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I bet that got everyone's attention


Chantry

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Nothing quite like that shot of adrenaline straight to the heart.  I wonder what the golf ball looked like afterward.

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I was delivering newspapers when I was in Jr High School and ducked under an awning in front of my school when it began to rain. After a bit it let up so I decided to resume my rounds. I got maybe 20 feet when a bolt of lightning hit a good sized tree about 30 or 40 feet from me and severed a large branch. Dazed, I staggered back to that awning and waited out the storm. For years I would look at the scar on that tree and think about what might have happened. 
 

Seamus

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The area where is live (Tampa Bay, Fl.) has been the lightning capitol of the USA for about the last 40 or so years. I understand this dubious title has been awarded to some other state for 2020, that's okay by me!

 

I've had some VERY CLOSE calls with lightning, none of them pleasant. When the hair on your entire body stands up, you see the blinding flash/boom at the same time and smell the ozone burning smell...you're too close. Never been directly struck obviously but I've felt the jolt of it being way too close.

 

Used have an electrician at the company where I was the supervisor named Jim Kenney. He was a pretty good electrician but had a bad habit of calling in sick on Mondays. I always knew his excuses were BS and usually called him on it and he'd fess up that he was still hungover from the Sunday before. One Monday, he didn't come in or call in. I called him around noon to see if he was okay (way before cell phones) and got no answer. He lived alone so I figured he was shacked up somewhere with some woman....wrong. The next day, his mother called to say that he had been struck by lightning on the golf course and was in the hospital. I cut out of the office early to go see him. He'd gone to the golf course with a buddy but had forgot his golf shoes, the kind with the metal cleats. While his bud was sitting in the cart, he started to tee off on one of the holes and lightning struck his club at the apex of his swing. It then "bounced" off and directly struck and killed another golfer (a stranger to him) that was waiting to tee off next. Although it didn't kill Jim, it messed up his nervous system pretty bad and burnt him on the upper torso and head. We had some conversations after that but he never came back to work and I eventually lost touch with him.

 

These days, when lightning is in the area...I count the seconds between the flash and the boom. When that time frame gets to 5 seconds or less, I take secure cover either inside a building or vehicle. BTW, 5 seconds or less means that it is within 1 mile of your location.

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I think the kid mostly didn't know any better, thanks to the state of education and that he was at a covered driving range, not on actual golf course.

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Golf club in your hand in a thunderstorm with lightning??? Yea, stupid kid!!

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“This was the moment a teen was almost struck by lightning…”

News people just cannot let the sensational stand on it’s own. They just have to exaggerate. “Teen”? He is 18, according to the narrator. Had he been using a gun he would have been a “Man” but to generate emotion a “Man” becomes a “teen” when sensation is necessary. 
 

Notice there was no mention of how stupid golfing is in a storm. @Rye Miles #13621is right. He’s holding a lightning rod in his hands. 
 

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55 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Golf club in your hand in a thunderstorm with lightning??? Yea, stupid kid!!

 

35 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:


 

Notice there was no mention of how stupid golfing is in a storm. @Rye Miles #13621is right. He’s holding a lightning rod in his hands. 
 

 

I see the same thing at SASS matches here in the summer. Pop up thunderstorm, shooters with long guns (lightning rods) that continue shooting, even when the lightning is close. As much as I like most of these folks and want to help with posse chores....I'll be in my vehicle either sitting the storm out or on my way home.

 

Yeah,  make sure those long guns (lightning rods) are carried to the line muzzle up!!! Oh wait, now it's raining...lets go get under the tallest pine tree we can find. Oops, waited too long. Lets just stand under the canopy, you know...the one with the metal poles and ceiling, the one right next to the pine tree.

 

I try to tell them but they've got it in their mind that they have never been struck by lightning before, it won't happen now.

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8 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

 

I see the same thing at SASS matches here in the summer. Pop up thunderstorm, shooters with long guns (lightning rods) that continue shooting, even when the lightning is close. As much as I like most of these folks and want to help with posse chores....I'll be in my vehicle either sitting the storm out or on my way home.

