Lightning

[ChappyEight]

As I was recounting with a co-worker a situation I ran into last summer in my 2 man best-ball league, I thought it might be an interesting topic to bring up here.

The back-story is basically that in August of `96, when I was a freshman in high school, my football team was struck by lighting (it hit the ground a couple feet from us and the energy came up through our metal spikes). Ever since that time, naturally I've been very conscious of weather when I am outside.

So, last summer as we tee off on a Sunday evening around 4PM for our league, I can see storm clouds rolling in in the distance. By the time we finished the first hole (375 yard par 4) it had started raining and the thunder was quite loud. The lightning appeared to be within a few miles to our west coming right at us. The three guys I was playing with wanted to keep going. So, I obliged by quickly hitting my tee shot on the par 3 second and scurrying back to the cart (thinking of course that the rubber would keep me from getting a ground strike like before).

We get to the green and I hurry out and four putt because, at this point, I could care less about my score and am more concerned with the impending weather that is now nearly on top of us.

As we leave the second green and head to the 3rd tee box, the lightning siren sounds from the clubhouse and the gps on the carts shows a lightning warning. The guys I'm playing with want to keep going! I told them I was done but they insisted on playing. So, the three of them hit their tee shots and as we are driving down the fairway (on a par 4) lightning strikes on another part of the course, probably 500-600 yards away from us.

So, of course then they decide to go in. Back at the clubhouse I got endless ribbing and ridicule for being a "pansy" (I'll keep it clean) and that maybe I should start playing from the ladies tees. Now I have pretty thick skin so I don't get easily irritated or offended and, in fact, I often give other guys a hard time about their games, etc. as often takes place on the course.

However, I can't understand the ignorance that goes into staying on a golf course when lightning is even remotely close. It seems like flirting with disaster for what, an extra hole or two? Why is someone less "manly" for wanting to avoid danger that is so completely avoidable?

I still get teased when weather starts to move in and I usually either ignore it or tell them to kiss my backside.

I'd just be curious to get other people's thoughts on this. Again, I could give a crap what others think of me, but it just seems like way too many golfers think they're too "tough" to worry about a little lightning.

[DJYoshi]

lightening...isn't it the biggest killer in florida???
everytime that i take a trip down there..at least 1 of my rounds gets called off b/c of a lightening storm....
i was the ignorant guy last year... playing on top of a hill... saw lightening
striking a few miles west of us in the valley... kept on playing...
the sirens went off...i had 2 holes left...kept on playing
on the 18th hole...the clouds were on top of us... during my back swing... i saw lightening hit feet away (within my peripheral vision's distance limits)
as i went to hit the ball...i felt a zap.... a shock....dropped my club....

and called myself an idiot... went home. and i will never try that sh** ever again

[goblue107501]

These guys do know that lightning can kill you if it hits you, right? I wouldn't worry about it, just try and have the thick skin and let it roll off. Especially since you have experienced a close strike before. If might be one thing if the storm was off in the distance and moving away from you, but to have heavy rain and thunder on top of you is just stupid to keep playing.

I don't know what the weather pattern is in your area, but around here with an impending storm only a short distance away, the courses around here wouldn't have even allowed people to start that round. If they see lightning anywhere around they will hold up play. It is just too dangerous to be holding a metal stick in the air.

[David in FL]

I'll play in the rain, in the snow, heat, cold, hail, wind, anything.......but I won't play when there's lightening in the area. Too many golfers die in FL every year because they don't realize that there's a nice bar back at the clubhouse and the course will still be there after the storm passes!

[ChappyEight]

Glad to see you all agree with me. I could give a crap what they think but I know that everyone has guys like this that they've played with.

I figured it would be a nice discussion to have.

[Jay-Bird]

In the USA there are 60-70 deaths per year from lightning. There are 21,746,000 cloud-to-ground strikes per year. Lightning can strike ten miles from the edge of a thunderstorm.

