J & G Lightning Protection INC

Sometimes golf and lightning can become a dangerous mix. That last hurried drive before the pelting rain may prove to be one that should have been forgotten. Yet, though the danger is by now well known, golfers will stubbornly ignore it, once again address the ball, and tempt the thunderbolt.

Golf course owners and managers,knowing golfers, worry about these questions: Just when is it prudent to insist that players beat a retreat from an approaching thunderstorm? How can golfers be influenced to take personal safety precautions? How far does management's responsibility reach? What is a "prudent and reasonable" safety program — of warning, of protection?

A recent, painful experience shared by Lee Trevino, Jerry Heard, and Bobby Nichols demonstrated the effects of this dangerous combination of popular sport and powerful phenomenon. The three were stunned and burned as lightning struck near them at Butler National Golf Course, Oak Park, 111., during the Western Open. Trevino, Heard and Nichols were far luckier than have been a number of other golfers severely hurt and even killed by lightning this year. Ending without lasting harm, the incident can be used to dramatize critical points:

• Lightning does not have to strike a person directly to cause injury or severe discomfort. Trevino, Heard and Nichols were victims of lightning's peripheral effects — a high ground potential over a considerable area around the main path of the bolt.
• Lightning casualties are not rare and uncommon. It was the fame of the golfers, not rarity of the event, that widely publicized this particular lightning strike incident. The odds for this kind of painful but non-fatal casualty were great enough to embrace three men from the top echelon of professionals; many similar unreported incidents occur every year. Prudence varies: Mike Fetchick, fourth party in the Trevino- Heard group, took a look at the darkening skies and decided that danger lurked there. He headed for the clubhouse and safety.
• Fallacies reign. In the aftermath of the incident at Butler National, interviews with experts on weather phenomena quenched some fallacies about lightning and lightning safety, but unintentionally created others. For example, an electrophysicist correctly stated that the kind of umbrella one carries is only incidental to lightning danger, but then went on to minimize the importance of avoiding tall objects and seeking a low profile.

Today, the roll of legal thunder in courts is signalling a new era of liability for public lightning safety by property owners, including golf courses. Under law, lightning always was an unavoidable "act of God". It still is, but protection against its harm, being possible and available, has become man's responsibility.

The LPI recently conducted a study of 1,000 lightning casualties, of which various recreational areas were the sites for 329. Of that 329, 52 of the cases occurred on golf courses with 41 casualties and 11 deaths.

Of the 329 casualties, many could have been prevented if (1) adequate lightning protection had been provided and (2) warnings about the hazards of lightning had been posted.

A "Duty to Warn" theory is also emerging in the legal area of public liability. In addition to providing adequate shelter against lightning, a property owner may be required to post warnings for the public to seek shelter during an electrical storm.

Here are five steps golf course owners or managers can take to provide "practicable and reasonable" protection against lightning.

1. Protect open areas distant from the clubhouse by either erecting rain shelters equipped with protection systems, or erect overhead protective wires.
2. Equip lone trees under which people are likely to seek rain shelter, with special tree protection systems.
3. Install standard lightning protection systems on the clubhouse, pro shop and other buildings.
4. Protect and/or ground if metal, flagpoles, towers and similar structures.
5. Prominently post personal lightning safety rules.

Erecting a rain shelter without lightning protection relieves people of a thunderstorm's damp discomforts, but gathers them as a body to face what may be the storm's only real danger, course is becoming a growing problem for facilities, as members become more aware of the dangers that can occur during a storm. The responsibility for safety will ultimately lie with the course.

Building Protection

CLUBHOUSE PROTECTION - A clubhouse of ordinary construction needs a system of air terminals, 10-in. or higher, mounted on the particular surface, such as (1-a) a through the roof installation on a wood-framed roof; (1-b) a top-mounted masonry base; or (1-c) an adhesive base for mounting on a built-up roof.

Roof conductors (2-a) and down conductors (2-b) interconnect air terminals and provide multiple paths to ground placed according to perimeter dimensions of the building. In deep clay soil, 1/2-in. minimum diameter copper ground rods are driven at least 10-ft. deep, at each down conductor location. A secondary lightning arrester (3) is mounted on the power side of the electric power entrance. And branch conductors (4*) bond rain gutters and other metal bodies to th conducting system.

Structural Steel Buildings

A metal-clad maintenance shop or other building with structural steel framing members that are sufficiently conductive may utilize the framework as part of the lightning protection system. Air terminals are bonded to steel framing at the peak (1); and ground electrodes are bonded to the steel framing at the base (2).

Tree Protection

Trees within 10-ft. of any building are required to be protected if taller than the building. Trees under which golfers might seek rain shelter should be protected to reduce the dangerously high surface ground current of a lightning discharge and bring it out beyond the drip area.

Tree protection systems are copper; aluminum is not permitted under Code LPI-175 since that metal will corrode when in contact with moisture or wet decayed matter for any length of time. Details show lightning protection for a tree with a trunk less than 3-ft. in diameter. Larger trees need two down conductors, one on each side of the trunk.

1. Main Trunk Air Terminal
2. Class I or II Full Size Cable
3. Branch Air Terminal
4. Secondary Size Cable
5. Drive Type Cable Clip % 3'-0'
6. Dsplicer
7. Ground Rod & Clamp