Viktor Hovland’s latest skating review is surprisingly bleak

If the golf swing were children’s books, Viktor Hovland’s would be it Golden locks.

Hovland is known in golf teaching circles as “the tinkerer.” He always feels that his golf swing is always too hot or too cold; it’s just never been right — a combination that has turned the young star into one of golf’s hardest workers but also possibly one of its most thoughtful.

Just 2 years ago, Hovland hired, fired, rehired, again he also fired his bowling coach Joe Mayo to pursue his best golf. The result was one of the most tumultuous two-year stretches for any top professional in recent memory, a string of sky-highs (Tour Championship wins, top-5s in majors, almost missed. runner-up at the PGA Championship in ’23) and lasting depth. down (MCs at the Masters, US and British Opens in ’24 – not to mention a broken toe to end the year).

But now, Hovland has resurfaced to begin the third act of his late competitive life: the 2025 season. Hovland, like other European stars, is in Dubai for the DP World Tour’s Desert Classic this week, where he will take the swing he has spent the better part of the past few months working on improving. The problem, he says, is that progress is slow.

“Yeah, I mean, to be honest with you, I’d like to be a little more optimistic,” Hovland told the DP World Tour. “But it was a big challenge. Even with the off season I had, I was hoping to improve a little bit, feel a little bit better about my game. But it has been … challenging. It’s a tough game, but I feel like I’m heading in the right direction.”

Hovland 2025 is off to a rough start. He finished T36 in a limited field at the PGA Tour’s season opener in Kapalua, unleashing a new swing that featured a full-on back-to-back stroke. Earlier that same week, Hovland announced that he and Mayo had parted ways again, opening the way for new bowling coach TJ Yeaton to step out of the fold.

According to Hovland, his throwing is not the center of the story. In a way, Hovland is looking for something he already has: a consistent and repeatable swing to keep him in golf’s prime. For one thing, he’s looking for something he’s never had: a level of satisfaction with his golf swing that will allow him to focus on the game of golf. the rest immeasurably small but important parts.

As for that second clip, Hovland’s self-examination was … intense.

“I mean, I’m certified nuts,” she said. “There will have to be some clicks, but that’s the game. At least I have a better way of understanding and appreciating what I used to do, even though there were some aspects I didn’t really like about my swing, like it looked weird or looked bad.”

The swing is still tough now, Hovland said, and it hasn’t reached the threshold of doing bad things yet that made it through most of 2023. That’s a real challenge.

“It’s taking longer than I would have liked,” he said. “But the good thing is that I try to tell myself that I won the Tour Championship last year as well. I almost won a major, I almost won a playoff event, with a swing that I hate to watch on camera, and it doesn’t feel right when I’m swinging. So there’s some really good golf out there, but I’ve got to at least give myself a chance to hit some good shots.”

If you’re Hovland, the bad news is that golf season is quickly approaching. If a fix doesn’t come soon, 2025 could pass him by. The good news – he thinks – is that he knows more today than he did yesterday, which means there is still reason for hope.

“Now at least have a better understanding biomechanically, why those golf watches work and why I’m struggling now,” he said. “I know better. When I see it on camera, I track the numbers, I know what’s good and what’s not. And I will stay within the boundaries if that makes sense.”

Hovland hopes it makes sense, because he knows the whole process has been crazy.

What is interesting is that he also knows that the genius is crazy.

Sometimes, it’s down to nuts.

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