Get to the clubhouse and "Let the storm play through"

[ChappyEight]

Just noticed this link. SandTrap comes through again, and I didn't even know it.

http://thesandtrap.com/bag_drop/a_li..._you_can_carry

[kfowler]

When a gun fight breaks out in down town Detroit, do you walk through it? Lightning is no different. You are certainly not a pansy. You are just much smarter than your playing partners. As someone who was born and raised in Florida, lightning is nothing to fool with.

[Chief Broom]

I don't mess with lightning. Not on the golf course, in the water, etc. Life is too short and there will be plenty of opportunities to make up that round later. And if my playing partners think that's funny why then they'll be laughing the whole way back to the club house as I drive the cart back so that they can go on without me. And if they don't like that well then tough titty...

[becksfan2185]

As Lee Trevino said, "Just stick your 1 iron straight up in the air... 'cause even God can't hit a one iron"

In all seriousness though, I'd be the first one off the course. We don't get much lightning out here in Northern California, so it scares the hell out of me.

[kfowler]

In a previous life, as worked for a foresty consulting company. Part of my job was cruising timber which is basically taking an inventory of the amount of timber on a piece of property.

One day I was out with the founder of the company doing cruising audits. This guys was in his 70's and really old school. We were in a tall pine stand when a thunderstorm rolled in. Lightning started popping everywhere. I kept waiting for him to say lets pack it up and head in. He keeps working. I ask if we should seek cover and he says "Boy, that lightning won't hurt you." I stand there looking around at these tall pines that look like lightning rods.

If you've ever seen a lightning strike on a pine, it snakes around the tree leaving a big scar. That was the scariest I've ever been with lightning.

[SasQuatch<3]

hmm.. lighting ball goes off... maybe you should go inside?! ahaha

[MiniMoe]

Having worked on a golf course maintenance crew in Florida years ago, I have seen and had my own close calls with lightning. While on mowers, I have seen trees get struck only 50 yrds from me. Scared out of my mind, I drove down the middle of the fairways in hopes the trees would get zapped before I did. I was lucky, I made it back to the shop in time. The best was the time I called all the workers back into the shop knowing a storm was coming. My boss came in yelling at us to get our arses back out to work. I took him to the back door and pointed at the clouds. Just at the moment he was starting to say that he did not care, I bolt hit the chain-link fence 25 feet from us. Without saying a word, he turned around, got in his truck, and left for the day.

I don't mess with the stuff. I am the first to get off the course. Screw the guys that want to play through it. I'll be the one laughing at your dumb arse in the hospital.

[zeg]

To hell with your partners, they're idiots. What kind of a jerk does it take to tease someone for having the sense not to risk their life? Sadly, I have of course known people like that... I'd advise next time to get off the course the instant your instincts kick in and tell you to do so. Odds are pretty good that if they stay out in the storm, you won't have to worry about their teasing for long...

By the way, the rules of golf respect lightning for a reason. Rule 6-8a:

The player must not discontinue play unless: (i) the Committee has suspended play; (ii) he believes there is danger from lightning; (iii) he is seeking a decision from the Committee on a doubtful or disputed point (see Rules 2-5 and 34-3); or (iv) there is some other good reason such as sudden illness.

It is up to the individual player to decide whether he believes there's danger from lightning. He doesn't have to wait for the committee to decide or his partners to agree. If you believe there's risk from lightning, you can (and should) delay and take cover for as long as it takes to clear up and you're 100% within the rules.

[imtomtomim]

Haha, don't they tell you in first grade safety that the worst thing you can do in a lightning storm is hold a metal stick in the air, especially in an open field?

[misty_mountainhop]

We don't get that sort of stuff here a lot (fortunately) but I think you have to be a bit foolish not to respect something that requires ~75,000 volts/inch to create a bolt and can create glass from the sand in that bunker you're just about to hit from. We're often in the terawatt range for a single hit here and there they are, in the open, carrying metal stuff......

They'd look a damned site more foolish as a smoking hole that you will in getting off the course as you were trying to do.

You tried to warn them; what else can you do? Leave them to it next time.

[Titleist Man]

Kinda funny a couple of years ago me and my dad would go out and play. Well when he would play well we would have hours of daylight left and gorgeous weather. When i played good it would either start pouring, and lightning(we did go in then). If that didnt happen then it would get dark!!!!