Check out this scenario:
It’s a beautiful dry sunny Southern California day, a group of friends head out to a local golf course. At some point point during the round “John” takes out a titanium iron and takes a swing. Next thing you know, John’s titanium club head strikes a rock and the contact produces 3000 degree sparks igniting some nearby brush causing a massive fire.
Sound preposterous? Think again. Researchers, scientists and some other people smarter than me from UCal Irvine investigated this and found it to be true. After what was first thought to be the result of a lit cigarette butt flicked into the brush, the focus turned to some hack that hit a rock with a titanium iron…yeah , I see the connection.
Unfortunately there is more bad news, a fireman was injured while battling one of these fires. And yes there was more than one fire. I wonder if the hacks that did this are even aware of what happened. Even though this was an accident, I would probably feel extremely guilty if my less than stellar golf game caused this problem.
Knowing that my golf skills are…well…not quite skills and I have a tendency to send balls into or near the lumberyard, you best believe I checked my clubs for titanium. And amidst all this bad press for titanium coated clubs there is some good news. The fire authorities in southern California have granted those with titanium clubs permission to break the rules and improve their lie away from rocks and vegetation. Hey, any little bit helps.
Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!
Interesting.
I have a set of Lynx wedges with titanium face-inserts, so do I get a free drop to outside a sand hazard? …Or just mark-n-lift to clear-away stones and pebbles as in a waste area?
I believe we need to put safety first and get that ball as far from danger as possible and to a safe place…like the fairway!
That is crazy! Hard to believe that something as simple as that can cause so much trouble. Cheers
JIm