[Indy-Guy]

Playing Golf at The Villages 'Adds Five Years to Your Life'
Tuesday July 29, 2:07 pm ET
Study Uncovers Tangible Benefits of Regular Golfing, Active Lifestyle


THE VILLAGES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Villages, the largest single site residential development in the U.S., offers every resident “Free Golf for Life” and the opportunity to tap into the positive social, psychological and physical benefits of an active lifestyle. According to recent research from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, playing golf can add an average of five years to a player's life span.



More than 2 million rounds of golf were played in The Villages in 2007. Over 60% of The Villages’ 70,000 residents play golf regularly. Adding 5 years to 42,000 player’s life would total 210,000 years!

“While residents play golf regularly they use their golf carts for more than just recreation. In The Villages, they are a prime mode of transportation,” said John M. Crossman, CCIM, president of Crossman & Company. “With 85 miles of golf cart trails, everything inside The Villages from the hospital to Target to theaters and restaurants are as accessible by golf cart as they are by automobiles.”

The research, recently published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science, found it was "likely" that playing the game itself had a significant impact on health. The lowest death rates were among players with the lowest handicaps. The study notes golfers are 47 per cent less likely to die at any time than non-golfers of the same age. The study’s authors analyzed more than 500,000 golfers and concluded golfing was even more beneficial than walking.

The Villages is a self contained Active Retirement Community with 80 restaurants, 4 hotels, 2 movie theaters, 2 town centers, 8 shopping centers, 2.5 million sq ft of retail and commercial space, a daily newspaper, TV news network, radio station, hospital, 225 physicians, 15 pharmacies, 9 softball fields, 187 softball teams with 2,800 players, 42 neighborhood swimming pools at 42 recreation centers and 441 holes of golf in 9 country clubs and 24 executive courses.

[villages07]

Indy,

Good article .... thanks for posting. Glad I took up golf last year...that'll give me 5 more years of living here in Paradise. Wonder if that study was sponsored by the SGA (Swedish Golf Association)? ;D

Good publicity for The Villages, too.

[Floridagal]

I don't play golf, but with the active lifestyle here and participating in the activities and socializing I think I added five years to my life. I feel great and loving every day here in TV.

[BUC]

Just 5 more years and God willing my wife and I will be there enjoying the good life, and I can put allthis road building bethind me, but till then it's a living.

[Russ_Boston]

Not only does it help me look younger, I think it is actually starting to alter my appearance: