The Loop

Are your bad habits costing you rounds of golf?

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Photo by T-Lorien /Getty Images

We all know golfers whose habits are, shall we say, less than 100 percent healthy. You might even be one. To that we say, it's a free country. But have you ever thought about how many rounds these vices might be costing you?

An admittedly unscientific look at the golf you're missing.

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How we arrived at these numbers: The National Golf Foundation says core golfers play an average of 34 rounds a year. 1. Nonsmokers live 10 years longer than smokers, says the Centers for Disease Control. 2. A 2012 Harvard study found 75 minutes of “brisk” walking a week adds 1.8 years to your life. 3. A 2012 University of Cambridge study shows every drink after the first drink takes 15 minutes off your life. If you drink four beers per round, that’s 136 beers a year, or 102 beers after the first one. That works out to 25.5 hours, or 6.4 four-hour rounds, every year. 4. The Journal of Clinical Oncology found that sunscreen prevented melanoma at a rate of 50 to 73 percent. Melanoma has been shown to cut 18 to 20 years off life expectancy. 5. A 2010 University of Washington study found healthy eaters in one Texas community lived seven years longer than unhealthy eaters.