Anyone Use a Lightning Detector?

[nevets88]

Hurricane season will soon be upon us, and today's weather got me thinking about the the device. Has anyone used something like this? Is it effective?

[Hacker James]

I just use a one iron. I got that tip from Lee Trevino.

[David in FL]

Thunder = Lightening.

[Patch]

Someone once said that "even God can't hit 2 iron". That might be true , but old "Ma Nature" sure can. Pretty sure she took over the thunder and lightening stuff. I think it was on a Thursday, but not sure. 

Me, I use the weather app on my cell phone that shows the storm fronts. That, or I just eye ball storms off in the distance. 

[DaveP043]

6 minutes ago, Patch said:

Me, I use the weather app on my cell phone that shows the storm fronts. That, or I just eye ball storms off in the distance. 

I do the same.  Weatherbug has a lightning tracker that seems pretty good

 

[Valleygolfer]

It looks like a gadget that will have dead batteries when you are read to use it, if you know what I mean. Maybe kinda fun but how does it detect the strikes?

[bkuehn1952]

Many of the courses in SE Michigan have lightning detectors.  If there is a strike within X miles, the sirens go off and everyone heads in.  The "All Clear" is automated and won't sound until about 15 minutes after the last strike was detected.  It keeps the staff from prematurely deciding everything looks okay.  If I am playing on a day when storms might be in the vicinity, I typically ask the clubhouse staff whether they have a detector.  If not, I listen and watch the skies.  

The gadget is interesting but I already have trouble just juggling the GPS and making sure its batteries are charged. 

[nevets88]

2 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

I do the same.  Weatherbug has a lightning tracker that seems pretty good

 

I was just looking at this app. Will give it a try.

[Piz]

If I get hit by lightning; I'd just as soon not know in advance.

[jsgolfer]

5 hours ago, Patch said:

Someone once said that "even God can't hit 2 iron". That might be true , but old "Ma Nature" sure can. Pretty sure she took over the thunder and lightening stuff. I think it was on a Thursday, but not sure. 

Me, I use the weather app on my cell phone that shows the storm fronts. That, or I just eye ball storms off in the distance. 

I thoug the quote was that ev en god can't hit a 1-iron

[Hacker James]

46 minutes ago, jsgolfer said:

I thoug the quote was that ev en god can't hit a 1-iron

That was Trevino. The story goes that two weeks after that, he actually was struck by lightening,.not once, but twice.

 

Edited August 18, 2017 by Hacker James

[DeadMan]

8 hours ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Many of the courses in SE Michigan have lightning detectors.  If there is a strike within X miles, the sirens go off and everyone heads in.  The "All Clear" is automated and won't sound until about 15 minutes after the last strike was detected.  It keeps the staff from prematurely deciding everything looks okay.  If I am playing on a day when storms might be in the vicinity, I typically ask the clubhouse staff whether they have a detector.  If not, I listen and watch the skies.  

The gadget is interesting but I already have trouble just juggling the GPS and making sure its batteries are charged. 

That's interesting. In Colorado, almost no courses have warning sirens, because apparently they'd be legally responsible for the safety of everybody on the course. Without the warning sirens, you're at your own risk out there. We get a ton of thunderstorms here, though, so maybe it's different for Michigan. It can be a daily thing to dodge thunderstorms in the afternoon here.

A friend has the Weatherbug app, and it has a proximity alert for lightning. You can do a google search for lightning detector and there's a couple of websites that do it. I can't really vouch for their accuracy though.

The safest rule of thumb, though, is to get inside if you hear thunder. If you can hear thunder, lightning is close enough that it could hit you.

[Hardspoon]

ITT: lots of misspellings of "lightning".  

 

[chilepepper]

I used to use a small transistor pocket radio tuned to an unused am freq. boy that dates me! Now I use a weather radar app

[Patch]

6 hours ago, jsgolfer said:

I thoug the quote was that ev en god can't hit a 1-iron

Brad Parks of the Washington Post said "2 iron". He probably never saw a 1 iron.......

Edited August 19, 2017 by Patch

[Hacker James]

10 hours ago, chilepepper said:

I used to use a small transistor pocket radio tuned to an unused am freq. boy that dates me! Now I use a weather radar app

What, not a crystal radio? ( I actually made one of those things in the boy scouts).

8 hours ago, Patch said:

Brad Parks of the Washington Post said "2 iron". He probably never saw a 1 iron.......

I carried a 1 iron up until about 3 years ago.

[Patch]

29 minutes ago, Hacker James said:

What, not a crystal radio? ( I actually made one of those things in the boy scouts).

I carried a 1 iron up until about 3 years ago.

I had a Mizuno Driving Iron I used quite a bit back in the day. That's as close to an actual 1 iron as I ever played. (It may have been a 1 iron) It was a great club for getting out of unrepaired fairway divots, and other bad situations. Places where you just wanted to get the ball out of trouble. 

These days I still practice with a 2 iron that was built for me way back when. 

[Hacker James]

19 minutes ago, Patch said:

I had a Mizuno Driving Iron I used quite a bit back in the day. That's as close to an actual 1 iron as I ever played. (It may have been a 1 iron) It was a great club for getting out of unrepaired fairway divots, and other bad situations. Places where you just wanted to get the ball out of trouble. 

These days I still practice with a 2 iron that was built for me way back when. 

My first set of clubs was Bobby Jones made by Spalding. 1 through SW. I didn't know that I was not supposed to be able to hit them, so I did anyway.  The woods (laminated) came with 1,.2,3,4 swing weight was something like E2, grips were leather and slick. The one iron I referred to above I believe was also a Hogan Edge. I sold it on ebay/ 

Sorry, a bit OT

 

Edited August 19, 2017 by Hacker James