Lightning strikes green at Hole 3 on Gator Trace Golf Course

By Tyler Hatfield

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    ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Florida (WPTV) — Golfers at Gator Trace Golf Course in Fort Pierce may see something a bit shocking on the green at Hole 3.

“We had a lightning strike on Friday afternoon,” Lantie Hughes, the general manager, said.

A lightning strike on the flag that left a shocking scar on the green.

“It completely exploded. Never hit flag stick, never hit a green like this,” said Hughes.

Thankfully, Hughes said they called all the golfers in when the storm arrived.

But Bill Parrish lives along the hole.

“We’re only like what 200 yards away,” said Parrish.

Parrish told WPTV reporter Tyler Hatfield he heard the strike.

“[Like] a bomb,” said Parrish. “I didn’t think it was that close.”

On Wednesdy, golfer John Engel read the green on Hole 3 in a different way.

“It’s just amazing to look at,” he said. “You can see where the lighting went through, how it stretches out like fingers.”

Engel was at the course when it hit, and is thankful he went inside during the storm.

“It’s a big reminder about what can happen,” he said.

A rigid reminder, Hughes said, to not risk being outside during a thunderstorm.

“We got too many good days in Florida to be out playing in the rain and the lightning,” he said.

So, they’re admiring this “bolt-in one.”

“It’s like a caddy shack type of event,” said Hughes.

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