Viktor Hovland says he is struggling. And typically golf is ‘simply not that enjoyable’

Viktor Hovland is each jovial and forthright, however you’ll be able to’t really be forthright with out it sometimes trumping joviality. 

Like Tuesday morning behind a microphone at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, the place a PGA Tour media official opened up Hovland’s pre-FedEx St. Jude Championship press convention with a softball. 

Total ideas on this season as you head into this week? 

“Yeah, hasn’t been my finest yr,” Hovland stated. “Struggled for mainly the entire yr. It’s been somewhat bit difficult.”

Hmm. A few minute later, a reporter requested him in regards to the Olympic match performed two weeks in the past, the place Hovland shot 67 and 68 on the weekend at Le Golf Nationwide. Respectable, proper? Perhaps a confidence-builder? Maybe a momentum-grower?

“Yeah, probably not,” Hovland stated. “That was form of only a weekend the place I simply made a couple of putts. I missed on the precise sides and I used to be in a position to rating effectively. The primary couple rounds [when he shot 70 and 75] I about hit it the identical, however that golf course could be very penal off the tee, and into the greens, it actually penalizes the unhealthy pictures. However should you’re enjoying effectively, you’ll be able to shoot low.

“I simply missed it within the improper spots as a result of I didn’t have that a lot management over the ball flight. So the second spherical I used to be simply on the mercy of the randomness of the place my ball was going. Then over the weekend, I made numerous putts and simply was in a position to rating effectively. That’s all the time good, however the high quality of the pictures weren’t there. I used to be nonetheless somewhat upset with that.”

All of it provided considerably of a window into Hovland’s previous yr, the place nearly one year in the past, the 26-year-old Norwegian was world-beating. He tied for seventh on the Masters. Completed runner-up on the PGA. Gained the Memorial. Then actually went bananas. Gained the BMW Championship the week after final yr’s FedEx St. Jude. Gained the Tour Championship the week after that. He turned a Ryder Cup king, too. 

However someplace round that point, golf golfed. It’s a curious recreation. Issues turned bitter. Hovland and swing coach Joe Mayo mysteriously break up. His outcomes took a flip, no less than compared to the place they’d been. He’s missed simply three cuts this PGA Tour season in 13 occasions. However he’s completed within the high 10 simply as soon as (a 3rd on the PGA Championship). He’s 57th within the Tour’s regular-season standings. He’s been pissed off. 

Was there a second, although, the place Hovland’s frustration may need peaked?    

Sure and no. He stated there’ve been a number of “peaks and valleys.” 

“I imply, it’s simply not that enjoyable to play golf if you don’t know the place the ball goes,” Hovland stated. 

“I do pleasure myself in attempting to make one of the best out of it, but it surely will get to some extent the place you form of lose that perception — you simply see a shot, and that’s not adequate. I can attempt to grind my hardest. I can attempt to chip in from there. However you do this too usually, too many instances through the course of a spherical or a match, it’s an excessive amount of to beat, and I really feel prefer it’s a waste of time for me to be enjoying golf if that’s the place I’m at. I’d quite be off the golf course and work on it, attempting to determine why I’m doing these issues.

“However hey, that’s the way it goes typically, and I really feel like I’ve realized much more about my golf swing, which I didn’t actually assume I might, so there’s all the time stuff to study, and I’m tremendous pumped about form of the place I’m headed. I’m undecided how lengthy it’s going to take for me to play my finest golf. It could be this week. It could be subsequent week. However no less than now I’m on a path to progress. I’m on a path to enchancment. Whereas earlier than, one factor is enjoying unhealthy, however you don’t know why and also you don’t know the best way to repair it. That’s very difficult mentally. However no less than now we’re — I’d play horrible this week, however no less than I really feel like I’m on a path to enchancment, and that’s all that form of issues for me.”

What had been the swing problem, in layman’s phrases?

“Principally my sample received off,” Hovland stated. “The issues that I did in my swing that made me good, that made me in a position to predict a sure ball flight, I went house and tried to do a sure transfer, not essentially as a result of I had in thoughts that I wished to vary my sample; I knew my sample was actually good. However I used to be upset that I wasn’t slicing the ball as a lot as I might have appreciated. My ball flight began to develop into somewhat little bit of a draw, which is ok. I used to be nonetheless hitting it good. However typically visually I might have appreciated to have seen the lower.

“Then within the offseason I made a aware effort to attempt to lower the ball extra, and after I did that, I ruined a relationship that occurs in my swing that makes it actually tough for me to manage the face coming down. So now it’s simply form of me studying from that. I do know precisely why it occurred. I do know precisely what occurs as a result of I’ve gotten myself measured, and now it’s simply form of a strategy of getting again to the place I used to be.

“However no less than I do know I’ve all the info and the info on the desk to go about it.”

A few of that joviality cracked by means of in these solutions, didn’t it? Some positivity. 

There’s hope. 

Hovland reunited with Mayo across the time of this yr’s PGA. They’re digging. A solution might be close to.

Notably, finally yr’s FedEx St. Jude, Hovland and Mayo have been grinding on Southwind’s vary after a first-round 72, then the professional went on his march. 

“I’m simply attempting to manage the issues that I can management,” Hovland stated. “I do know that I’ve slipped up somewhat bit this yr. I haven’t been enjoying in addition to I might have appreciated. I’m simply engaged on the issues that I have to work on to get again to the place I used to be final yr. Then I consider I can do some nice issues once more.

“However we have to deal with that stuff.” 

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Journal. In his position, he’s chargeable for modifying, writing and growing tales throughout the golf house. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be enjoying the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and brief, and ingesting a chilly beer to scrub away his rating. You possibly can attain out to him about any of those matters — his tales, his recreation or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.