Darren Clarke’s Autobiography On Drink, Cars and Golf
An excerpt from Darren Clarke’s autobiography appears on today’s Telegraph. It’s a good read detailing big D’s struggles with his temper, how he took a personality test and his penchant for flittering away money. Here’s a tiny bit.
As Butch Harmon once said to me, ‘You don’t see any hearses pulling a safe’. Well, you’re definitely not going to see mine pulling one. Sometimes I’m generous to the point of stupidity, but I get great enjoyment from it. I’ve always done it and for nobody more than my family. I like to share a bit of happiness and that’s why I employ all my family.
One thing that has been a constant throughout my career and for most of my life is that when it comes to shopping and spending, I have few rivals. My excesses often have to be seen to be believed.
If I said I once bought 60 pairs of Calvin Klein underpants, would you believe me? Didn’t think so, but I did. Or 40 pairs of trousers on the same day from the same shop? Yes, I did. Or thirty belts? Yes, that’s me. I’ve had 15 Ferraris, three Lamborghinis and an assortment of Jags, Bentleys, Mercedes, BMWs and Porsches. The most cars I’ve ever had at once was seven and I’ll admit that was a little excessive. I’m more sensible now.
The lifestyle I’ve had, I dreamed about as a kid, even though there was nothing wrong with the modest lifestyle I had growing up. My dreams were big not small because I have always felt that if you don’t aim high enough, you will invariably come up short.
This may take some believing, but I’ve never known how much money I’ve had in the bank, although occasionally I’ve known how little there was when Chubby’s said, ‘For heaven’s sake, Darren, stop spending’.
My greatest extravagance was the private jet I owned with Lee [Westwood]. It cost us something like $12 million, with annual running costs of $2 million, and we had it for about 10 years. The running costs were ridiculous, but it was a great idea at the time. We were travelling a lot together because our itineraries were similar and it worked for us. But when Heather got sick, my schedule got out of sync with Lee’s, so when he used it, it cost him double and the same for me when I used it. We couldn’t split the bills any more and that’s when it stopped working, but there was always a nice buzz walking up the stairs to your own jet.
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