6 steps to stripping it like 6-time tour winner Max Homa
Brian Manzella
November 16, 2024
Getty Images
Six-time PGA Tour winner John Maxwell Homa was the individual champion at the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship while attending the University of California Berkeley. The world No. 10 ranked fifth but had never cracked the top 70 until he began working with GOLF Top 100 teacher Mark Blackburn in mid-2020.
Homa, 33, finished T9 in his first PGA Tour event as champion at the Frys.com Open and earned his first win at the Web.com Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am. He finished 17th on the Web.com money list to earn his PGA Tour card for the 2014-15 season. In 2019, Max won the Wells Fargo Championship for his first PGA Tour victory.
Since June 2020, Blackburn has been focusing on reducing Homa’s backhand lift and changing his swing towards fade. Max went on to win four times over the next three years and was selected to play for the 2022 US Presidents Cup team. After winning the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open, Homa went 3-1-1 at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.
In November 2023, he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, hitting 19-under par to win for the first time outside the US. call the PGA Tour’s ShotLink. Talk about Maxed out!
Below we break down the six steps to stripping it like Homa.
6 steps to swing like Max
1. Address
Homa is performed with a slight bend of the knee, a long stance and extended arms. All this helps him to make his rotary oriented swing. But even with all these vertical features, he is able to rotate his upper back and shoulders to free his arms.
2. The Takeaway
The “triangle” of Max’s arms and club remains intact without much twisting of the torso compared to his Touring peers. This move keeps the clubhead high and out of his hands and stops his fade-centric swing.
3. Up
Max added a ton of back rotation when he kept some bend in his right knee. His early return is very flat at the top, due to the low arm angle.
4. Descending
Because of his late, full retreat, Max starts from the bottom without getting very far outside. Look at the club shaft—it cuts through his right arm twice, as his hips open at high speed.
5. Impact
If you want to hit straight balls and fades, this is your ideal impact position: hips and stomach facing the target, shoulders level and right arm still under left.
6. Release
Homa controls his ball light from left to right without clearing, releasing the stop. Note that the butt of the club is facing back towards the camera – good. Both arms straight – even better. And the toe is up. As we often say on these pages, copy this!
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