Max Homa says he misses the fans. The sports news, too. And no sports news was greater in early February than this NBA blockbuster: Luka Doncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, one of Homa’s favorite teams.   

But he didn’t hear about it.

At least instantaneously. 

“I had no idea,” Homa said, “but I got 12 text messages within the first five minutes.”

Everything else about his days on X (the site formerly known as Twitter) has gone unmissed, though, he said. Earlier this year, he’d decided to stop using the platform, which was a bit of a surprise, as he’d been maybe pro golf’s most engaging user of it — but he said Wednesday he feels better off for it. 

Talking ahead of this week’s John Deere Classic, Homa said X “has become a safe haven for people who are angry themselves.”

“If you wouldn’t choose to sit around a table with somebody who’s being that mean,” Homa said, “you would always get up if you were right there and someone was being rude to you. You would either 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. But 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 with the — you can have one really bad one.”

In March, Homa had said that the site was “for the sick” and that he was “sick.” Previously, he’d maybe been best known on the platform for playfully roasting users’ swing videos. 

But Wednesday, he called X “a safe haven for a**holes.”  

“I don’t know if it’s the gambling world or whatnot,” Homa said. “I’m happy they can do it because it seems fun as hell in golf, but you get people — people say some bad, bad things. You get people telling you you should die on the internet.

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“Has nothing to do with not connecting. I would 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.”

Has Homa felt a difference in himself after stopping?

He said he’s realized how much he didn’t need the site. 

“When you first step away from it, you feel like you’re missing something,” Homa said, “but you start to realize that you’re missing absolutely nothing. I think that was the — I wish I would’ve done it earlier. 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 the internet, but I just think it’s become more of a — far more of a negative than a positive.

“So I just read the Athletic now and get my sports news from them.”

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