Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2024 - 40

Strike One, You're Out
When there's lightning on a golf course,
drop your club and head to the clubhouse.
N
ational Lightning Safety Awareness Week was June
23-29. Apparently, a number of dumbbell golfers need
a smart program like that.
Guilty as charged, your honor.
Years ago, my brother, his son and yours truly were bucketlisting
around Arnie's Place, Bay Hill, in Orlando. It was midJuly
in Florida, so the inevitable storm arrived fully as we sat on
the 17th tee.
Horns blew. The grown men shrugged as the young teenager
tried in vain to convince them that life and limbs weren't worth
playing the famed 18th hole, where Tiger used to sink 20-footers,
slam dunk Nike caps and hug The King in victory just about
every year.
Arnie's army of workers shot eyeball daggers at the dumbbells
as they finished, unscathed. The horns had tried to save
us from ourselves, but sometimes you just can't legislate against
stupidity.
" Amen, " says John Valliere, former president of the MGA and
general manager of Braemar Golf Course in Edina. " Every golf
course manager in the world has had people who won't come in
when they should. "
Take heed, fellow dumbbells.
According to the National Lightning Safety Council, golf
moved into the " Deadly Dozen " list in 2024. Among the 12
activities that contributed most to the country's 258 lightning
fatalities between 2006-23, golf ranked 12th, with 14. Fishing
was first, with 41.
The same organization says your odds of being struck this
year are 1 in 1,600,000, based on a yearly average of 210 strikes
(189 non-lethal) from 2014-23. The odds of being struck during
your lifetime if you reach 80: 1 in 20,000.
That sounds like a comforting longshot. Until you're the guy
holding the short stick.
" We had four guys on old No. 14, now No. 4, at Braemar years
ago, " Valliere says. " A bolt of lightning hits the flagstick and
travels down to the ground. "
These were the days of metal spikes. Two of the men were on
the green, each about 35 feet from the pin.
" You could see where the lightning had killed the grass as it traveled
in two streaks out to the guys, " Valliere says. " Knocked them on
their behinds, scared the heck out of them. Didn't kill 'em. "
They didn't go to the hospital. But they did retire to Braemar's
bar with a life lesson learned and a new respect for Mother Nature.
40
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2024
Craig Waryan, local longtime PGA Master Professional, was
the pro at Sundance in Maple Grove in the mid-70s. He recalls
four other golfers being similarly educated.
" There's lightning, and they're on their way to the first tee, "
Waryan says. " I come out and say, 'Guys, the course is closed!' "
They looked at him like, " So? "
" Not a minute [goes by, and] lightning hits the metal fence
around where they were standing, " Waryan says. " It didn't
strike them, but the concussion knocked all four on their keisters.
No one got hurt, thank goodness. "
And? " They still wanted to play! " Waryan says. " I had a heck
of a time dragging them in. "
Thirty-three years ago, six fans were struck by lightning
when a storm raced in during the 1991 U.S. Open at Hazeltine.
One person died.
Weather alert technology has come a long way since then.
Today, Hazeltine has a sophisticated system that warns golfers
when lightning comes within 15 miles. Caddies are ordered to
hightail it in when the horn blows. Golfers are encouraged.
" We can't force them, " says Mike Barge, Hazeltine's longtime
director of instruction. " I guess they think the odds of being
struck on the course aren't great. But what I do know is the odds
of being struck inside when we tell you to come inside are zero. "
Amen, Mike. Amen.
Mark Craig is the NFL/Vikings columnist and a golf writer for
the Star Tribune.
" [The lightning] didn't
strike them, but the
concussion knocked all
four on their keisters. "
-Craig War yan
* BY MARK CRAIG *
mngolf.org
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2024

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