Max Homa developed a healthy social media following by having fun roasting random followers’ golf swings.
The six-time PGA Tour winner also used the platform to delve into other areas, typically light but often informative, sometimes about the various sports teams he follows.
But as his game began to slide, so too did the type of feedback he would get, enough of which has caused him to leave the medium. It’s not the frustrating game so much as the reaction to it.
“The reason for that was just the vitriol you read online,” Homa said Wednesday during a news conference at the John Deere Classic. “It has become a safe haven for people who are angry themselves. It is quite absurd what people—how comfortable people feel writing awful things.
“I stepped away a lot also from Instagram, but I feel like that’s been a bit less crazy; although still not great, so I take my breaks from that. You wouldn’t choose to sit around a table with somebody being that mean, you would always get up if you were there and someone was being rude to you. You would ask them to leave or you would leave.
“Twitter or X is an awful, awful place. It took me a while to catch onto how impactful that can be and how much of a waste of energy. I miss the connection with the fans, but nothing comes without, I mean, just so much hate and anger. There is a lot of love in there, too but unfortunately it really does get overwhelmed.
“I don’t know if it's the gambling world or whatnot. I’m happy they can do it but it seems fun as hell in golf, but you get people ... people say some bad, bad things. People tell you [that] you should die on the internet.
“Has nothing to do with not connecting with people. I would love to connect with people, but I’d love to do it in person. I have yet to meet somebody in person that has said anything even remotely mean. Yeah, it’s a safe haven for a--holes, for lack of a better term. Sorry, PGA Tour.”
Homa has been open about his struggles, in which he has seen his spot in the Official World Golf Ranking plummet to 99th this week. He has changed coaches and caddies and worked to regain form that saw him a key part of the U.S. Ryder Cup team two years ago.
But his best finish all season is a tie for 12th at the Masters, his only top 15 this year. He had one stretch where he missed five consecutive cuts. He tied for 60th at the PGA Championship—after shooting 64 during the second round—and didn’t qualify for the U.S. Open.
Homa, who is exempt on the PGA Tour through 2028 due to multiple victories, is 122nd in FedEx Cup points with only the top 70 qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs next month.
“I guess the balance is trying to recognize progress even if it’s not as fast as you would want it to be,” he said. “So kind of trying to look at little wins here and there, whether it’s a good driving week, good driving day, good round, something like that, and looking at that as progress, instead of being so anal that you get to get back to winning and top 10-ing every week that you used to.
“It’s a tough balance. I don’t think anybody out here is struggling and thinking it’s a fickle game; IVll have it soon. It seems to go a lot faster than it comes back.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Max Homa, Still Searching for His Game, Explains Why He Left Social Media.
