bad | birdy

Some youtube video myself and a friend were watching the other day reminded me about an unusual experience I had a few years back. I was in my mid-teens, and one day me and a friend of mine whom i havent spoken too in yonks, made the trip to Navan golf course, in Meath.

It was a Summer’s day, but the sky was overcast and rain looked pretty ominous as we sat in the clubhouse waiting to go out. We had to wait because the club officials weren’t sure as to whether to let more people go out, due to possible ‘dangerous’ weather conditions, but eventually we made it out! I remember i par’ed the first hole, which is a decent par 4, but can be relatively easy once you find the fairway with a good drive. The second is a par 3, and I just can’t remember how we did, but I remember it because it was just as we finished this hole that the rain started to fall more evenly, and we could hear the club-car sounding the horn for play to be stopped.

We had made the trip from the east coast of Ireland, around 30 miles each way, and we had been dropped off so had no way of getting home that soon. So we just decided, fark it, lets play on. It was kind of exciting as neither of us had been in a situation before where this had happened, there was hardly anyone else on the course in any case so we thought we’d get away with it.

Navan Golf Course Map

The front 9 at Navan is very exposed, such as you can see every hole from the 3rd teebox. At this stage we were on the teebox, getting ready to tee-off. I was first up, so I took out my driver (back then my clubs were pretty cheap ones!), which was a non-designer, basic one, I even remember the name – Malibu – I had the whole set, as bad as they were, they were good enough for me back then.

I tee’ed up the ball, and was getting my stance ready, when I held the club up in the air to get my grip right. I don’t think I normally used to do this, but for some reason, I kind of held it there for a few seconds as I adjusted my grip. Then I felt this weird sensation all of a sudden, I didn’t see much of a light, but I definitely saw some sort of a brief light that accompanied the initial ‘fuzziness’ I felt. My friend was watching everything, and said that he didn’t see a bolt as such, as it happened so fast, but did see a light flash and according to him it appeared that a small flash of lightning had struck the top of my club as I was holding onto it. I was certain that this was what had happened because I could still feel a very slight tingling sensation, something similar like to when you smack your elbow of something hard and get a small ‘elbow shock’, only all over. My friend said that he could feel the same tingly feelings too, even as we were talking about it. It was awesome.

Taylor Made R7 - what a driver! The driver I was then using was a 'Malibu', a ridiculously cheap brand! I could'nt find a picture of one so... this looks way better anyway!

It was right then that one of the course officials came flying over to us in a jeep, ploughing over the 2nd teebox on the way! He had sped down the road by the racetrack (the front 9 at Navan is enclosed inside the racetrack) and come over through the course. He immediately gave out to us while at the same time he threw our bags in the back and we sped off back to the clubhouse. It was the same guy who had warned us not to go out on the course previously, and he was uber-pissed. He had seen the flash of lightning that had hit us, but apparently he couldn’t see the ‘cool’ side of it and subsequently we received a slap on the wrist to say the least for going out regardless of prior warning. The reason why we were waiting so long to go out and play at the start was because we were told not to play, as the weather conditions weren’t safe!

Anyway, its a story I haven’t told anyone in a while, but thinking about it again, its still really cool. I guess I was lucky that the golf club had a rubber grip, as all golf clubs do, because that obviously saved me from absorbing any serious voltage from the strike, unlike the world famous South African golfer Retief Goosen, who was struck directly and as a result, his clothes disintegrated. One thing I haven’t told that many people about, is that I actually have a slightly irregular heartbeat ever since. Occasionally I get palpitations on and off, but my doctor told me that it’s nothing to worry about and I definitely wouldn’t take back the experience of being so close to lightning for anything.