PALM CITY, Fla. \u2014 Max Homa has time to kill as another pop-up shower makes its presence known at Floridian National Golf Club. A whirlwind content shoot has been put on hold, allowing him the opportunity to ponder a question he\u2019ll certainly get from peers and fans alike at the PGA Tour\u2019s season-opening The Sentry: Why Cobra Golf?<\/p>\n
For more than a decade, Homa\u2019s staff bag was filled with Titleist clubs that helped him go from relative unknown on the Korn Ferry Tour to one of the most marketable names on the PGA Tour. Five tour titles in a two-year stretch reinforced the belief that Homa was more than a social-media darling.<\/p>\n
Expectations were at an all-time high entering the 2024 season, but results didn\u2019t match the forecast.<\/p>\n
Homa failed to win for the first time in three years and missed out on qualifying for the Tour Championship. In the aftermath, he started to take inventory of the game and noticed a worrying strokes gained\/off-the-tee trend. After finishing no worse than 41st in the statistical category the previous two seasons, he struggled to keep it in play and plummeted to 164th.<\/p>\n
A \u201cweird year\u201d led Homa to contemplate something he had never seriously considered: switching club brands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI drove it poorly for the first time, so I just thought it wasn\u2019t necessarily the golf club that makes the ball go straight,\u201d Homa told Golf Digest. \u201cMy caddie [Joe Greiner] said it proves the golf club doesn\u2019t make the ball go straighter every time. You make it go straight. Go find something that can do that. Go through the business process and see what\u2019s what. I think that gave me the confidence to go shop around. So when the time came for the opportunity to look around, I did. It\u2019s been a weird year. Making golf fun can be tricky, and sometimes change is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
With myriad suitors rolling out the red carpet to land one of the biggest draws on tour, Homa opted to take it slow, go through the courting process for the first time in his career and embrace being the cynosure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to consider myself low maintenance,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t enjoy being the center of attention. Being truthful, I wanted to experience what that feels like [to be the center of attention]. Feeling wanted is a nice thing. Even in my own family, I\u2019m fourth in line behind the dog. So it feels good to feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Years prior, Homa admitted to daydreaming about being on staff with Cobra Golf, but he never considered pursuing the musing to see if it had merit. But as Homa started to seriously assess the equipment landscape, Cobra quickly stood out as a brand that checked plenty of boxes. Their gear more than held its own during head-to-head testing. A smaller, more intimate tour staff that already featured good friends Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland was also a plus. So, too, was the opportunity to work with Ben Schomin, Cobra\u2019s Tour Operations Manager, in an official capacity.<\/p>\n
During Cobra\u2019s initial pitch to Homa, the 34-year-old found himself interviewing Schomin to get a feel for how he fit pros in the past. The equipment was good, but Homa wanted to make sure the guy working on his gear had the chops.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was interviewing Schomin more than anybody in the room, just to make sure he could fit [clubs],\u201d Homa said. \u201cA lot people make really good stuff\u2014I haven\u2019t hit every club in the world\u2014and everyone\u2019s technology seems to be getting closer together. It makes the fitting process very important, and I learned that the last few years. I\u2019m not really a gearhead. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important that I trust Ben, because I\u2019m going to put a lot of faith in his work. The two or three times we\u2019ve worked together, I was keen to know how he goes about his business. I have talked to [Rickie] a lot about Ben and know he gets along with him and trusts him. I do think that\u2019s a massive part of all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take Schomin long to prove his bona fides after Homa and Cobra came together on a multi-year club agreement. As the duo kicked around ideas for new equipment that would best suit his skill set, the conversation eventually led to the irons, long considered the best part of Homa\u2019s game. Initial testing with Cobra\u2019s King MBs made Homa believe a change could be in the cards, but a few issues persisted. The toe profile, topline width and offset were a noticeable detraction from the Titleist blade profile he\u2019d grown accustomed to seeing for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n
Could Schomin and team replicate the old look in a Cobra iron?<\/p>\n
Until a few years ago, such a request would have required a herculean effort. According to Schomin, a one-off forged product requires five tools to be made, pushing the turnaround time to anywhere from six to 18 months for an initial prototype. Homa\u2019s timeframe was somewhat shorter at four weeks. It could be debated that no one has embraced 3D printing more than Cobra. When Bryson DeChambeau was on staff, Cobra\u2019s R&D team created countless prototypes using 3D-printing technology. Fowler and Woodland have benefitted from the rapid design process as well, along with recreational golfers following the release of Cobra\u2019s Limit3d iron. In other words, the idea-to-creation timeframe wasn\u2019t an impossible ask.<\/p>\n
Instead of scoffing at the inquiry, Schomin and Ryan Roach, Cobra\u2019s Director of Innovation, worked behind the scenes to bring Homa\u2019s request to life. Two sets of blades were made from different metals (316 Stainless Steel and 17-4 Stainless Steel) to give Homa options in the feel department. Even better? The sets came to fruition in less than four weeks\u2014just in time for Homa to test them prior to the Presidents Cup. (Homa chose the softer 316 Stainless Steel heads during testing.)<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I could\u2019ve captured his reaction on video when we handed them to him,\u201d Schomin said. \u201cHe was freaking out about the look, and he hadn\u2019t even hit them yet. He was so stoked. Not only did we make him a bespoke set, we made two. One of the interesting things about the 3D stuff is the response on feel. Players can\u2019t quite put it into words. It feels at least as good as forged, but there\u2019s no other category. There\u2019s nothing above that. Spin numbers were great, flight. This can be a complicated process, depending on how the player wants to make it. I want the player to experience and see what we have, but when you take the step, and he hits them and likes them, it\u2019s a huge weight off your shoulders. We nailed it. To establish a baseline was a huge step.\u201d<\/p>\n
An early \u201cwin\u201d on the gear front allowed Homa to see Cobra\u2019s 3D technologies at work, opening the doors for future projects that Schomin believes could produce immediate dividends for their newest signee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think those irons showed him we were not only serious about working for him, but doing it in a unique way,\u201d Schomin said. \u201cMax has a great brand. He\u2019s very unique in that he has a great personality, he\u2019s funny, good socially. He checks all the boxes. Anyone would have been lucky to have him. When you have someone who\u2019s that good across the board, you need to give them a reason to pick you. I think our design capabilities give us an edge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nailing the mid and short irons paved the way to explore different options in 4- and 5-iron, where Homa generally transitions from traditional blades into more forgiving offerings that don\u2019t penalize mishits nearly as much. While the exact combination remains a game-time decision for Kapalua\u2014it will likely include King CB and Limit3d\u2014Homa noted the Limit3d long irons offered several jaw-dropping moments during recent testing with Schomin.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The Limit3d] 4-iron feels like a rocket ship when you hit it,\u201d Homa said. \u201cEvery time I hit it I tell Ben it feels like it\u2019s going too far. But then he shows me the numbers and I can see it isn\u2019t going too far; it\u2019s nailing the numbers. I think that\u2019s one that\u2019ll make its way into my bag. It just feels so good\u2014like more of a driving iron than one you\u2019d hit into a green. That area of the bag has been pleasantly surprising since we started working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the club that eventually led Homa to begin the equipment brand search in the first place, the driver has many layers.<\/p>\n
First and foremost, it needs to sound a certain way. Homa describes the sound of Cobra\u2019s DS-Adapt LS as a \u201cdull hollow with some meat behind it\u201d\u2014a sensation that meets his audible requirements. It also needs to perform when called upon, something that occurred with regularity during head-to-head testing between Titleist and Cobra. The Cobra wound up producing comparable numbers with a tighter dispersion and improved spin rates on mis-hits, leading Homa to believe it was ready for a tournament setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou assume what you\u2019re using is the best thing, and that almost means you think the [performance] gap is bigger,\u201d he said. \u201cAt least that\u2019s how I saw it. Once I started hitting the Titleist and Cobra in a head-to-head, I saw the speed wasn\u2019t down and the spin seemed similar. We still have to tweak a few things, but the speed and audio doesn\u2019t seem far enough off to think this can\u2019t be as good, if not better. I love the feel, but it feels like it can be the total package.