Max Homa Slams Toxic Social Media; Says He’s Ready For PGA Tour Season To End

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Max Homa didn’t hold back when asked about the negativity he faces online, calling out the toxic nature of social media in a brutally honest interview. The six-time PGA Tour winner also admitted he’s looking forward to wrapping up the 2025 season as he prepares for the John Deere Classic. Hear what Homa had to say about his mindset, the fan criticism, and how he’s approaching the rest of the year.

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Typically, I haven’t been super successful on courses that uh the winning score is too low, like in the 20s. Uh so, it’s definitely a kind of a a different challenge for me. I’ve always played better when the winning score was somewhere between like eight and 15 under. Um but I I still like playing. It’s just you have to uh the mindset’s a little bit different. Perfect. We’re going to open up for questions. If you have a question, raise your hand. We’ll get a mic over to you. Max, you you sound excited, though. I mean, do you feel like you’re in a in a good place heading into this weekend or this week, sorry, with where your game’s at? Uh yeah, my game isn’t uh particularly sharp. Uh obviously, I haven’t played well this year and haven’t played great uh lately either. So, um you know, pieces of my game feel awesome, but just in general, I haven’t played sharp enough, especially, you know, week like last week where you beating up the par fives and uh there’s just a lot of birdies to be had. I hit a lot of greens, just didn’t get a lot close. And uh ball hasn’t really been going in from 20 or so feet. So, it’s been kind of a a grind. Uh but, you know, you never know. Hopefully, everybody out here’s so good. You can get hot any four days, you know. So, hopefully uh this one’s uh those four days. I asked Ricky this yesterday. You’ve developed in one of the kind of the fan favorites on tour and I expect you to have a nice following of kids looking for autographs today. Does that help you jump maybe jump start you a little bit heading into tomorrow knowing that there’s going to be people out there supporting you? Yeah, it’s uh just one of those things I’ve been super lucky with, especially with the kids. It always puts just things into perspective. I haven’t had a very fun, you know, year and a half. So, uh but when you get a bunch of kids coming up excited to get, you know, your name on their hat, like at least it it makes you feel good inside. Even if you made a a bogey, it’s uh it’s definitely something that kind of uh gives you a nice reality check. So, uh, like I said, I’m just been super lucky with the support I’ve had, uh, for a while now. So, uh, and it’s fun then to come to a place I haven’t been in a while and, um, get to meet a lot of those people and and kind of feel that, um, the love and support here. Craig, go ahead, Max. Everybody out here struggles at some point other than maybe Tiger Woods and Scotty Sheffler. Um, do you look at the fickleness of the game um as you go through this this stretch and does it help you uh kind of keep perspective and and realize it can it can come as the quick as it went and um I guess it’s yeah it’s probably important thing to keep in the back of your mind. Uh, but I don’t think anybody out here is, you know, you’re not just sitting here saying, “Oh, it’ll eventually click.” Like, you you need to you’re probably, you know, have some kind of like panic meter of trying to get better. I guess the balance is trying to recognize progress even if it’s not as fast as you would want it to be. Um, so kind of trying to look at little wins here and there, whether it’s, you know, good driving week or good driving day, uh, good round, something like that, and then looking at that as progress instead of being so anal that you need to get back to winning and top 10ing every other week, uh, like you used to. So, I think that’s probably the tough balance. But, I don’t think anybody out here’s struggling and thinking, well, it’s a fickle game. I, you know, I’ll have it soon. You know, it seems to go a lot faster than it comes back. Have you talked to Mike Kim about his uh that period of time where he just couldn’t make a cut and and kind and now all of a sudden he’s uh he’s shown up on leaderboards frequently and and seems to have it back in order. Uh no, I have not. Have you talked to anybody? I mean, is there um do you guys chat chat about about the states of your game and and uh and how it comes you can put it back together? Uh yeah, I uh you know, I played nine holes with Jason Day yesterday. Um we talked about a lot of things, but always he’s a breath of fresh air out here. He’s a wealth of knowledge, but uh Justin Thomas has been like the greatest friend you could ever ask for through all this. Uh call help too. But Justin and I talk all like all the time on his off weeks. He’ll check in on me, how it’s going. He did it all last week. So I have uh the utmost respect for him. I owe him a a ton just given his time and and the fact that he really cares. So that uh that has been really helpful. Um obviously I’m lucky I got a amazing wife but it is nice to hear it from people who kind of go have gone through um well not gone through it but just that play the game because it’s hard to explain at times you know what why something feeling bad is so disruptive. Uh, and then obviously you get to listen to a two-time major champion. It’s won a ton of golf tournaments out here. It’s uh, very fortunate to have somebody like that