or in the bunkers. "There's still a lot of walking involved even if you're riding in a cart."

There's also a mental boost for lots of players. "There's rarely a bad day on the golf course," Gary Metzger says. "You're breathing good air and looking around at the nice scenery."

And this stress-relieving benefit, people in our poll told us, is one of their top motivations for staying in the game.

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.