Golf fans have every right to be tired of listening to "nauseating" talk of all the money players are earning and want to earn, says Max Homa, who expressed his own "fatigue" he has "from all of this garbage going on".
After a Player Advisory Council meeting after The Masters, though, Homa is hopeful that the future can be bright for golf fans.
The Masters continued the trend of viewing figures on the decline for big golf events on TV, and while there could be mitigating circumstances it's obvious that the average fan is being turned away by all the money talk.
Players who have left for LIV Golf for millions moaning about ranking points, and PGA Tour prize purses being given huge bumps - at every turn modern men's pro golf is being framed solely by the money.
Although attending events in person is still good fun, Homa acknowledges that on the viewing side the continued dominance of dollar signs at every turn has left fans fatigued - including himself.
"I've actually been pretty amazed this year with the fatigue I have from all of this garbage going on," Homa said at the RBC Heritage.
"But each event on-site has felt amazing. The Masters was incredible. Bay Hill was awesome. The Players was awesome. All these events I've been to have been great.
"Yet on the internet and what I'm seeing with those numbers and all that, it does seem like yeah, I would imagine fans have fatigue.
"They probably should have fatigue. I don't know why they'd want to care about how much money we're making and how much more money we want to make. It's quite nauseating."
Golf as a participation sport is still in good health, but it's transferring the fun aspect over to TV viewers that is the next aim.
"I love golf. I want golf to continue to thrive," added Homa. "About people watching golf, that doesn't mean golf is going down. It's actually going way up. More people are playing. That's cool.
"Would I like people to do both? Sure. But I'm just glad that golf is continuing to gain popularity."
And after a PAC meeting after The Masters, Homa believes that there could be plans on the horizon to provide more entertainment to bring back viewers through TV and online to the game.
"I can only speak on what I know we're trying to do. We had a really great PAC meeting yesterday," said Homa.
"I was really inspired by the hope and plan to make it better for the fans. I think we hit this year-and-a-half- or two-year rut as both golfers and golf leagues that was just about making the players happy, and unfortunately and quite obviously the fans were not benefitted by that.
Never too busy for his fans.Fresh off a career-best major finish, @MaxHoma is feeling the love @RBC_Heritage. pic.twitter.com/d9ys2y2RhoApril 16, 2024
"I'm very hopeful that at some point here soon, we've been shown that we are nothing without those watching us, and they can stop watching us whenever they'd like. Hopefully more innovation will go into making their viewing process a lot more engaging and fun because that's why we get to do this."
And Homa did at least offer that positive update, later adding that he does feel the PGA Tour product will improve over the coming years.
"There's light at the end of this tunnel for the golf fan," he insisted. "There's innovation, possibilities. It's not nearly that this is just what golf looks like and we need to hope people like it.
"There's ways we can manipulate it a little bit in a good way to gain fan engagement, make it more fun for them to watch. It was truly all about just what we need to do better as a Tour for golf fans to be more inclined to watched.
"I think at times it's easy to say this is just what golf looks like, and I think it was nice to see that people have other out looks on that that are a lot more optimistic."