to lean on. Hey Max, with all the birdie opportunities out there on a course like this, how does that help you maybe find your game? I don’t know. I’ve actually played better on the hard ones this year. Uh I think cuz everybody’s struggling and you know the my biggest struggle this season has just been the the long clubs. Uh I’ve still ironed it pretty well. Especially the last I’d say like two three months. It’s been back to what I’m used to. So when it’s really hard and a lot of people aren’t making birdies, I can use the rest of my golf game to uh not get blown out. I guess just lose by a lot but not a runaway. Um, so when it it’s a course like this, it’s a bit tricky. I I need to find a way to manage the the the off the tea and the long stuff. You be a little probably more passive. Um, you know, there’s like a hole like number 10 today. Uh, we potentially could have got there. It is a really small green, but like just looking at that is that’s just probably going to be a three shot hole. Let’s try to play to our strengths. Wedge game’s been really good. So, um, I probably have to almost tone it back to then see to use what I’ve been good at. And, uh, yeah, hopefully that sparks something. The fairways aren’t really tiny here. There’s a couple tricky ones, but for the most part, I think you could probably scrape it around, uh, and then, like I said, try to use the iron game. So, yeah, maybe it can spark a little bit of something. Um, but, you know, it’s not something I really like focus on on a week like this. I’m I’m just trying to, you know, get the ball in the hole. if it looks ugly, if it feels ugly, but I I make a lot of birdies. I’ll be good with that and I’ll have to go, you know, kind of back to work the next week. But, uh, the goal is just to score this week for sure. Tom Max, how do you deal with a week like this? You say you come in not playing your best golf, but you come in here as one of the marquee names in the field. How do you Does that dichotomy put extra pressure on you? Does it affect you at all? Do you even worry about being one of the marquee names, one of the the drawing cards in this field? Uh, I wouldn’t say I like worry about it, but it has been a bummer to come to some cool places where you, you know, feel a lot of support and then not be there for 4 days. So, I’d be lying if it probably doesn’t affect you a little bit, but it’s not something like I’m not out there thinking I’m a marquee guy. Uh, you want to play well when you’re playing in front of a lot of people. Uh, you would like to put on a great show. We are, you know, entertainers. uh by trade. So, you want to go entertain. Um so, it’d be nice to, you know, do that uh and excel in front of people who come out and buy a ticket to watch you, you know, hit a golf ball around. So, it would be nice if I could do that for them. Uh but yeah, I’m not walking around there thinking, you know, all these people are here for me. So, it’s not exactly uh it’s not exactly like on the front of my uh uh front portion of my brain. over on the left, Nick. Then Doug, speaking of some of the times that you played well this year, you shot 64 on Friday at Quail Hollow. You were 12th at the Masters. What when you look at those weeks and those days, like how does the breakdown work of of analyzing that and and knowing what you did well and how do you bring that into other weeks as you as you move forward this season? Yeah, it’s tricky. Augusta, I played horrendous, but that golf course in some odd way, like if you know it really well, which I feel like I kind of got last year when I played well, I I was very uh disciplined in the leaves and just using the rest of my golf game to keep myself in it. But I hit it very poorly that week off the tea, so I just thought my way around the place really well. Um, you know, Quill Hollow having one great day was awesome, but that was uh I drove it well. So, I don’t know what I take from that exactly. Um, but what I will say is you I tended to come to places like this where the scores are really low and you almost get kind of lazy in your course management. And I think the one shining light of like the way my game is coming to a place like this is hopefully I’ll put a little bit more thought into leaves and you don’t need to be on every green in and uh regulation, you know, avoid some bogeies, sprinkle in some birdies, and just kind of watch that go. I think sometimes we play like last week for me, I played knowing the scores were low and anytime you miss a par five fairway, you’re just, you know, bummed out. So I need to do a better job of that. But uh so that’s what I would take from like Augusta cuz as poorly as I played and as decently as I scored um you know it is a very unique golf course uh much different than this but there is something to be learned from that. Doug Max, do you ever just walk away from the game uh just to kind of get your mind right? I know when you’re younger and trying to establish yourself it’s it’s probably a hard thing to do, but now that you’re a little bit older and you You’ve got a balance. You’ve got kind of a structure. Do you find more value and just kind of getting away? And what led to the question was hearing you talk about Justin and Jason and how much they’ve done for you and helped you mentally and so forth. Do you do you have things Well, a lot of people when they want to get away from work, they go play golf. Do you have stuff that you enjoy doing away from the game that really kind of helps you keep a balance? Um, well, obviously spend a ton of time with my family. That always