Tinkering Hovlands pursuit of perfection pays dividends

Hovlands victory was his seventh on the PGA Tour

Famed sport psychologist Bob Rotella constantly reminds his clients that golf is not a pursuit anyone can perfect.

But it is a game that still attracts more than its share of perfectionists. Characters such as Viktor Hovland, who dragged himself from apparent golfing oblivion to become the latest winner on the PGA Tour.

This out of the blue success was an astonishing turnaround of form and fortune.

"Its like you keep drowning and youre running out of air," the 27-year-old Norwegian said of his recent travails after beating Justin Thomas in the Valspar Championship last Sunday to land yet another European victory on American soil this year.

It is fair to say Hovlands success was among the least expected in a series of 2025 wins that will surely cheer European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald. This was the Oslo born stars first win since the 2023 Tour Championship.

Then he was ranked the fourth best player on the world, someone who possessed an unorthodox but highly effective swing and who had solved his problems around the green, seemingly the only aspect holding him back.

In short, he looked a complete player, one ready to start winning majors and capable of becoming a dominant figure. The finished article.

Yet, there is no such thing in this game. The pursuit for better never ends and capriciously it brings no guarantees of improvement.

There are those who say "if it aint broke, dont fix it". Rory McIlroy used that very phrase talking about his own game in the wake of his recent play-off win at the Players Championship.

But Hovland most certainly does not fall into that category.

"I find it kind of weird that were professional athletes and the people that are wanting to improve are somewhat looked at as, oh hes a perfectionist, hes out on the perimeter searching too much," he commented.

"Thats what we do. We are here to get better and we are here to win tournaments. So if youre not going to try to get better, what are you doing?"

This from a player who had the world at his feet, only to then make a string of swing changes while emulating the Watford FC approach to hiring and firing coaches.

In the 574 days that followed his Tour Championship victory, Hovland slumped from first to 137th on the tours FedEx Cup standings. He had missed the cut in his previous three outings, including starting the Players with a ruinous 80.

But the golfer believed the constant tinkering, the pursuit of perfection, to be entirely justified. "Its not like Im inventing stuff," he said.

But what he did realise was that he needed to go back to feels and methods that had previously worked. "I have data that can show that what I used to do was objectively better than what Im doing now.

"So why shouldnt I try to go back to what I used to do?"

He reconnected with former coach Grant Waite while still pondering whether it was worth heading to Tampa for the tournament he ultimately won. "I was not very hopeful with my game leading into this week," Hovland admitted.

Between them they found an old feel on the range last Tuesday. It has been lost in pursuit for more speed and its rediscovery was a vital building block.

"Hes really hard on himself," Hovlands caddie Shay Knight told PGATour.com. "But as soon as he finds some little swing cue or thought, he tends to take it on board, and it happens really fast.

"And it just seemed to click; I knew something special was going to happen this week with the swing thought."

Hovland was far from perfect and still fearful of losing long shots high and right, but he had a foundation to make him competitive. "Incredibly, I did make it work and was able to win and I think that is something that Im extremely proud of," he smiled.

The game remains "more stressful than it should be" but he feels reuniting with Waite, a former tour player, will lead to more success.

"Hes definitely put his heart and soul into looking at all the different golf swings that Ive sent him," Hovland said.

"Its challenging because I have a very unique pattern and its unconventional and I would say most coaches probably would like to make my swing more conventional and hopefully try to fix the problem.

"But thats not really how my golf swing works. And I really trust Grant, because he he sees it and knows what kind of matchups need to be there for it to work."

Hovlands win follows two PGA Tour victories for Northern Irelands McIlroy already this year as well as big wins for Swede Ludvig Aberg, Austrias Sepp Straka and Belgiums Thomas Detry.

These results fuel optimism for a successful Ryder Cup defence for Europe at Bethpage in September. But do not get carried away.

Back in 2023 Americans Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa and Sam Burns were posting victories at this time of year, while Brooks Koepka, Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman landed majors. But the US team were soundly beaten in Rome.

There are no guarantees in the sport that Rotella, who has advised a string of major winners, insists is not "a game of perfect". So it should not be a surprise that even Hovlands short-term hopes for next months Masters are tempered.

"Some of the shots that Im hitting, its going to make it really difficult for me to be in contention at Augusta," he admitted.

"Youre going to hit so many long irons into par-four holes and youve got to drive it pretty far because the fairways are pretty wide.

"Its more of a bombers paradise versus this place (Copperhead in Tampa) where its more just about being precise off the tee.

"So theres still some things that I need to improve, but luckily weve got two weeks and this is certainly nice to have in the back of my mind leading up to Augusta."