Walking or riding a golf cart? Which option is most likely to help you play a better game of golf? Well, it seems that walking is the real key to a better golf game, and in more ways than one.

Golf carts are destructive little critters whose ability to damage the course is well known amongst greenkeepers and golf course maintenance personnel the world over. Golf carts chew up the rough and, even though they are banned from the traps and greens, wayward drivers often wreak havoc there as well.

While you might think that the rolling resistance of four tires would be far less damaging to today's hearty grasses than the effects golf shoes and dragging heavy golf bags, you'd be wrong.

That's why so many courses restrict carts to marked paths only, and some courses have banned golf carts all together.

But the health of the golf course isn't the only reason that walking is better for your game than riding is. Walking is much better for your health as well. While golfers who drive carts will only burn around 200 calories per 18 holes, walkers can burn as many as 500.

Plus, the cardiovascular benefits of golf including:

* Strengthening the heart muscle itself * Lowering blood pressure * Lowering bad cholesterol levels while raising good ones

are greatly enhanced for those who walk and leave the golf carts for someone else.

Golf requires the coordinated efforts of over twenty muscle groups to play the game, and each of those muscle groups will perform a lot better if they get the opportunity to walk along the golf course with you.

Walking also increases your lung capacity which, in turn, delivers more oxygen to help your body produce more energy.

So far we've seen that walking the golf course can make your golf game better by promoting good health for both you and your favorite greens. Now it's time to take a look at the "Zen" side of the walking versus riding debate.

Walking provides the additional "woo woo" benefit of allowing you to "become one with course". Forget the new age implications, there's really something to this. Zipping around the course at golf cart speeds is like driving through a new area and staying on the Interstate. Sure, you can say that you've "been there", but did you really learn anything about the local sites and attractions?

The same holds true for walking on the golf course. When every step you take puts you in actual contact with the course, you end up getting a much better feel for the peculiarities of the course including slopes, rolls, bumps, and other interesting items that commanding a golf cart would never let you see.

So the next time your partner asks if you want to walk or ride, whip out a copy of this article and show him or her why walking actually improves your golf game. Not only that, but it will save you money too!