helps. Uh it’s hard to really get away from the game in the middle of the season. We don’t have like loads of time off. I thought about skipping a bunch of events in the middle of the uh kind of the beginning of the summer, but I just don’t think I have that in me. Um it’s hard to get away from it. It’s just on your mind. I’m not going to lie, I’m looking forward to whenever I’m done this year and just like trying to get away from it. But someone asked me the other day like the difference between this and when I played poorly in 2017. And one is the golf’s a lot closer than it was then. But just the lack of anonymity is a bit hard. Everywhere I go, someone’s talking to me about golf. So, that’s obviously a great thing. Like I said, I’m really lucky, but it’s just hard to really go do much. Um, or used to really like going to sports bars and watching games with my friends, and that just like isn’t exactly a safe haven anymore. Uh, so no, it is hard. I don’t think that’s a good thing. I would I would like to uh I’ve been looking up new hobbies, so hopefully when I get home next week, I’ll I’ll start to get into something. So, it’s just a it comes with the territory, but it it doesn’t deter from what you know from the progression of golf. It just makes it a bit harder to feel refreshed, I think, has been the hardest part of this year. I haven’t done a good job of it myself. So, uh, going to try to mix some things up at home and make, uh, you know, like I said, have some hobbies and do some things that are, uh, not golf that, you know, bring me some joy cuz, you know, golf just like it’s a it’s a it’s you’re just so tied into results and once you kind of go down that path, it’s hard to stop. So, just it’s it’s a not like tons of fun. So, I want to find something that’s, you know, fun that I feel like I can get better at. Like what? I don’t know. I was uh thinking about getting into cooking. When you have a two or, you know, two and a halfyear-old, you know, make a lot more meals than I was for myself. So, I’d like to get better at that. I could treat my wife to a not my typical home-cooked meal, something a little bit better. So, I think I might get into that. Uh thought about getting into fishing. That seems nice and peaceful and no one can bother me out there. Um so, yeah. I don’t know. I’m going workshop it, but I’ve got some ideas. I I’ll give I’ll give a couple things a go and see how how it works out. What is your typical homecooked meal? Uh I mean I I can grill a little bit. I can make a decent uh sauce for pasta, but I’m not super great at it. Fortunately, my son eats chicken tenders, so he thinks I’m probably a great a great cook. We’ll do final one with Tom. Max, you talk about the anonymity and getting away from everything. Did Did that factor into your stepping away from social media where you had connected with so many fans over the years? Oh no. Um the reason for that uh was just the uh the vitrial you read online. It has become a safe haven for people who are I think angry themselves. It is uh it is quite absurd what people uh how comfortable people feel writing awful things. Uh I step away a lot also from Instagram, but I feel like that’s been a bit less crazy. Although it’s still not great, so I take my breaks from that. But yeah, I just uh if you wouldn’t choose to like sit around a table with somebody who’s being that mean, I I don’t know. You would always get up. If you were right there and and someone was being rude to you, you would either ask them to leave or you would leave. Uh so yeah, Twi Twitter or X or whatever is just become is an awful awful place. Uh, it took me a while to catch on to how impactful that can be and how much of a waste of energy, but I miss the connection with the fans, but nothing comes without I mean just so much like hate and anger. There’s a lot of love in there, too, but unfortunately it really does get overwhelmed with the you can have one really bad one, but I don’t know if it’s a gambling world or whatnot. I’m happy they can do it because uh it seems, you know, fun as hell uh in golf, but I mean, you get people people say some bad bad things. You get people telling you should die on the internet. So, has nothing to do with not connecting. I’d love to keep connecting with people, but I try to do it in person a bit more because I have yet to meet somebody in person who has said anything even remotely mean. So, uh yeah, it’s a safe haven for uh for lack of a better term. Sorry, PJ tour. Have you sensed a difference in yourself since you backed off from Twitter here and there? You just realize just how much you don’t need it. You know, I got a lot of my sports info from there and at times that can be I I miss that. But I mean, I find out eventually like when Luca got traded to the Lakers, I had no idea. But I got 12 text messages, I would imagine, within the first five minutes. So that’s the thing is I think when you first step away from it, you feel like you’re missing something. Uh but you start to realize that absolutely you’re missing absolutely nothing. And I think that was the I wish I would have done it earlier. Um but like I said, a big part of getting all the support from people has been through social media and connecting with people. I’ve met some awesome people through uh the internet, but uh I just think it’s just become uh more of a negative, like far more of a negative than a positive. So, uh, I just, you know, read the athletic now and get my sports news from them. Perfect. That’s all the questions we have. Thanks for the time, M. All right. All right. All right.