This week my first ever book review or maybe book recommendation.
But first a spoiler alert: This a book about Northern Ireland, growing up, falling in love with a sport, addictions, mistakes, great talent, misdeeds, death, love affairs, and a lot more. The ALERT is the book is about a golfer with about a zillion departures and a lot more – mostly about golf.
David Feherty grew up in Northern Ireland. The little boy in the movie Belfast released in 2021 is a fair representation of his childhood torn apart by conflict between Catholics and protestants.
The book is called Feherty and is written by John Feinstein, a noted author of A Good Walk Spoiled written in 1995 my favorite until now.
I love reading biographies and Feherty is a good one.
After surviving the perils of the Troubles growing up in Northern Ireland, Feherty battles anxiety, depression, and bipolar disease without professional help. Add to this his obsession to become a pro golfer without the God-given talent to be one and well his odds weren’t real good.
Feherty’s greatest asset is he’s a really good person who receives a lot of mulligans in his lifetime. You need to look up “mulligan” if you don’t know what it means.
He finally had success on the European Tour before playing the U.S. where he became known more for his humor than his golf skills which landed him a tryout as a golf commentator first on the Golf Channel and eventually with CBS.
Feherty’s greatest success was a show he hosted on the Golf Channel for ten years interviewing not only golfers but also many non-golfers including 4 U.S. presidents.
His story is complicated by his ongoing battles with depression, alcohol and drugs. Friends have tried often to help him with Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus virtually kidnapping Feherty and flying him to Kansas City to attend Watson’s AA Meeting. It failed.
Even with all that – I will bet you – if you read Feherty – you’ll end up liking the guy.
You’ll also gain insight into the politics of televising professional sports and some little-known truths about the PGA TOUR that led to the creation of LIV Golf.
I’m exhausted, so I’m stopping, but, I promise you – Feherty is a good read!
