Viktor Hovland, who has $38 million in PGA Tour earnings, has been tinkering with his golf swing since his 2023 TOUR Championship victory, leading to a major dip in form and inconsistency on the PGA Tour. Noting his dropped win rate and frustrating spell on the road over the last few years, an insider told Brendan Porath on his show that the Norwegian needs a wake-up call.

On May 22, Fried Egg Golf founder Andy Johnson said of Hovland on The Shotgun Start, “He’s got to get back to playing golf and stop playing golf swing.”

Johnson’s comments come on the heels of Porath detailing how Hovland’s form has dipped since his last win in 2023. The TOUR Championship was the last official event he played in 2023. Next season, the Norwegian pro got a third-place finish in the PGA Championship and a runner-up finish in the FedEx St. Jude Championship. However, his entire 2024 went without a trophy.

Hovland finally broke the winless streak in 2025 by capturing the Valspar Championship. However, that too came after three straight missed cuts in the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Invitational, and the PLAYERS Championship. Later in the year, he finished third in the U.S. Open and tied for seventh in the BMW Championship. But overall, he had a roller-coaster season.

This year hasn’t been that impressive for the 28-year-old. He finished T13 at TPC Sawgrass and missed two cuts in 11 events.

Hovland remained unsatisfied even though he won at Copperhead last year. In fact, his caddie, Shay Knight, revealed how he was still not where he wanted to be in terms of his swing.

“He’s really hard on himself, but as soon as he finds some little swing cue, thought, he tends to take it on board, and it happens really fast. He had that swing thought, and it just seemed to click,” Knight told the media after Hovland won the 2025 Valspar Championship.

Hovland’s process of swing change is much like what Tiger Woods went through, even if the Norwegian hasn’t found a solution.

Viktor Hovland’s saga of swing tinkering compared to Tiger Woods’ two-year transformation

In April 2025, Tiger Woods’ former coach, Butch Harmon, joined the PGA Tour YouTube channel to discuss his career. Among the topics discussed was the 82-time PGA Tour champion’s mindset while changing his swing. According to Harmon, Woods’ admission of the changes he had made to his golf swing came to light.

“There is no way I could play consistently with my old swing. I would have weeks where I’d win, but I’d also have weeks where I would be either missing cuts or just barely making cuts and then not doing anything on the weekend. It was either all or nothing,” Woods had told Golf Digest in 2005, six years after he had successfully transitioned into a new golf swing.

It took him two years to alter his old swing into a more effective one. However, Hovland’s struggles have lasted longer than that. The stark difference between Woods’ process and that of the Norwegian is that he cannot find what works for him. However, the 15-time major winner always seemed to have a plan.

Joe Mayo, who had worked with Woods, has coached the Norwegian. And Mayo particularly advised Hovland to “leave his swing alone.” If even his swing coach advises him against it, then he should strongly consider it.