Lightning

[ezra76]

I don't mess with lightening at all. It's only been an issue a couple times. Both times were really bad storms, 2nd time there was hail. The first time my dad and I left our clubs out on the course and ran in to the car. We went back and got the clubs after the storm passed. The 2nd time I was playing with a 3 some walking and fortunately they were in carts. I jumped into the cart and we high tailed it to the clubhouse.

People who would stay out on the golf course with lightening around are the definition of the word "idiot". If they had any club that them standing out there in an open area with a golf club or bag of clubs makes them the #1 target for the lightening, they might change their tune. It's about as stupid as trying to cross a 4lane each way highway on foot in the dark. Probably a good 80-85% of the time you'll make it but 10-15%, you die a fast but very painful death with either your body parts being torn off or all the water in your body turning to steam in a nanosecond.

 

[Wi-Golfer]

Also need to add that carbon shafts aren't a help as they are excellent conductors of electricity. No difference between & steel if playing in lightning.

 

[MIKE1218]

I love thunderstorms, as long as I can watch them from the safety of the clubhouse. I also love playing in the rain, so we have flirted with lightning before. Last year I was playing with two of my buddies; it was raining pretty good, and everybody else had already gone to the clubhouse. Wasn't supposed to storm, just rain, so we said the hell with it and played on. Anyway, lightning struck across the road from us, a couple hundred yards away. No warning, first strike we heard.\

Put my sunday bag on my back like a quiver so I could run and we got out of there quick. good times...

 

[BrandonM7]

I LOVE playing in the rain, but there's no way I'm playing in a thunderstorm -- that's just stupid.

OP, you should have an easy defense against your buddies giving you crap having been popped on that football field. Seems you could turn that back on them and tell them until they man-up and take a lightning hit they're too much of a candy ass to call anyone names.

 

[Louie_T07]

Playing in the rain is one thing, but I'm with the rest of you, I'd never mess with lightning. I know you've got a better chance at winning the lottery than being struck by lightning, but knowing my luck, there's a bolt with my name on it.

I've actually seen several close lightning strikes and they cause some serious damage!! One actually disabled the course irrigation for about 4 days when ligthing struck a cart direction sign (its true!!) and proceeded to travel up the irrigation lines and wiring, blowing apart several sprinkler heads in the process. Parts of the sign were later found 400 yards away from where it was in the fairway. Another bolt struck a tree on our 7th fairway, killing two trees at once. This one I was really surprised to see; The bolt of lightning hit the first tree traveled down it and then back up the second tree. Each tree lost all its bark and has since been removed, there was a three foot hole left at the base of the first tree, almost a perfect circle into the ground. The last strike I witnessed while attending the Canadian Open last year. I was given free tickets so dispite the rain I made the trip anyway and I was probably no more than 200 yards away from a tree when it was hit on the 10th tee. That was probably my closest experience and it was scary for sure!! I felt the vibrations through my feet and my hair stood up on end... I exited the course 10 minutes later!!

 

[ezra76]

This is the way I've understood how lightening works... Everything puts out this stream that reaches upward. A tree, a pole, you with a golf club. The lightening actually sends out these branches and they make a connection with basically the strongest conductive thing in that area. If you are holding a golf club in an open area, you will be the most conductive thing.

This video shows slow motion how the branches come out and then find a connection. Yeah, you thought it was dangerous? The lottery? It's like playing 6 #'s when you know 5 of them already... if the storm is right over the top of you, you're all done. What do you think is going to happen if those branches come out looking for a connection when you are holding that 7iron in the middle of the fairway?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgnebrbWKKw&feature=channel