just stand under a tree until it passes..... then when lightning hits about 5 hundred yards from you-run to the club house.....Thats what we did
How to Survive a Lightning Strike
Alberta_Golfer
Member
Before last summer, I'd just wait it out in the cart or a shelter on the course, now I run for the hills. A group of us we're camping in August of last year, and during a storm we all hunkered down under an RV awning, the lightning struck behind my trailer roughly 60' away and the ground current knocked us all over and sent us running once we figured out what happened, one guy ended up in the hospital for a couple days for observation, the rest of us checked out ok, other than high creatinine levels, wrote off 2 trucks, 2 generators, and a bunch of electrical damage to my RV, now when I see lightning, I have a tendency to get as far away as possible!
Annhl8rX
Well-known member
I’ve never had any remotely close encounters with lightning on the course, but I have had two very close calls off of it.
The first was on an 8th grade field trip to Six Flags. A storm rolled in and it started pouring down rain. A couple of friends and I took shelter in a little gazebo. They have a little train that hauls people around the park and lightning struck the track about 15 or 20 yards from us. That was the brightest light and loudest sound I’ve ever heard.
The other was just a few weeks ago. A big, loud storm hit our area. My daughter was in her room crying because she thought there was a tornado. I had the bright idea to open the front door and show her it was just raining really hard. I got the door cracked open about two inches when lightning struck my neighbor’s house. Again...the brightest light (albeit just a sliver) and loudest sound I’ve ever heard. Needless to say, that didn’t exactly calm my daughter’s fear.
The first was on an 8th grade field trip to Six Flags. A storm rolled in and it started pouring down rain. A couple of friends and I took shelter in a little gazebo. They have a little train that hauls people around the park and lightning struck the track about 15 or 20 yards from us. That was the brightest light and loudest sound I’ve ever heard.
The other was just a few weeks ago. A big, loud storm hit our area. My daughter was in her room crying because she thought there was a tornado. I had the bright idea to open the front door and show her it was just raining really hard. I got the door cracked open about two inches when lightning struck my neighbor’s house. Again...the brightest light (albeit just a sliver) and loudest sound I’ve ever heard. Needless to say, that didn’t exactly calm my daughter’s fear.
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Thanks for the graphic Dan!
1- How many of you are out there doing this saying 'screw the lightning it's fine'?
I never was too concerned with it until last year when I had a close strike. I've got a healthy respect for nature, but this was life altering.
2- How many of you run at the first sight of Lightning?
I wouldn't say run, but I'm not going to take unnecessary risks either.
3- How many of you already knew all these things below?
I knew some, but the heels together was new to me. I've also heard that you should keep your mouth partially open.
4- What is your closest call with lightning?
Last year - on the golf course. Late July afternoon and a storm was rolling in. We don't usually get electrical storms, so nobody really paid it any mind - just some rain and dark clouds. I'd just finished the 6th hole and a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and I didn't even get "One Missi..." out of my mouth when the thunder hit. (I like to 'clock' the distance so count out the light-to-sound difference using "one Mississippi, two Mississippi...") I think to myself, 'okay that's it' so I start to walk over to the 7th tee box. Just then a white flash lights everything up and enormous crack sounds that was felt in my chest! That was absolutely the loudest sound I'd ever heard, and the most disorienting experience I've had. And I've been tasered, hit with a flash bang, and exposed to all kinds of chemical weapons. That was the brightest, most pure white I've seen.
Thinking about it afterwards, I absolutely felt the tingles - back of my neck, arms, and legs. I'd just never experienced those before in that circumstance so didn't know they were signs. Turns out the lightning hit a tree just up from me. Exploded, and charred the grass.
1- How many of you are out there doing this saying 'screw the lightning it's fine'?
I never was too concerned with it until last year when I had a close strike. I've got a healthy respect for nature, but this was life altering.
2- How many of you run at the first sight of Lightning?
I wouldn't say run, but I'm not going to take unnecessary risks either.
3- How many of you already knew all these things below?
I knew some, but the heels together was new to me. I've also heard that you should keep your mouth partially open.
4- What is your closest call with lightning?
Last year - on the golf course. Late July afternoon and a storm was rolling in. We don't usually get electrical storms, so nobody really paid it any mind - just some rain and dark clouds. I'd just finished the 6th hole and a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and I didn't even get "One Missi..." out of my mouth when the thunder hit. (I like to 'clock' the distance so count out the light-to-sound difference using "one Mississippi, two Mississippi...") I think to myself, 'okay that's it' so I start to walk over to the 7th tee box. Just then a white flash lights everything up and enormous crack sounds that was felt in my chest! That was absolutely the loudest sound I'd ever heard, and the most disorienting experience I've had. And I've been tasered, hit with a flash bang, and exposed to all kinds of chemical weapons. That was the brightest, most pure white I've seen.
Thinking about it afterwards, I absolutely felt the tingles - back of my neck, arms, and legs. I'd just never experienced those before in that circumstance so didn't know they were signs. Turns out the lightning hit a tree just up from me. Exploded, and charred the grass.
I believe the most effective method of protection in a lightning storm is to not be anywhere near one in the first place...
My home town of St. Petersburg, FL was in the Guinness Book of World Records at one time as the Lightning Capital of the World. I think that is now Venezuela or Rwanda.Is the lightning in FL different than other places? Where do you risk it?
I feel like I've told these stories before in another thread. If so, sorry for repeating them (sure sign of getting old)...
When I was a dumb teenager, my friends and I were at the beach one day as a lightning storm was rolling in. We thought it was so cool that our hair was standing straight up in the air. We had no idea how close we were to being struck.
A buddy and I were playing tennis one afternoon with a storm in the distance. You could hear the rumbling and see distant lightning but we thought we were safe - until lightning hit the fence around our tennis courts. The oddest thing about being right next to a strike is the crackling sound proceeding the very sharp crack of thunder and then a certain smell in the air. No, not the smell of crapping yourself... I mean the smell of ozone.
Last story and this one took place here in Northern Michigan. Was getting ready for work one morning when lightning struck so close that it actually made me jump. I could tell it hit something close but it was still dark. When I got home from work that afternoon, sure enough, one of the big Norway Spruce trees in my yard had been struck and was split. I had no idea of the force. There were large splinters of the tree on the other side of the yard some 50 yards away. Those splinters had to have gone up over the other trees as I can't imagine how they would have gone through the thick stand of trees and branches. It was impressive.
I've always held up a 1-iron, because even God can't hit a 1-iron.
As someone who has seen lighting way too close any sign of it I’m headed inside. When I was around 12 I was fishing at a pond with my buddies. There was a storm moving in and getting closer with lightning. But we were catching fish on every cast so we said screw it. And then the brightest light and loudest noise I have ever seen/heard happened. It hit a tree less than 30 yards away. The scary part was the heat. I could not believe how hot the flash was. I had messed up hearing for over a week. Never again.
And BTW the tree completely exploded and blew splinters everywhere. And the only thing left was a smoldering stump around 6 feet high.
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And BTW the tree completely exploded and blew splinters everywhere. And the only thing left was a smoldering stump around 6 feet high.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
mski
Active member
Back when I was a young teen me and my brother were playing a round. Lightening was in the air but no rain. My brother says you can tell lightening is really close when your hair starts to stand up. Right after he said that I looked at him the his hair was standing up. I screamed at him, then he screamed at me b/c my hair was up. We ran screaming off the course. Luckily we were on 9 and sort of close to the club house so we didn't have to scream that long. It was funny then and still funny 35 years later our reaction.