How Golf Improves Your Cycling Performance

You've been grinding out miles on the bike, pushing through interval sessions, and watching your power numbers.  But here’s the thing, your body needs more than just pedaling to get faster.  Cyclists who only cycle often hit frustrating plateaus, develop muscle imbalances, and burn out mentally.

What if there was a low-impact activity that could sharpen your focus, strengthen your core, and give your legs a break, all while keeping you active outdoors? Enter golf. Yes, seriously.

The Perfect Active Recovery Activity

Active recovery is essential for any serious cyclist. Research shows that low-intensity movement on rest days increases blood circulation, helping remove metabolic waste products while delivering fresh nutrients to repair muscles. The problem is that most cyclists struggle to rest. They either push too hard or feel guilty doing nothing.

Golf hits the sweet spot. Walking 18 holes covers four to six miles of terrain, often adding up to 10,000-15,000 steps. That's enough movement to keep blood flowing without taxing your cardiovascular system or fatiguing your legs. If you're looking for other ways to cross-train effectively, the principles apply whether you're a runner or a cyclist. It's a low-impact way to stay active and recover.

Why Golf Works as Active Recovery for Cyclists:

• Low-intensity walking keeps heart rate in the optimal recovery zone (30-60% max)

• Zero impact on joints compared to running or hiking

• 4-5 hours of gentle movement promotes circulation without muscle fatigue

• Outdoor activity provides mental refreshment between hard training blocks

• Social element reduces training-related stress and anxiety

Pro golfer Camilo Villegas, who regularly cycles hundreds of kilometers during his off-weeks, puts it simply. Cycling is his passion, but he’s careful not to overdo it during tournament season. 

Core Strength and Rotational Power

Many cyclists focus mainly on their legs during training. Cyclists notoriously neglect their core. Hours in an aerodynamic position can actually weaken the stabilizing muscles you need for efficient power transfer. This is where golf becomes genuinely useful cross-training.

The golf swing is fundamentally a rotational movement powered by the core, hips, and glutes. Your hips must rotate through both internal and external ranges of motion, while your obliques and deep core muscles work to transfer energy from your lower body through to your arms. These are precisely the muscles that keep you stable in the saddle and prevent energy leakage during hard efforts.

If you’re serious about improving your swing mechanics while building functional strength, practicing regularly makes a significant difference. Many cyclists have found that setting up a dedicated practice space, such as indoor golf hitting bays from Golfbays, allows them to work on their game year-round without weather limitations, making it easier to maintain consistency in both sports. This helps ensure continuous improvement, regardless of the season.

Building Mental Toughness That Transfers to the Bike

Here's something most cyclists overlook: golf is often described as a game played between the ears. Sports psychologists suggest that mental factors can distinguish between successful and unsuccessful athletes at remarkably high rates. Golf demands intense focus for brief periods - about 30 seconds of concentration per shot across 70-80 shots during a round.

This trains what psychologists call "narrow and wide focus," which is the ability to dial in completely when needed, then relax and recover mentally between efforts. Sound familiar? It's exactly what you need during a criterium, a time trial, or the final kilometers of a long sportive.

Mountain bike champion Todd Wells has noted the mental similarities between the two sports. Both cycling and golf involve reading terrain, picking lines, committing to decisions, and executing under pressure. The visualization skills golfers develop, picturing a shot before executing it, translate directly to cycling, whether you’re planning an attack or navigating a technical descent.

Low-Impact Exercise That Protects Your Joints

Cycling is fantastic for cardiovascular health, building endurance, and improving overall fitness without high joint impact. However, as a primarily non-weight-bearing activity, it provides little stimulus for maintaining or increasing bone density—unlike impact exercises such as running or weight training that help strengthen bones through mechanical loading. This becomes especially important as cyclists age, since natural bone loss accelerates over time, and even professional riders have been documented with low bone mineral density in key areas like the spine and hips. To help protect long-term skeletal health, consider adding some weight-bearing or resistance exercises to your routine alongside your rides. For more on common cycling issues—including overuse injuries that can add stress over time—check out this guide: Common Cycling Injuries and How to Prevent Them.

Walking the golf course provides gentle, sustained weight-bearing activity. You're on your feet for four to five hours, covering varied terrain, and burning anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 calories when walking and carrying or pushing your clubs. That’s comparable to a moderate cycling session, but the physical demands are completely different, giving your body the variety it needs.

The Social and Stress-Relief Factor

Let's be honest - cycling can become obsessive. Power meters, training stress scores, and Strava segments create constant performance pressure. Golf offers something different: a challenging outdoor activity where the metrics matter less than the experience.

Professional cyclists have noted that golf provides mental decompression they can't get from training. One cycling coach described it perfectly, saying that on the golf course, there's no concern about heart rate zones, recovery status, or whether your legs feel fresh. It's simply an engaging activity in a pleasant environment.

How to Add Golf to Your Training Schedule:

• Schedule golf on genuine rest days or during recovery weeks

• Walk the course whenever possible, as using a cart significantly reduces benefits.

• Pay attention to how your body responds and adjust timing accordingly

• Use golf to identify mobility limitations that affect your cycling position

• Consider it mental training as much as physical cross-training

FAQ

Can golf actually improve cycling fitness?

Golf improves cycling indirectly by providing active recovery, building core rotational strength, and developing mental focus skills. It won't boost your VO2 max, but it addresses weaknesses that pure cycling neglects.

How many calories does walking 18 holes burn?

Walking and carrying clubs burns approximately 1,200-1,500 calories over a full round. Using a push cart burns slightly less, while riding in a cart reduces the burn to around 800-1,000 calories.

Will golf make my legs tired for cycling?

Golf primarily involves walking at a gentle pace, which shouldn't fatigue cycling muscles significantly. Most cyclists find it provides just enough movement for active recovery without compromising subsequent training sessions.

How often should cyclists play golf?

Once per week during the season or more frequently during off-season and recovery periods works well for most cyclists. The key is to treat it as a recovery activity rather than additional training stress.

Does golf help with cycling flexibility?

Yes - the hip rotation required in the golf swing helps maintain mobility that cycling tends to reduce. Regular practice can improve hip internal and external rotation, benefiting both your swing and your pedal stroke.

Key Takeaways

• Golf provides ideal active recovery for cyclists by promoting circulation without taxing cycling muscles

• The mental focus skills developed in golf transfer directly to race situations and high-pressure cycling moments

• Core rotational strength and hip mobility from golf address common cyclist weaknesses

• Walking 18 holes offers low-impact, weight-bearing exercise that supports bone density

• The social, low-pressure nature of golf provides mental recovery from training stress