One of the game of golf’s brilliant storytellers will be regaling an audience in October on the Grand Strand for the benefit of area youth.
The comedy concert is Sunday, Oct. 27 at the new Greg Rowles Legacy Theatre in North Myrtle Beach.
The show is dubbed “David Feherty Off Tour, Wandering Around On His Own.”
“There’s not really a message. It’s just sort of a trip through my life,” Feherty said. “It’s not all golf. You don’t have to be a golfer to enjoy it. It’s stand-up comedy. It’s an up and down journey, you know. It’s a lot about my parents and growing up in Northern Ireland.”
Feherty was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011, has battled depression, and has been largely sober for 18 years after years of heavy drinking and pill use – with a few hiccups including following the death of his oldest son among five children, Shey, due to an apparent overdose on his 29th birthday in July 2017.
That and all parts of his life – good and bad – are fair game in his standup routine.
“I don’t have perfect [sobriety] attendance, I’ve had bumps along the way, and I talk about that in the show,” Feherty said.
“There’s a lot of new content. It’s just a bunch of new Irish jokes,” he said. “Really the basis of the show is the same. There are a couple of mental institution stories as well.”
The show includes much about Feherty’s playing career, which was largely on the European Tour (now DP World Tour) and includes adventures and misadventures with his wildcard caddie, the late Rodney Wooler.
“Rodney’s featured heavily in it, yeah,” Feherty said with a chuckle.
Tickets are expected to be available by May 15 through the theater and Gene’s Dream Foundation website, and Feherty’s website. They start at $79 and a limited number of VIP tickets that include a pre-show meet-and-greet are $199 each.
Feherty past, present and future
Feherty is the lead analyst for LIV Golf broadcasts, which in 2024 are on The CW, the CW app and LIV Golf Plus app. He was hired away from NBC Sports and Golf Channel in July 2022.
“I was just excited by the idea of the league, and obviously there was some money, and the opportunity to be lead analyst for the first time, you know I’ve been doing this 30 years,” Feherty said of his decision to jump to LIV. “It’s been amazing. We go to all parts of the globe. I’m a bit old for that kind of travel, to be honest. But it’s been a blast from the word ‘go.’ We’ve got a great crew and we don’t take it too seriously.”
Feherty’s appearance at the Greg Rowles theater is in large part a favor to Kelly Tilghman, a North Myrtle Beach native and his former coworker at Golf Channel and NBC.
Proceeds from it will benefit the Gene’s Dream Foundation, which supports junior golfers and was co-founded by Tilghman following the death of longtime area golf pro Gene Weldon. He was the only head pro in the 20-year history of Gator Hole Golf Club in NMB, a course owned by Tilghman’s family that closed in 1999. Tilghman is expected to be at the show, as well.
“I would do anything for Kelly Tilghman,” Feherty said. “You know I’ve been to Iraq with her. She’s just a great friend and a great person. . . . I really admire her. She’s kind of a hero to me in what she does.”
The show will also indirectly benefit The First Tee of the Coastal Carolinas through Gene’s Dream, and one other youth charity, according to Gene’s Dream board member Joe White.
Feherty has been to the Grand Strand at least a couple times over the past 15 years.
He performed a comedy concert in October 2018 at Tilghman’s request at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center that benefited the Gene’s Dream Foundation in its infancy, as well as victims of Hurricane Florence. He was also a guest speaker in 2010 at the Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship.
His last visit was during the height of his highly popular primetime talk and interview show on Golf Channel that lasted 10 years into 2021.
Feherty turns 66 in August and intends to continue broadcasting and touring for speaking engagements for the foreseeable future.
“I can’t imagine myself stopping working. I was just with Verne Lundquist last week at sort of a celebration of his 40 years at the Masters. I’d like to do it until I’m Verne’s age, which is about 107.”
In addition to his LIV Golf duties and concerts, Feherty takes part in fundraisers for his charitable foundation, Feherty’s Troops First Foundation. Feherty earned U.S. citizenship in 2010 and has been a strong supporter of U.S. military members and veterans since and even before then.
Gene’s Dream events
The primary annual event for the Gene’s Dream Foundation, the Mentor Cup, will be played the weekend of Nov. 9-10, and the fundraising Dream Challenge scramble event will be played Aug. 29. Both tournaments will be played at Tidewater Golf Club.
Gene’s Dream board member Lisa Holland said the foundation is working on expanding its impact and programs with grants to local high school and junior high golf teams and youth golf clinics beginning as early as this fall.
“We’re getting past just doing the Mentor Cup,” Holland said. “We want to expand the foundation’s reach in the community a little bit more. We’re trying to reach more of our youth and get them out on the courses to learn the game.”
