David Feherty Rules…Everthing Except Himself

by Jeff Skinner

It looks like a good week to be David Feherty as not one, but two national golf magazines have features on golf’s most irreverent and entertaining personality.  Both Golf Magazine and Golf World have inside looks at the life of Feherty.  While most of us who watch Feherty on CBS and The Golf Channel may be inclined to think it is good to be David Feherty once you get a look at the world from his eyes you may think being Feherty isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Of course Feherty is a success not only on CBS but on The Golf Channel also.  His hour interview show has people from all walks of life begging to be his next guest.  On CBS he has surpassed his good friend Gary McCord as the premier class clown but that’s a very intellectual clown.

To the casual viewer Feherty looks to be in control and capable of handling everyone from Tiger Woods to President Clinton.  But Feherty lives with demons, serious demons, and he needs daily help from his wife and his crew to navigate through his day.  An alcoholic and an addict who suffers from depression each day needs to be filled with action and tasks that keep Feherty’s addictions at bay.  He has many passions now, biking, writing, reading and spending hours with American war veterans.

John Garrity profiles Feherty in Golf Magazine:  He hears voices in his head.  He goes days without sleeping.  He is heavily medicated and he cannot be trusted to get himself from one job to the next.  David Feherty should be reeling but instead he’s rolling…as a commentator, pitchman, emcee, motivational speaker and the star of his own TV show.

Garrity’s piece certainly exposes the darker side of Feherty’s troubles but at the same time brings us into Feherty’s life to the point you can see the pictures Feherty likes to paint and feel how committed he is to the troops.

Golf World’s Franz Lidz titled his article “Scorecard From the Edge” and no one lives closer to the edge than Feherty.  His piece is less dark but no less informative.  It was obvious that Feherty had nothing to hide from either man and his complicated life was there for all to see.  The vial Feherty keeps in his pants pocket harbors his daily regimen of anti-depressants (Cymbalta), anti-psychotics (Abilify, Klonopin), stimulants (Adderall, Vyvanse), mood stabilizers (Lamictal), cholesterol (Lipitor) and blood pressure meds (Avalide), and sleep aids (Ambien). “I don’t like sleeping pills,” he allows. “I don’t like sleeping, period.” His credo: You sleep for a long time when you’re dead. “I’m hopelessly in the present, I don’t live one day at a time. I live 20 minutes at a time. I have no f—— clue what I’m doing tomorrow.” Asked in what era he would have liked to play golf, Feherty says the 1980s and ’90s. He quickly adds: “But I’d like to remember them this time.”

In spite of his many issues Feherty is one of the most popular men in golf and his Feherty show has given the Golf Channel an interesting, edgy cash cow.

Even with all his issues and problems I would think sometime during his day when he has a minute or two of clarity he has the say to himself, “It’s good to be David Feherty.”