Viktor Hovland explains his playing problems and highlights where he needs to improve

Victor Hovland has had impressive moments in his career and the young Norwegian has captivated golf fans on several occasions. This season has not been particularly strong for him, however, as he needs to perform well to secure a spot at the BMW Championship. Ahead of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the 26-year-old revealed that he decided to make changes during the off-season.

Hovland was frustrated with not being able to hit his desired cut shot, so he focused on hitting more cut shots. In the process, he disrupted a key element of his swing, making it harder for him to control the club face during his swing. While changes don’t always lead to positive results, Hovland was eager to move past his frustrations and move forward in his career. He now plans to revisit and tweak some of these changes.

“The things that I was doing in my swing that made me good, that allowed me to predict a certain ball flight, I went home and tried to do a certain move, not necessarily because I had in mind that I wanted to change my pattern. I knew my pattern was really good. But I was upset that I wasn’t cutting the ball as far as I wanted to,” he said, quoted by Golf Monthly.

“My ball flight started to draw a bit, which is fine. I was still hitting it well. But sometimes I would have liked to see the cut visually.

In the off-season I made a conscious effort to cut the ball more, and when I did that I ruined a relationship that’s in my swing that makes it really hard for me to maintain control of my face when I’m coming down the road.”

Victor Hovland believes that there is much to learn from such experiences. He points out that he understands exactly why these problems occurred, as he has analyzed all the factors involved and is in the process of returning to his previous form. According to his statements, the most important thing is that he has all the data and facts on the table, which allows him to identify his mistakes and focus on what needs to be improved.

Since the divorce, Hovland has reconnected with coach Joe Mayo and is optimistic about regaining his old form. He is unsure how long it will take to return to the level of play he displayed in previous seasons. Looking back on earlier days, Hovland noted that he was unsure what aspects of his game needed attention.

“I’m not sure how long it’s going to take me to play my best golf. It could be this week. It could be next week. But at least now I’m on the path to progress,” he said.

“I’m on my way to improvement. Whereas before you were playing bad, but you didn’t know why and you didn’t know how to solve it. That’s mentally very challenging.”

Hovland emphasizes that he is still uncertain about what fans and others can expect from him in the near future, as he may perform poorly this week. The most important thing for the Norwegian is that he is on the road to improvement and is optimistic about the progress. Currently, Hovland is 57th in the FedEx Cup standings. In order to qualify for the BMW Championship, he will have to perform much better, with a top 15 finish as his goal. In a very competitive field, Hovland will have to perform much better to secure a spot.

Viktor Hovland on his Olympic achievements

The 26-year-old was not happy with his performance at the Olympics, where he represented Norway and finished in a tie for 30th place. Despite his desire to succeed and bring a medal to his country, Hovland had to settle for 30th place. Although the last two rounds were positive for him, Hovland noted that they did not boost his confidence for the challenges ahead. In a media interview, he admitted that it was a weekend where he “made a few putts.”

Hovland explained that he hit the ball consistently during the first few rounds, but that the course was very punishing for mistakes off the tee and on approach shots. He reported that while the course can produce low scores if you play well, it punishes bad shots severely.

He explained that he missed shots in unfavorable positions because he had limited control over his ball flight. As a result, in the second round he was dependent on where his ball landed, due to the lack of precision in his shots.

We will see if we can expect progress from Hovland in the next tournaments.