Max Homa: Throw your fastball

Strategy
#1

I love the Get a Grip podcast, and think Max does a great job of talking through is own issues and areas where he is trying to improve.

One of the things he said today was after a discussion he had with a buddy who is a professional pitcher, and the advice boiled down to: At the end of the day, sometimes it’s best to just throw your fastball and make the batter beat you.

Max expanded on the idea and translated it to golf and basically said he is now focusing on swinging the swing he has, and if that doesn’t work, fixing his mechanics later.

It’s a strategy that I’m REALLY bad at. Trying to force shots, trying to hit a cut when I’ve been drawing the ball all day, trying to hit a shot I haven’t practiced… My failure rate on these shots is high, but I’m good at forgetting them… One of my main focuses moving forward is going to be acknowledging the swing I have, and playing to that that day.

It’s one of my goals for 2021. Play the swing I brought that day, and work on fixing it after the round… Stay in the moment on the course and just play what I have.

I thought it was a good summation of one of my big mental flaws.

2021; THROW THE FASTBALL.

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#2

That’s the thing, just letting go and “throwing the fastball” or swinging without overthinking it. I’ve always thought the only other athlete close to a golfer is a pitcher. They start from a stand still and try to hit a specific spot. It’s very mental like golf. Any other spring activity we are reactive so there is no thinking.

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#3

love it…

maybe not a great “thought” but the mentality I try and have is “if I hit it into the junk, I am going to do it with AUTHORITY”

I don’t want any part of steering it or fear based golf. Look at where you want to hit it and do it assertively

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#4

Excellent wisdom received a few years ago from an instructor …

“We play the game of golf …
… we practice golf swing”

Of course when we’re still in the learning phase ((:: the poster is pointing to himself:: :laughing:)) it’s difficult to separate all those mechanical / technique thoughts and to just … as mentioned above … react.

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#5

Some days the swing I bring is a duck hook. I can’t play that one, so I have to fix it on the fly. But in general I agree with not doing things you’re not good at during a round. I try to hit the ball exclusively straight on short irons, and I move it right to left on long irons. I prefer to hit low running chips and pitches whenever I can. If I have to go high I accept that my chances of up and down are way less because that’s just a hard shot for me.

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#6

Same here. Especially at my bogey golfer level. I like to visualize the shot I’d like to hit … but then … set up for the shot I can hit…

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#7

My boy Max showing some mental toughness out there yesterday… Followed up a dumb triple with a 2 birdies… I’m really hoping he keeps up the solid play this year.

It’s been interesting to hear him talk about his approach to golf and see the game from the eyes of someone who isn’t a superstar.

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#8

Ha, well he bogeyed the last hole… cost him 20k…

It’ll be interesting to hear him on the podcast tomorrow, but I think he’s going to have a good year!

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#9

Really enjoying Max post win… he’s a little hungover, but really happy.

It’s awesome to get his perspective on the world of golf, and it’s interesting to hear him talk about professional golf.

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#10

He really has an interesting ball flight off the tee… was striping that low fade down the stretch

I thought yesterday’s finish was one of the best in a while. I think CBS knocked it out of the park with some of the aerial views and drone shots.

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#11

I need to figure out how to watch live golf… I was just refreshing the espn leaderboard!

#12

I record and watch the back 9 in about 1 hour sunday night after kids go down

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#13

That’s smart… we haven’t had cable in like 5 years.

#14

Honestly, this most recent episode is worth a listen just for some insight into the mental side of golf… Max clearly has his own issues but has worked to put himself into a positive mental state… I think both in life and in golf.

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#15

Was listening to Hack it Out Golf and @ScottFawcettDECADE touched on a similar point… I forget the exact numbers, but basically he found that 100% mental commitment saves you strokes on the course… basically, not being committed to your shots can cost you a 1/3 of a stroke per shot.

This is one of those concepts that I think is both really, really hard while being incredibly simple. We are out there to have fun, but one of the things I’m working on is tuning out the “fun” of the round when I am over the ball, thinking about the shot I’m about to hit, committing to hit it and then making my swing.

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#16

I am a little divided on this one. I just got finished with a 2 day tournament. I was tied for the lead in my flight after first day. Hit my driver typically well. One duck hook cost me but my irons were as good as ever.

Second day my irons are fading which I now realize is my “tendency” with my irons. Didn’t get it fixed till it was too late. When I fixed it I was hitting GIR. I have been thinking about this situation and I took an index card and will start a list of “fixes” for my “tendencies.”

So my fix for my fade is the glove or towel under the armpits thought process. I “tend” to take the club too far straight back and get separation - my arms from my torso - which causes me to hit outside in and fade. With a 20mph crosswind it was detrimental to my score.

I will write these fixes down ONLY on my tendencies that require minimal change to fix while playing. Not a bunch of swing change stuff at all. Just little “checks” that I can reference when my swing starts acting up in a consistent manner.

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#17

Absolutely. My take, on he baseball term, is go with your best pitch. In golf, I’m ‘dancing with the one that brung me’. For any given round, my swing is my swing. Don’t try to force things, because it’ll generally work out poorly. Well, for me it has.

As my dad would have said, “just hit the goddamned ball”. That tends to weed out number of swing thoughts.

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#18

Perfect explanation. Totally agree.

Looking forward to seeing how he does in the match play.

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