Somewhere in Ireland A Village is Missing an Idiot

Most I think will go after this book because they want to see "the lighter side of golf". As anyone who has read this book or regularly looks at the column itself can tell you, this is off-color humor that is best taken in small amounts over a vast period of time. Not that there are any boring segments (some are less interesting than others, but none outright boring), but rather the parade of gradeschool humor that is presented in just about every other chapter can be wearing.

What will likely keep a reader coming back (perhaps once a week at most) is that he is a fairly good writer. Containing selections from his column over the past five years and more does carry the trap of repition in phrases and cliche, but this isn't tiring in the least. He is very capable of retelling stories better than most in the sports world. His "letters" do tend to wear on one's patience at times, however.

If you are a David Feherty fan, you will want to have this to glance through to get you through a gloomy day.


Good, old-fashioned clubhouse humor   December 28, 2003
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

To many people, golf is a tradition-rich sport, governed by stuffy, upper-class men with little or no sense of humor. For people who play golf, there is another side of the game: the funny, raunchy, and sometimes obscene area where most weekend duffers spend their golfing lives and many professionals spend much of their off-camera time. David Feherty is a member of the latter group, and has collected a group of his Golf Digest articles to make this book.

Feherty is a former professional golfer who now works as a commentator for CBS Sports, and has spent various portions of his career in various locales, both mainstream and remote. His tales of life on the Safari Tour and on the European Tour are priceless stories of anonymous toil in golf backwaters told as only Feherty can tell them. He skewers many in his stories, from the golf establishment to frequent partner Gary McCord, mercilessly, while reserving the most embarassing stories for himself. This self-deprecating humor is certainly endearing and makes for some of the best reading in the book.

Also included are great articles which display the emotional side of golf from an insider's perspective, from the patriotic fervor of Davis Cup competitors to the grief felt by the whole tour at the loss of Payne Stewart.

As some reviewers have mentioned, the humor in this book tends to focus on bodily functions. If gas jokes offend you, then this is not the book for you. If they don't, then get ready for some great golf writing and absolute hilarity, Feherty-style.