Viktor Hovland hits a shot out of a bunker on Wednesday at Spyglass Hill.
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What do you think makes golf interesting?
The question, asked Wednesday by the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson, appeared to daze Viktor Hovland at first. Maybe it did you, too. It wasn’t confusing, though. Or strange. It was just seven words. It was straightforward.
It’s just that, nowadays, are we sure golf actually is, you know, interesting?
Really? You’re hearing that often of late, though, at least on the pro side. Golf’s slow. Golf’s stale. Golf’s dry. Golf’s not football, basketball or baseball. Golf’s uninteresting. The thoughts have been hammered home, like a tee through turf. You, the golf lover — you’re on a golf website, after all — are perhaps feeling lost. You need a beacon. A beverage cart in July, so to say.
Here comes Hovland, with his foot on the gas. His answer to the question at the top of this article? Just 20 seconds long.
Consider it a tidy reminder, should you be in need of one.
“The game itself,” he started, “it’s so elusive, it’s so counterintuitive, yet it looks so simple.
“It’s just fascinating. It’s just problems upon problems upon problems that you have to solve and I think that’s very intriguing. You never solve it, but you can always improve and you can figure things out along the way.”
Elusive and counterintuitive — yet simple. Problems — but solutions. What a game. What more do you want?
How about another question. What about that pro game? Asked Ferguson:
What do you think makes it interesting to a viewer, either someone behind the ropes or someone in front of their TV?
This answer was 22 seconds long. Accurate, too.
“I guess they know how difficult it is,” Hovland, “so when you watch guys that can do it and make it look so simple, I think that’s pretty inspiring, not just in the game of golf but in any sport. I think that’s why we as human beings, we like watching sports because we look at people who are extraordinary in things that we ourselves suck at.
“I think that’s just fascinating.”
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Watching excellence, or the not-suck stuff. You can sell that, too.
The point here? Nothing preachy. Just a bit of a love letter. Hovland, notably, is as authoritative as anyone here. Last year was fair, by his measure. Eight top 25s. But no wins. He recently separated from his swing coach and has paired up with a new one. As he starts play this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he himself is digging.
To quote him, problems upon problems upon problems that he has to solve and he thinks that’s very intriguing.
“It’s not very good,” Hovland said of his recent form. “Yeah, it’s been frustrating. I do feel like I’m making headway and I’m constantly trying to put the piece of the puzzle together. Even if I’m not seeing results from day to day, which is extremely frustrating, I do feel like I’m learning more. Even if kind of that domino doesn’t start to fall today or tomorrow or the next day, I’m hoping the cumulative effect of that knowledge and experience, eventually I’ll get over that hump and we’ll turn things around.
“Right now, it’s pretty frustrating. This game of golf, as I said earlier, it’s very elusive, it’s counterintuitive and it’s very difficult right now. But I know there’s a lot of good golf in me that will be there in the future and that I’ve played in the past. Things will turn around soon.”
So you don’t suck at it, Ferguson added.
“In my opinion, I suck at it right now,” Hovland said, “but that’s all relative.”
