Lightning Hits golf bag

... a reminder of what can happen after the siren goes off - just in case you thing you can still play one more shot or finish yhe hole.

Wow! For all you golfer's out there .. beware .......



A man got hit by lightning Monday morning on a golf course in Madison , WI .

The following are pics of what was left of his bag.

Please pass this along to your golfing buddies. Read what the policeman says, then take a look at the pictures. 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 out on the course with 3 other retired guys for a regular weekly tee time, and the weather forecast didn't even predict rain at 10pm the night before.

They teed off and got around to the back nine when it started to rain, and then there was a little lightning way off in the distance so they headed in.

They waited under a tree half way in when the rain became very heavy.



When it let up a little bit three of them then continued in but one guy decided to wait it out under a 50' pine with an overhang of 10' while standing next to his bag.



Minutes later a lightning bolt 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.

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 all popped off).



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.

Lesson to be learned - 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.

wow the remains of what used to be his golf clubs are a pile of chao tah mess! must be careful next time im on the course liao

Thanks, bro, but this is an old story. I still question whether it's real or not.

Regardless....I guess the takeaway is when on course, respect the siren. No point rushing...take shelter, grab a smoke, drink or whatever you fancy, and watch the world go by...

The sound of falling rain is rather therapeutic at times...no?

Thanks for sharing.

Be it new or old news. Better to be safer then sorry.

Live to play another day and many more days to come.

Cheers.

Thanks for sharing, i've witness lightning strike down a big tree in broad day light with no rain... scary

Y not real... Sent shivers down the spine as I always wanted To complete the hole even after siren goes off... A good reminder for me!!!

How about a real story closer to home then?

Some may remember the newspaper report of a golfer who was killed by lightning at Sembawang Golf Club. The lightning strikes at Sembawang are crazy, I was caught in the halfway house once in a thunderstorm and lightning was striking all around us. The thunder sounded like it was right on top of us.

Anyways, that gentleman was jazz musician Jeremy Monteiro's uncle. From what I can recall, he was pulling a golf trolley and it wasn't a direct strike. The bolt hit the ground, travelled along some underground cable, up his metal trolley through his arm, killing him.

It wasn't anything like the picture above, but they did find burn marks on his palm where he held the trolley.

Here's a scary fact: A lot more people are hurt by lightning than are killed by it and many of those who live are hurt very badly.

If you ever feel your hair standing on end or see your friend's hair rising like a halo while on the course, that's the static electricity building up in you.

Take cover or assume this position



Lightning Safety Position

You may have heard that if you can't find a shelter, you should lie down flat on your stomach. Well, doing that is not safe at all. If lightning hits someplace near you and travels through the ground, it could pass through your whole body and electrocute you.

Lightning safety experts have invented a "lightning safety position" that is very important to know if you are caught in a thunder storm and you can't find a shelter. This position looks hard, but it could save your life. There are several reasons for doing it.

It makes you a smaller target.
With your heels together, if lightning hits the ground, it goes through the closest foot, up to your heel and then transfers to the other foot and goes back to the ground again. If you don't put your feet together, lightning could go through your heart and kill you.
You put your hands over your ears to protect them from thunder.

Here's the link to the full article on lightning safety:

http://www.aboutsafety.com/article.cfm?id=707

Must tip toe and put the heels together? I tried. Possible. But not while wearing shoes. Wearing shoes would not be good enough to prevent lighting strike. Rubber mats on the hand is good, seeing electrician standing on rubber mats while working on high power circuits.

Anybody playing at occ will see 2 trees, one in the par 5 traffic light aranda course and I think the other is at dendro, blackened (according to the marshalls there) from llghtning strikes.

blee wrote:

Anybody playing at occ will see 2 trees, one in the par 5 traffic light aranda course and I think the other is at dendro, blackened (according to the marshalls there) from llghtning strikes.

Next time we play there, please point these out to me.

In fact, I'm disappointed that you never took me on the tour. I thought you were the official OCC Tourguide

Technospaz wrote:

blee wrote:

Anybody playing at occ will see 2 trees, one in the par 5 traffic light aranda course and I think the other is at dendro, blackened (according to the marshalls there) from llghtning strikes.

Next time we play there, please point these out to me.

In fact, I'm disappointed that you never took me on the tour. I thought you were the official OCC Tourguide

I have since passed that responsibilities to the shining buddha.... Look him up!

blee wrote:

Technospaz wrote:

blee wrote:

Anybody playing at occ will see 2 trees, one in the par 5 traffic light aranda course and I think the other is at dendro, blackened (according to the marshalls there) from llghtning strikes.

Next time we play there, please point these out to me.

In fact, I'm disappointed that you never took me on the tour. I thought you were the official OCC Tourguide

I have since passed that responsibilities to the shining buddha.... Look him up!

but shinning buddha tour could last 5 hours. Yours is shorter

pushslice wrote:

blee wrote:

Technospaz wrote:

blee wrote:

Anybody playing at occ will see 2 trees, one in the par 5 traffic light aranda course and I think the other is at dendro, blackened (according to the marshalls there) from llghtning strikes.

Next time we play there, please point these out to me.

In fact, I'm disappointed that you never took me on the tour. I thought you were the official OCC Tourguide

I have since passed that responsibilities to the shining buddha.... Look him up!

but shinning buddha tour could last 5 hours. Yours is shorter

PS - his now shorter a bit liao...

So, whose is shorter? Blee's or Shining Buddha's?

Technospaz wrote:

So, whose is shorter? Blee's or Shining Buddha's?

blee wrote:

Anybody playing at occ will see 2 trees, one in the par 5 traffic light aranda course and I think the other is at dendro, blackened (according to the marshalls there) from llghtning strikes.

A dead monument, a warning and living testament to all those who dare venture onto the plains when lightning strikes....