 

Yeah,  make sure those long guns (lightning rods) are carried to the line muzzle up!!! Oh wait, now it's raining...lets go get under the tallest pine tree we can find. Oops, waited too long. Lets just stand under the canopy, you know...the one with the metal poles and ceiling, the one right next to the pine tree.

 

I try to tell them but they've got it in their mind that they have never been struck by lightning before, it won't happen now.

Yep, I have seen that too. 
Rain is one thing. Lightning is a show stopper for me. 
 

When I was a kid my best friend was standing under a broken downspout letting the water rush over him during a down pour. It was really coming down. We were playing in the rain on our bicycles. Lightning hit the building and traveled down the stream of water. My friend was knocked unconscious. I rode to the firehouse for an ambulance. He turned out okay but the doctor said the water was the conduit for the lightning, not him. He got a residual jolt. 
 

Once I was out in a storm and felt tingly all over. I ran into the house. The tree I was near when I got all tingly was struck. 
 

I got caught in a storm on Lake Norman in NC years ago in my aluminum boat. Lightning hit the water not 100 yards from me. I felt it up to my knees. Weird sensation. That little 15 horse motor just wasn’t big enough that day. :)

 

 

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2 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

“This was the moment a teen was almost struck by lightning…”

News people just cannot let the sensational stand on it’s own. They just have to exaggerate. “Teen”? He is 18, according to the narrator. Had he been using a gun he would have been a “Man” but to generate emotion a “Man” becomes a “teen” when sensation is necessary. 
 

Notice there was no mention of how stupid golfing is in a storm. @Rye Miles #13621is right. He’s holding a lightning rod in his hands. 
 

Here in NM they call 20 year olds TEENS!

I believe 21 is the cutoff age for our juvinile detention centers!:excl:

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17 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

 

I've had some VERY CLOSE calls with lightning, none of them pleasant. When the hair on your entire body stands up, you see the blinding flash/boom at the same time and smell the ozone burning smell...

Hi Cypress,

Those are the very things I experienced that day over 50 years ago.  I can still see that blinding flash!
By the way, there are two coincidences in your post.  One, my brother also lives in Largo.  And two, my wife’s maiden name is Kenney!

 

Seamus

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10 minutes ago, Seamus McGillicuddy said:

Hi Cypress,

Those are the very things I experienced that day over 50 years ago.  I can still see that blinding flash!
By the way, there are two coincidences in your post.  One, my brother also lives in Largo.  And two, my wife’s maiden name is Kenney!

 

Seamus

 

I'm an semi retired electrician and have (not on purpose) seen some blinding flashes. None of them compare to close lightning strikes. I can still smell the smoke and burnt ozone.

 

That is coincidental, actually kind of weird. Does your brother shoot? CAS or otherwise? 

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Cypress,

No, he’s a retired Army Lt Colonel but never got into shooting. 
He’s a Snowbird, lived in Richmond VA in summer. Now he’s a Halfback; bought a cooler summer home near Asheville NC. We love to visiting him at both his houses!

 

Seamus

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1 hour ago, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said:

Suzie Silk Knickers

Suzee. Be 19 years come December. She was walking her dog - a long-haired dachshund - and a eucalyptus tree fell on her. But I had not heard anything about a lightning strike.

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1 hour ago, Alpo said:

Suzee. Be 19 years come December. She was walking her dog - a long-haired dachshund - and a eucalyptus tree fell on her. But I had not heard anything about a lightning strike.

That has been a long time. I may have got my facts wrong, you seem to remember it a lot better, but I thought it was lighting that caused the tree to fall.

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Back when I was  lieutenant at Fort Sill, we were undergoing a unit test in a driving thunderstorm.   Lightning hit the commo wire and traveled thru it to my fire direction center.  I watched my talker get blown out of his chair by the electrical spike.  He was okay but sure scared the hell out of all of us in that tent.

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