[villagetinker]

I am a former electric utility engineer, we had to do lots of lightening protection for substations and occasionally large metal poles. In general at locations with substandard ground resistance there were special means used to get good ground connection so we had good lightning protection. Special protection could include extra deep ground rods, chemicals added to 'ground wells' to decrease the resistance to earth, and finally very extensive ground mats that consisted of 4-0 copper wires in a grid layout. Florida soils tend to have a lots of sand which is an insulator, so it seems reasonable that you may need extra depth ground rods or many more ground rods. I am NOT an expert in these systems, just presenting some experience from my work in the electric industry.