Come on folks, we can disagree without the name calling.

Here's my 2 cents:

There is no requirement for lightning deaths to be reported to any kind of authority (like car accidents are) so I would guess that more people actually die from lightning strikes than are included in these statistics.

A major reason that few people are killed by lightning is probably that most people don't go outdoors in electric storms. This would account for why so many golfers are hit by lightning--they are practically the only people who get caught outdoors when lightning strikes.

I don't think you should count on buildings and trees drawing the lightning away from you. Lightning can strike anywhere it wants to. Also, sometimes the electric charge "jumps" from a tree to a nearby human.