Professional golfers look spoiled when they throw tantrums on the course.
Don’t take my word for it—that’s according to Max Homa.
“I don’t like when people break clubs,” Homa said before the RBC Heritage. “I don’t like when people beat up the golf course because we deal with it, and I think breaking clubs makes us look very, very spoiled. I try my absolute best not to do it, and when it does happen, as far as slamming a tee box, I’m very upset with myself because we’re very lucky to play this game where we do, and I think it is a bad look.”
There was more than a hint of retroactive irony in Homa’s statement which came in response to a question about Sergio Garcia’s meltdown during the final round of the Masters (Garcia snapped his driver over a cooler, was immediately reprimanded by a green jacket and eventually issued a public apology).
A few days after criticizing Garcia, Homa violently threw his club after a failed punch shot out of the trees at Harbour Town. He had done something similar at last year’s PGA Championship and the 2023 WM Phoenix Open. To his credit, Homa admitted to his history of outbursts while being critical of Garcia.
Throwing clubs and having outbursts is not a new phenomenon in golf. One of my core golf memories is watching Rory McIlroy launch a 3-iron into a lake at Doral. Hell, Tommy “Thunder” Bolt was throwing clubs back in the 1950s. Golf has a long history of tantrums.
Garcia would definitely be in the hall of fame for such antics given his extensive history of acting like a child. Back in 2019, Garcia was so poorly behaved during the Saudi International—he went berserk in a bunker and damaged multiple greens—that he was issued an extremely rare disqualification based on “serious misconduct.”
So rare are these DQs that you can hardly find any examples of them.
The fine line between tantrum and conduct unbecoming
I think the first reaction when seeing a pro golfer throw a club is that it’s relatable.
I’ve thrown a few clubs in my day. I’ve left a couple of broken putters sitting in trash cans.
It’s nice to know pro golfers aren’t immune to such frustrations. Even the best players in the world get so impatient that they snap.
At the same time, the temper tantrums are … not so relatable.
These are athletes playing for millions of dollars. Garcia, Homa and others are immensely wealthy because of this game. They have a platform in front of millions of fans.
Outbursts are commonplace in many sports but it’s reasonable to think golfers should be held to a higher standard than a hockey player whose performance is reliant on aggression.
Would it be appropriate for golfers to be hit with harsher punishments for these tantrums?
As mentioned, Garcia was once disqualified. Should a guy like Homa be penalized, more than a measly fine, for throwing a club? Should it be a stroke penalty or a DQ?
Or is all of this going too far?
“I don’t know where I’d draw that line exactly, but I definitely think beating up a golf course would be probably, because the rest of us have to play it,” Homa said when asked what is OK and what isn’t for tantrums. “But that’s a tough thing to handle or to decide upon because it is so subjective. If I do something where no one is watching on TV, that gets graded a lot lower than when it’s in front of everybody. I don’t know how you would land that plane.”
Homa brings up an interesting point about TV. Had he not been shown throwing the club at Harbour Town, none of this would be a story. There would be no clip getting passed around social media.
At the same time, some will argue the PGA Tour and other golf organizations could draw a little harder line here.
Players having personality is awesome. Players slamming their clubs and acting like children isn’t.
Sean’s take
I think this really comes down to how you see pro golf.
If you view it as purely an entertainment product that should act like any other sport, tantrums probably don’t bother you in the slightest.
You probably don’t care if the players wear shorts. Traditional golf standards should be thrown out the window. More like the WM Phoenix Open, less like the Masters.
This will come as no surprise to those who read and comment but I prefer the more traditional approach.
Now, do tantrums “bother” me? No. I think they are pretty funny, honestly.
However, I think something like what Garcia did is a little beyond the spirit of the game. Golfers should be held to a higher standard than snapping clubs over coolers and whacking a chunk out of tee box where everyone else now has to play from.
I would have had no issue with them disqualifying Garcia for what he did but a warning is probably fair.
The enforcement of this is a hard question to answer but I would like to see the Tour take a slightly firmer stance if a player causes noticeable damage to the course with their outburst. In egregious cases, DQ players. In more common tantrum situations, give players a warning that lasts for a few tournaments. Another violation and you are bounced from the tournament.
What do you think? Let me know below in the comments.
Top Photo Caption: Sergio Garcia tosses a club during the Masters. (GETTY IMAGES/Scott K. Brown)
