- Jul 10, 2007
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Below is a short note from the police officer on scene of the golfer who got hit by lightning at Odana Hills Monday August 27, 2007.The pictures are what were left of his golf clubs, bag and pull cart.
I have been a police officer for 18 yrs and have seen a lot of gruesome and disturbing scenes (if you can imagine it I have probably seen a variation of it)....this one was different because it hits close to home and some of us have been in this situation.
This 75 year old golfer (no pictures of him) was golfing with 3 other retired guys in a regular weekly tee time and the weather forecast never even predicted rain at 10:00 PM the night before.
They teed off and got around to the back nine when it started to rain ...then a little lightning way off in the distance so they headed in and waited under a tree half way in when the rain became very heavy. Three of them then continued in but one guy decided to wait it out under a 50' pine with an overhang of 10' standing next to his bag.
A lightning bolt minutes later struck his bag and push cart as he was holding onto one of his clubs killing him instantly...on the top of the first photo you will see what was left of his driver.? Also, in a later photo are little brown clumps which used to be golf balls.The old man was literally cooked. Most of the items in the bag simply disintegrated from the heat and intense initial zap including the labels to his Ping irons and Cleveland woods which popped off and the electricity burned holes into the bottoms of the clubs.
The strange thing is the tree under which he was standing had no sign of a lightning strike. The bolt literally went sideways under the tree to the golf clubs.
?? LESSONS: If you are caught out on the course or water...distance yourself from anything metal OR graphite. Did you know that lightning rods are often made of graphite? Put your cart 50' away from you!
? ...When you see lightning off in the distance GO IN IMMEDIATELY !!!? DON'T WAIT !!!
I have been a police officer for 18 yrs and have seen a lot of gruesome and disturbing scenes (if you can imagine it I have probably seen a variation of it)....this one was different because it hits close to home and some of us have been in this situation.
This 75 year old golfer (no pictures of him) was golfing with 3 other retired guys in a regular weekly tee time and the weather forecast never even predicted rain at 10:00 PM the night before.
They teed off and got around to the back nine when it started to rain ...then a little lightning way off in the distance so they headed in and waited under a tree half way in when the rain became very heavy. Three of them then continued in but one guy decided to wait it out under a 50' pine with an overhang of 10' standing next to his bag.
A lightning bolt minutes later struck his bag and push cart as he was holding onto one of his clubs killing him instantly...on the top of the first photo you will see what was left of his driver.? Also, in a later photo are little brown clumps which used to be golf balls.The old man was literally cooked. Most of the items in the bag simply disintegrated from the heat and intense initial zap including the labels to his Ping irons and Cleveland woods which popped off and the electricity burned holes into the bottoms of the clubs.
The strange thing is the tree under which he was standing had no sign of a lightning strike. The bolt literally went sideways under the tree to the golf clubs.
?? LESSONS: If you are caught out on the course or water...distance yourself from anything metal OR graphite. Did you know that lightning rods are often made of graphite? Put your cart 50' away from you!
? ...When you see lightning off in the distance GO IN IMMEDIATELY !!!? DON'T WAIT !!!
Canada