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s one aspect of the driver Homa\u2019s still getting acclimated to, it\u2019s Cobra\u2019s new Future Fit 33 hosel technology. With 33 distinct loft and lie angle settings (that\u2019s not a typo), Homa has the ability to dial in his driver to the nth degree\u2014without switching heads. During the content shoot, Homa was alternating between 10.5-degree DS-Adapt LS heads set in the A1 (standard) and A3 (one-degree flat and one-degree lower loft) but felt the \u201cA3\u201d was giving him the best results.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does seem like we\u2019re moving in this new direction where you can make a driver as custom to yourself as you want,\u201d said Homa. \u201cFor the everyday golfer who doesn\u2019t have the luxury I do\u2014I have people to make a club for me\u2014they can grab a driver, and once you understand all the clicks and settings, make it how they want it. That\u2019s a massive thing. The more options the better, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the gear has performed well at home, Homa won\u2019t know how it works in a game setting until he steps foot on the tee at Kapalua. It\u2019s natural to feel some trepidation when breaking in a new set of clubs for the first time, but Homa is fully prepared to embrace the experience of putting each club through the ringer in a punishing environment that requires him to go through his entire arsenal of flights and shot shapes.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to go to Kapalua will be the best way to hyper speed [the acclimation process],\u201d he said. \u201cIf I were to do this for the first time in Palm Springs where it doesn\u2019t blow and everything is flat, it\u2019s easier to play practice round golf. Getting to go to [Kapalua] will teach me quickly to trust it, because you\u2019re hitting downhill shots off crazy lies with a lot of wind. Especially with the driver. I\u2019ll have such a massive amount of internal data on how it performs in a bunch of different situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing that will help ease the anxiety of a full-on club transition is the golf ball. Unlike other brands with a ball in the equipment lineup, Cobra only offers hardgoods, which allows Homa to keep playing the same Titleist Pro V1x and maintain a relationship with the manufacturer. Compared other gear opportunities that would have required him to make wholesale changes across the board, Cobra offered a best-of-all-worlds scenario. Plus, Homa wasn\u2019t interested in going through rigorous ball testing again after switching from the Pro V1 to Pro V1x last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the noise off a putter is drastically different [during testing],\u201d he said. \u201cTo have to do that all over again with a different company, it just sounded like a headache. We did a little bit of it, but I didn\u2019t love the process. I love the Titleist ball. Getting to maintain that constant when we were changing a bunch of other stuff was good. Rickie\u2019s doing something similar, so it wasn\u2019t like I was breaking the mold here. I get to mix a couple things I really like.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the rain begins to subside, Homa prepares to head back to the range. But there\u2019s still one more question that needs to be answered: Has he considered the reaction to his signing on social media? With more than 1.4 million followers combined across Instagram and X, Homa has a loyal following tracking his every move. As much as he\u2019d like to believe the commentariat will embrace his decision for a fresh start on the equipment side, Homa isn\u2019t naive. He knows the Monday morning quarterbacks will surface.<\/p>\n
Homa\u2019s been working hard on trying to care less about what others think, and he views this particular change in scenery as an opportunity to put on his Teflon armor, block out the noise and prove last season was a fluke through strong results on the course. And, hopefully, a win or two follows.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s on social media, it\u2019s going to be negative,\u201d he says. \u201cWe can sit here and question [the move], but at the end of the day, it\u2019s not like I did this just because I wanted to do it. I like playing good golf more than anything, outside of being with my family. I like playing good golf more than any amount of money. I like playing good golf more than damn near anything in my whole life. I did my due diligence. I\u2019m very pleased with what I\u2019m hitting now. I\u2019m excited for the change and to see where it takes me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PALM CITY, Fla. \u2014 Max Homa has time to kill as another pop-up shower makes its presence known…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3020],"tags":[21174,3122,21176,21177,2124,21173,21175,82],"class_list":["post-56441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cobra","tag-2025-equipment-signings","tag-cobra","tag-gear-signings-2025","tag-its-been-a-weird-year-why-max-homa-made-a-surprise-move-to-cobra","tag-max-homa","tag-max-homa-cobra","tag-pga-tour-equipment-signings","tag-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}