Disc Golf Fatality Due to Lightning - Safety Tips

[rickles]

sad and tragic.

its one of those things where people always think it cant happen to them

no round of disc or ball golf, or anything outdoors really, is worth staying out there and taking the risk. even if its the best you've ever played. get out of there. be safe.

Thats tough to leave a record round though i'm sure.

 

[JC17393]

Thats tough to leave a record round though i'm sure.

Well, especially if you don't think the heavy stuff is going to come down for quite a while.

 

[JNichols]

Oh Man, that is Terrible.

 

[HotPinkBeast]

This is a great list of things NOT to do but what SHOULD I do?

that's not a bad question!

I was three long holes away from my car when lightning hit, and had some choices.
1) walk down the middle of an wide open fairway
2) walk thru a long area covered with trees that is next to the fairway
3) somewhere in between.

I choose 3

not out in the open (being the tallest object), and not right next to a tree that might get hit and have lightning travel down it. :\

 

[HotPinkBeast]

Thats tough to leave a record round though i'm sure.

just don't blame God.

 

[hoppedup]

I was on the 13th hole on a local course last week playing the best round I had ever played. Didn't matter. When I heard thunder, I made a beeline for my car. By the time I got there the sky just to the west was black and there was lightning. There was a group of guys getting their bags out and heading for the first tee. Two minutes later on the drive home, I had to pull over because the rain was so heavy I couldn't see. Tree limbs were blowing down all over. And I suppose there were three idiots running back to their car.

 

[bosoxbrent]

This is a great list of things NOT to do but what SHOULD I do?

Sometimes its tough and you don't have any good options. My only advice to you is if you know you are going to be playing a course with no shelter (i.e., no vehicle or building near by), be sure to check the forecast/radar before you go out.

If it looks like there's a chance of a thunderstorm popping up during the time period that you want to play, postpone your round to another date/time or go play a course that you know has some sort of shelter. Having once been hiking in the mountains when an unexpected thunderstorm popped up and having no place to take shelter, I can tell you it gets pretty scary with bolts coming down all around you.

 

[threevok]

Disk...:wall:

The provided link has a Lymes's disease article to make up for misspelling disc.

I once took shelter in a Port-A-Potty. Is that bad?

 

[The Hammer]

This story is rather shocking.

 

[scarpfish]

Scariest lightning storm that I've ever dealt with happened just a month after I started playing. I wasn't familiar with the course and had my vehicle at the complete opposite end of the park when it started. Had to run, not walk, probably 1/4 mile and was soaked by the time I reached the car.

I've made it a habit not to play when thunderstorms are imminent ever since. They usually bring other unpleasant elements with them anyways.

 

[gradus]

This story is rather shocking.

I get a little charged up when people make jokes after someone has died.

 

[storyboy]

I have played this course about 3 times. It starts out down in a valley all heavily treed and then goes up on to a flat area with small openings in the trees, nothing really out in the wide open just small patches of meadow. It was probably on the upper part of the course where they got struck. So sad.

 

[rickles]

I get a little charged up when people make jokes after someone has died.

really, you do eh? thats Punny

 

[donnyv]

Don't forget to mention how strong winds can be just as dangerous. We had a storm pop up outta nowhere while we were playing through a forest. She came up on us fast. Trees were bending and snapping as we ran the f outta there to an opening that had a pavillion smack dab in the middle of a field. It was still lightining bait, but we took our chances to get away from the monster trees. Wind came through so hard that it was blowing the stacked picnic tables over onto us. 15 mins later it was calm and sunny so we finished the round. Weird how mother nature works sometimes.

I've had 3 close calls with large trees just while working at my private course at home. The first time it wasn't even windy and this one large dead tree came crashing down were I was just standing a minute before. If I hadn't had left to grab my lighter I forgot from inside my barn, I would've been tomb-stoned for real. The second time I was burning brush in the woods while it was raining, so I wouldn't catch everything on fire. This monster tree came crashing down within 50 feet of me. Almost scared the shat outta me and I raced outta there with my heart pounding like crazy. The third time was when one came crashing down a foot from one of the big propane tanks. That had potential to put a pretty big hole into the side of our house. And people ask me why I believe in God and pray... too live another day is one reason!

 

[Jukeshoe]

^Truth.

In the midwest where I'm at, I'm infinitely more worried by wind/tornado/microburst stuffs than lightning. Not discounting the dangers of lightning; I guess the lesson here is that mother nature likes to periodically rear her ugly head to remind us who's in charge.

 

[DavidSauls]

Coincidentally, I heard a news story on lightning deaths this morning, and I had to look up and verify the stats it quoted. Apparently we've gotten much better at lightning safety over the decades:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats/resources/weather_fatalities.pdf

 

[Jukeshoe]

Wow, those numbers are strange!

Perhaps less people outside these days because of the rise of tv/computers/video games?

Much more difficult to get struck by lightning while watching the boob tube vs. fishing on a lake, or whatevs.

 

[DavidSauls]

I only caught part of the story, but I did hear them say that farmers on open tractors used to get hit a lot.

 

[robdeforge]

Question time (with a bit of a long intro) - I was playing a course in Vermont with a friend a couple weeks ago. We knew that the forecast called for scattered thunderstorms in the area later in the afternoon, so we tried to get in a round about 1. By the time we got to hole 3 we could get a good glimpse of the sky a long distance away and it was slightly dark and cloudy while the sky above us was clear and blue with sun shining. However, we could vaguely hear thunder in the distance and were wondering the entire time if we should simply stop playing.

We decided to continue until we heard people leave the water/beach area, which is right next to the course. My question is if we should have just stopped as soon as we heard the first bit of thunder, even though the skies above us were clear and we never saw any lightning?

 

[DavidSauls]

You know, it's a matter of degree and how much risk you want to take. Here in South Carolina, strictly following these guidelines would make me a shut-in for about 8 months of the year. And do keep in mind that the cautions for swimmers are more extreme than for anyone else.

Then again, I remember when, about 20 minutes after a storm passed and the last rumble of thunder was gone, a stray lingering bolt struck our property, destroying a tree.