An Ohio golfer set out to record his friends wrestling with a golf cart stuck in the mud—and instead captured the moment a lightning strike knocked him to the ground.
Chris Schiavone was golfing with friends Friday at Pebble Creek Golf Course near Cincinnati when a thunderstorm swept across the area. The wet conditions left the group’s cart bogged down, so Schiavone pulled out his phone as his friends attempted to free it.
Then the screen exploded in a fiery flash.
The video jolts violently as Schiavone is knocked down. His friends can be heard shouting in alarm while rushing toward him.
Schiavone said the bolt struck his arm, temporarily leaving him unable to feel his body and affecting his hearing. Miraculously, his injuries were not life-threatening, and he is recovering.
“1 in 1,000,000 they say,” Schiavone wrote when posting the video to social media.
“I’m very lucky and blessed,” he added. “Lightning is no joke!”
No argument there.
The footage has since attracted more than two million views—and a small army of amateur meteorologists pointing out that Schiavone had been standing beneath a tree while holding an umbrella.
“Dude, holding an umbrella while standing under a tree in a lightning storm is about as bad an idea as jumping out of an airplane without a parachute,” one commenter wrote.
“Before the strike I was thinking, doesn’t every golfer know not to shelter under a tree?” another asked. “Guess not.”
The National Weather Service does indeed discourage golfers from choosing the tree-and-umbrella survival strategy. Its official lightning guidance tells golfers to put down their clubs, move away from metal golf carts and isolated trees, and enter a substantial building or enclosed vehicle as quickly as possible.
It also specifically says to put down umbrellas during an electrical storm.
Schiavone therefore managed to violate several lightning-safety recommendations simultaneously—a feat nearly as impressive as recording the evidence.
The National Weather Service warns that no outdoor location is completely safe during a thunderstorm. Trees, golf carts, small shelters and covered pavilions do not provide reliable protection. The safest options are a substantial enclosed building or a hard-topped vehicle.
“If you can hear thunder, you are in danger of being struck outdoors,” the agency says. Its familiar rule remains the easiest one to remember:
“When thunder roars, go indoors.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says approximately 10% of people struck by lightning die, most commonly from cardiac arrest. Survivors may suffer burns, muscle damage, hearing or eye injuries and neurological symptoms that are sometimes temporary.
Lightning can injure someone through a direct hit, by jumping from a nearby object such as a tree, by traveling through the ground or through its explosive blast effect. That blast can also damage hearing or throw a victim to the ground, according to the CDC.
Schiavone did several things wrong Friday, but he got the most important thing right afterward. He survived and shared the video as a warning to others.
Golfers are famous for ignoring dark clouds when there are still a few holes left to play. They may want to watch this clip before attempting to squeeze in one more putt.
A bogey can be erased on the next hole. A lightning bolt is considerably less forgiving.
WIRE SOURCES
- Ohio golfer records terrifying moment he is struck by lightning
- National Weather Service: Lightning-safety advice for golfers
- National Weather Service: The only safe outdoor response is to get inside
- CDC: How lightning strikes injure people
- CDC: What to do when someone is struck by lightning
