Viktor Hovland assesses the current state of his golf game ahead of his return to action this week

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Viktor Hovland is as honest about his golf game as any player on the PGA or DP World Tour.

Hovland enjoyed a fast start to his professional career after becoming the world number one amateur.

He won 10 times between 2020 and 2023 before making some unnecessary changes to his swing that killed his momentum.

The 29-year-old’s game then regressed for over a year, and he was still not happy when he won the Valspar Championship in March.

Hovland has now shared an update on his swing ahead of the Nedbank Golf Challenge this week and the upcoming PGA Tour season.

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Viktor Hovland has noticed a slight improvement in his golf game

Hovland struggled throughout the 2024 season, missing the cut in three of the four major championships.

His poor form continued into 2025 until his victory at the Valspar, where he maintained that he had still not figured his issues out.

Months later, after playing well in several DP World Tour events, Hovland has addressed whether he is finally back to his best.

“A little better,” he said about the state of his game before the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.

“It’s kind of been a challenging period throughout the last two years, but I think, even though I haven’t been super happy with the way I’ve swung it the past, even a couple of months, I’ve started to get some consistent results.

“Played nicely at Wentworth, even had a nice finish to the FedExCup playoffs in the States, and in India, just about a month ago, another sixth-place finish.

“So, things are trending in the right direction, and hopefully I just continue to build on that.”

Hovland is the biggest name in the field for the Nedbank Golf Challenge and should have a good chance of winning.

Viktor Hovland says the Nedbank Golf Challenge course is ‘no joke’

The Nedbank Golf Challenge is being played at the Gary Player Country Club in South Africa this week.

Player’s course will provide a stern test to the 66 golfers in the field for the DP World Tour event, known as ‘Africa’s major’.

Hovland explained how the combination of the thick rough and small greens will make it difficult to score.

“This is no joke, this place,” Hovland added. “You’ve really got to do everything well, but particularly off the tee, it’s very challenging.

“You can’t really fake it around here. The rough is pretty juicy. Sometimes when you miss it, and it sits up, you can kind of get away with it, but the greens are so firm that it’s hard to stop it, even though you can land it on the green, but it’s most likely going to roll over.

“Sometimes if the ball’s buried in the rough, I mean, it’s just a chip out. And then even if you do hit the fairway, it’s no cakewalk from there.

“The greens are tiny, even if you’re going to the middle of the green. It’s small areas, but of course, they’re going to tuck the pins, and then you’re looking at just five or six steps around the holes there. So, yeah, it’s going to test every single part of your game.”