Hovland warns: – I don’t quite understand the reason

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Viktor Hovland has fallen to 7th place in the world ranking and stands with only six tournament starts in 2024. The closest man in the ranking who has played fewer tournaments this year than Hovland is Brice Garnett (five tournaments) in 162nd place.

Hovland has previously stated that he does not want to play tournaments when the game is not right.

That is why he has prioritized a lot of training this year to find his way back to his old rhythms. Hovland says he is trying to get back to the swing and feel he had in the 2020/2021 season.

– It’s going to sound a little silly, but I actually prefer my golf swing better in 2021. I feel like my ‘ball-striking’ was the best then, Hovland said at the press conference ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.

He describes himself as a curious person who likes to ask questions and to get different perspectives and input from people on the game.

This has led to Hovland now working with his fourth coach in the last 14 months. Jeff Smith, Joe Mayo, and Grant Waite have all had coaching responsibility for Hovland before he just before this year’s Masters returned to the coach he had in the 2020 season: Dana Dahlquist.

The case continues below the video.

The curious approach, on the other hand, can sometimes be too much, says Hovland’s captain from last year’s Ryder Cup, Luke Donald.

Discovery’s commentator duo Per Haugsrud and Henrik Bjørnstad both agree with the former world number one from England.

– I completely agree with that. He is, after all, a “connoisseur” of both good and bad. He has succeeded very well despite his young age. He has done most things correctly, but now he is in a small down period, says Haugsrud.

– I have my own opinion about what he is doing with his swing now, and I don’t quite understand the reason for changing his swing as drastically as he is clearly doing. He has so little margin to gain from hitting the ball better. After all, he is at his best among the five best in the world at exactly that. I don’t quite understand the thinking that he should change and return to the swing and feeling he had in 2021. I can understand the romanticism of that and that he feels he hit better then, but the results speak for themselves, says Bjørnstad.

In English, the expression is “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Bjørnstad feels that Hovland should primarily focus on other parts of the game and not the long game which is his strength.

– Instead of working on the close game and taking new steps with the putting, it seems that he has taken a bit of a big step with the long game, which I don’t understand. It seems a bit like he is trying to stitch together two turns. In recent years, he has worked on hitting longer, which he has managed, but it has gone a little beyond precision. Because he was extremely precise in 2021, so he is probably trying to stitch the two worlds together. Historically speaking, there are very few people who get both a bag and a sack.

Bjørnstad says that he is a supporter of Hovland’s curiosity and desire to test things, but that one must be careful not to go too far.

– You also have to be careful not to stick your head too far down the rabbit hole. Then you can quickly get lost. I have seen endless numbers of golfers who have played amazingly well and are about to take the next step. In that process, they have completely lost their way and never returned to where they were, becoming completely mediocre. There are dangers in tinkering too much with something that works, concludes Bjørnstad.

Discovery’s golf expert Marius Thorp also sees Donald’s point, but like Bjørnstad, he believes that that curiosity is what has taken Hovland to where he is today.

– You can end up in situations where you get a little stuck. It is perhaps easier to do when you are on a quest than when things are flowing. It is easier to dig into things when you are looking for solutions. On the other hand, it is also a strength to have this curiosity. That has taken him to where he is today. He tries to understand and learn when someone talks to him, and doesn’t just follow along. But it is important to find a balance.

When we will see Hovland back in the tournament is not entirely certain. 16.-19. May is the year’s second Major, the PGA Championship. It may soon be that Hovland will therefore be seen in the Wells Fargo Championship the week before.

Last year, Hovland had his best result in a major when he finished second in the 2023 PGA Championship.