How to Handle Lightning

[DaveLeeNC]

To explicitly answer the question, I only handle lightning while wearing electrical safety gloves that meet  NFPA 70E standards while wearing rubber soled shoes (and only in dry conditions) 😁😁

 

On a more serious note out club sends out warnings but only shuts things down in the highest risk cases. Most of the guys that I play with tend to leave the course before the club takes action. 

 

dave

[11bravoveteran]

If you have an lighting app/weather tracker, what's your threshold for too close and time to head to the clubhouse.. 5 miles...etc?

Edited November 30, 2023 by 11bravoveteran

[Mitchell]

At 6’5”, personally don’t think it’s a smart move for me to stand in an open area with a metal rod in my hand with possibly of electrical activity in area. For others- the amazing thing about common sense is that it’s not very common. 

[bladehunter]

1 minute ago, Mitchell said:

At 6’5”, personally don’t think it’s a smart move for me to stand in an open area with a metal rod in my hand with possibly of electrical activity in area. For others- the amazing thing about common sense is that it’s not very common. 

Amen.  I’ve nearly been struck 3 times in my life.  Once a tree 40 yards away exploded.  Then the fireball ran the ground up to my shop , and came out an electrical outlet.  We guess that it ran the water pipe up ?  Then second , a pop overhead at my sister in laws house.  Blew up a transformer in a pole 50 feet from the porch I was standing on.  Then last year , cloud coming up , I stupidly rushed to walk the dog before it hit.  We ran out of the house about 30 feet , then I saw a flash , and was knocked to my back.  One shoe came off. Dog knocked down too. We ran back to the house and in.  We guess it hit the satellite dish pole and ran to ground.  I was 10 feet from that pole.  
 

my place is on a hill. Lightning is really bad here.  I no longer go outdoors if it’s close to a storm.  Not even to get in the car.  I just wait.   

[mshills]

20 hours ago, Mitchell said:

At 6’5”, personally don’t think it’s a smart move for me to stand in an open area with a metal rod in my hand with possibly of electrical activity in area. For others- the amazing thing about common sense is that it’s not very common. 

 

Amen to that.  I've probably got something close to five pounds of stainless steel fixation devices inside my body.  I'm not having anything to do with lightning, no way, no how.

[Shilgy]

34 minutes ago, mshills said:

 

Amen to that.  I've probably got something close to five pounds of stainless steel fixation devices inside my body.  I'm not having anything to do with lightning, no way, no how.

Yeah, the title of this thread is a bit off.  You don’t “handle” lightning…you avoid it.

 

To paraphrase Spock….Live long and play later.

[bcjim]

On 11/30/2023 at 2:04 PM, 11bravoveteran said:

If you have an lighting app/weather tracker, what's your threshold for too close and time to head to the clubhouse.. 5 miles...etc?

Its situation dependent.  If a wall of lightning is coming, I take cover and in most cases. In addition to not wanting to be killed, I just don't want to get soaked by the associated rain. 

 

Its those less certain situations that trackers are really useful for.  Its very common for the sky to be darkening and things looking bleak but the tracker shows all the action is 5 miles away, moving in a benign direction, and no real threat.  

 

Or if there is a rogue flash of lightning. Lets be honest, few people abandon the course for those and its nice to have some reassurance there is not organized or widespread electrical activity.

[TheDominator273]

I handle lightening by blowing the horn anytime it's inside 10 miles followed by a push notification to the tee sheet. I then instruct my outside staff (he and college kids) to stay under cover until I give them the all clear. I then proceeded to give myself an ulcer with people who ignore the warning about lightning in the area and the constant asking when play can resume.

 

Side note, it's become the running joke at work (and fairly accurate) that if we want a lightening delay you just have to wait about 30 min after I become the last pro on property.

[mshills]

20 hours ago, Shilgy said:

Yeah, the title of this thread is a bit off.  You don’t “handle” lightning…you avoid it.

Lightning handles you! I’ve been close to a strike a couple times and oh heck no, zero desire to experience that again. 

[caniac6]

On 12/1/2023 at 11:26 AM, Shilgy said:

Yeah, the title of this thread is a bit off.  You don’t “handle” lightning…you avoid it.

 

To paraphrase Spock….Live long and play later.

I was on a golf trip in Myrtle when I told my playing partners I was going in, and he kind of questioned my manhood. I just told him I want to play tomorrow.

[HGLucky13]

On 11/30/2023 at 12:36 PM, bladehunter said:

Amen.  I’ve nearly been struck 3 times in my life.  Once a tree 40 yards away exploded.  Then the fireball ran the ground up to my shop , and came out an electrical outlet.  We guess that it ran the water pipe up ?  Then second , a pop overhead at my sister in laws house.  Blew up a transformer in a pole 50 feet from the porch I was standing on.  Then last year , cloud coming up , I stupidly rushed to walk the dog before it hit.  We ran out of the house about 30 feet , then I saw a flash , and was knocked to my back.  One shoe came off. Dog knocked down too. We ran back to the house and in.  We guess it hit the satellite dish pole and ran to ground.  I was 10 feet from that pole.  
 

my place is on a hill. Lightning is really bad here.  I no longer go outdoors if it’s close to a storm.  Not even to get in the car.  I just wait.   

 A friend of mine in high school got struck twice in the span of 2 weeks. He survived both shots but gained the nickname "backflip"

[Itsjustagame]

Every club house has a computer where they can monitor lighting. Go out a blow a hand held air horn. Costs vitually nothing and might save someone from their own poor judgement.

[Masterhacker]

To some, finishing the round is more important than life itself!

[PedronNiall]

All of the courses I play regularly and most that I play on occasion will send alerts to the carts and give mandatory seek shelter warnings if there's lightning moving into the area. Luckily most of them are setup where you can get back to the clubhouse quickly even from the furthest holes, though some really do need to get shelters even if they'll rarely be used.

 

100% on team My Lightning Tracker. I turn on the app and set at 15ish mile radius any day there's a possibility of a problem. Bolts from the blue are real and most don't get that an active cell skirting the edges of the course is close enough to punch your ticket.

 

Had a round not too long ago where I was updating the guys I was playing what it was looking like. We were almost done but I told them that's it for me. Playing partner said fair enough, and as we were heading in cloud to ground strikes were visible just over the hill. One more hole is not worth never playing again.

 

Now, if I'm 90 and the ultimate gale rolls up while I'm on Pebble or somewhere else ocean-side hearing the waves crash against the cliffs while the spray rains down? Well, going out Point Break-style might not be the worst way to end it.

 

 

[BlackDiamondPar5]

12 hours ago, PedronNiall said:

All of the courses I play regularly and most that I play on occasion will send alerts to the carts and give mandatory seek shelter warnings if there's lightning moving into the area. Luckily most of them are setup where you can get back to the clubhouse quickly even from the furthest holes, though some really do need to get shelters even if they'll rarely be used.

 

100% on team My Lightning Tracker. I turn on the app and set at 15ish mile radius any day there's a possibility of a problem. Bolts from the blue are real and most don't get that an active cell skirting the edges of the course is close enough to punch your ticket.

 

Had a round not too long ago where I was updating the guys I was playing what it was looking like. We were almost done but I told them that's it for me. Playing partner said fair enough, and as we were heading in cloud to ground strikes were visible just over the hill. One more hole is not worth never playing again.

 

Now, if I'm 90 and the ultimate gale rolls up while I'm on Pebble or somewhere else ocean-side hearing the waves crash against the cliffs while the spray rains down? Well, going out Point Break-style might not be the worst way to end it.

 

 

My Lightning Tracker is a good app and it's always running on my phone.