
via Imago
Image Courtesy: IMAGO

via Imago
Image Courtesy: IMAGO
Viktor Hovland likes to tinker with his golf game, having made changes to his swing analysis and even switching swing coaches, going from Denny Lucas to Grant Waite this season alone. And if you ask him “why?” he’d probably answer that it has everything to do with him looking for either “perfection” or “challenge.” During an exclusive, the Norwegian shared his goal, “To be the best I can be.” But “to be the best,” Hovland also needs to surpass the likes of Scottie Scheffler.
Does he have a plan for that? He does, or at least Viktor Hovland says so. The current World No. 12 is active at the ongoing 2025 Genesis Scottish Open. After kicking off his Scottish run with a score of 66 in the opening round and a 72 in the Friday round, Hovland is enjoying a solid season. In his 13 starts this season, he has achieved 6 top 25s. But is it enough to challenge Scottie Scheffler for World No. 1, now that we are heading towards the final men’s major, The Open Championship?
During an exclusive with Golfweek, Hovland mulled on this question and replied, “I’m just trying to get my ball striking back to normal. That’s the pillar of my game and if I can do that and improve my chipping, I can achieve great things.” But Hovland has been pretty critical of his game for a while. Following his first win in 18 months at the 2025 Valspar Championship, he answered a question, “How happy are you with your swing right now?” with “Yeah, it’s still not great.”
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Here’s a look at some of his 2025 stats. According to the PGA Tour, Hovland ranks 4th in SG: Approach the Green, showcasing his strength in hitting greens. However, he struggles with SG: Around-the-Green (ranked 128) and SG: Putting (ranked 134), indicating significant room for improvement in chipping and putting.
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So, Viktor Hovland still needs plenty of work on his golf game. But Hovland isn’t the only one who understands the importance of being World. No. 1. Following his win at the 2023 Genesis Invitational, Jon Rahm climbed up the OWGR ranking and admitted, “There’s a lot of satisfaction that comes to it when you get to be No. 1 when the other players have been playing great golf as well.” Now, the Spanish golfer is far from it, but — Hovland’s case is a little different (and difficult). And it has everything to do with his love of tinkering with his game.
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Viktor Hovland’s search for “perfection” may be a hindrance to his career goals
Viktor Hovland is pretty adamant in maintaining perfection in his golf game, and if you ask him “why?” he’d likely reply “what’s the problem with that?” Following his win at the 2025 Valspar Championship, for instance, he said, “I find it kind of weird that we’re professional athletes and the people that are wanting to improve are somewhat looked at, ‘Oh, he’s a perfectionist, he’s out on the perimeter searching too much.’” And so, Hovland shared his confusion: “If you’re not going to try to get better, what are you doing?”
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Does Hovland's constant tinkering make him a genius or his own worst enemy on the course?
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But how much is too much, especially if you compare him to Scottie Scheffler? In March, PGA Tour pros Brendon De Jonge and Johnson Wagner tried to answer how Hovland’s search for “perfection” may be harmful. Wagner said of this, “I think it’s the hunt for perfection that’s slowed him down. I think if he had just been content with who he was as a player, get better around the greens, then he would be a force right now.”
Plenty of changes have hurt Hovland. Viktor Hovland’s game suffered when he tried to add versatility to his swing by incorporating more draw shots. The experiment backfired, causing him to lose his natural feel for cutting the ball. As a result, his shots began to hook left unpredictably, leading to a loss of confidence and instincts that had once served him well.
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At that time, Viktor Hovland had just ended his 18-month winless drought at the 2025 Valspar Championship. According to Wagner, Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland have different approaches to perfection. Unlike Hovland, Scheffler focuses on getting everything in order without aggressively chasing the ideal swing.
But plenty of people have noticed Hovland’s habit of trying to “fix something that is not broken.” His swing coach, Shay Knight, told PGATour.com in March, “He’s really hard on himself. But as soon as he finds some little swing cue or thought, he tends to take it on board, and it happens really fast.” So, given Viktor Hovland’s love for tinkering in his golf game, is he the villain of his own story in his career goal “to be the best”?
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Does Hovland's constant tinkering make him a genius or his own worst enemy on the course?