Equipment

Why Viktor Hovland made a sneaky club switch during the FedEx Cup Playoffs

Published

9 months ago

Aug 29, 2022

Ping staffer Viktor Hovland has bounced around to a couple of different lob wedges throughout 2022, but none of them were a Ping-branded product (see his February and June WITBs here). In fact, he only briefly used a Ping lob wedge as a professional when he first turned pro.

Ahead of the 2022 BMW Championship, however, Hovland worked with Ping Tour rep Kenton Oates to get fitted up into a new lob wedge, and he ended up putting a Ping wedge into play for the remaining two playoff events.

According to Oates, Hovland likes to look at a straighter leading edge. He also prefers to play shots around the greens with an open face, so he wants some heel relief for the sole to sit flatter, and he also benefits from a slightly higher bounce option. With Hovland’s preferences laid out, Oates and Hovland got to work.

Here’s how the pre-BMW Championship wedge session went down:

“Viktor has used and liked a straighter leading edge,” Oates told GolfWRX. “During his testing, we used a Ping Glide 4.0 60/S with sole relief and a straightened leading edge. We also tested Glide 2.0 58/TS and 60/TS options, which have lower bounce and a naturally straighter leading edge.

Image Credit: Kenton Oates/Ping

“Right away, Viktor was led to the Glide 2.0 58/TS, which we adjusted to 60 degrees. This provided more bounce, which was great, and it had enough relief so that he was able to open the blade and hit higher, softer shots with ease. It improved his capture and contact, and the added bounce allowed him to hit lower-launching, higher-spinning shots around the green, too.”

Increasing loft by 1 degree will increase bounce by about 1 degree, as well. Therefore, Viktor picked up about 2 degrees of bounce by bending it 2 degrees.

Hovland had a hot start with the new lob wedge, finishing 14th in strokes gained: around-the-green at the BMW Championship. For a guy that finished the year 191st in the category for the 2021-22 season, that’s a promising performance. He back-tracked a bit at the Tour Championship, finishing 23-of-29 players in the SG: ATG stat, but all things considered, it’s an improvement.

As the off-season gets underway and players disperse to conduct further equipment testing, we’ll catch back up with Hovland in his next start to see what lob wedge he ends up using next season.

Check out our latest WITB for Viktor Hovland here

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Related Topics:featured Ping viktor hovland wedges

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Andrew Tursky

He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

3 Comments

MP

Sep 1, 2022 at 7:28 am

Viktor needs to get on to National Custom, sounds like exactly the profile that the guys made for me…

Reply Report comment
DB

Aug 31, 2022 at 9:36 am

I agree with him. Glide 2.0 and 2.0 Stealth are the best, and a TS grind with 8 bounce would be just perfect.

Reply Report comment
BC

Aug 30, 2022 at 7:30 pm

I do not undeerstand why Ping went with simuch a round leading edge on the 4.0’s. I am not a fan of it either.

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Whats in the Bag

Thomas Pieters WITB 2023 (June)

Published

6 hours ago

Jun 8, 2023

GolfWRX Staff

Thomas Pieters what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here.

Driver: Titleist TSR2 (10 degrees @9.25, C2 SureFit)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Orange 75 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade SIM Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX

7-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX

Irons: Titleist 620 CB (3, 4), Titleist 620 MB (5-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46-10F, 52-08F, 56-10S), Vokey 2022 Prototype (58-L @60)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: TaylorMade Spider GT
Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GTR

Grips: Golf Pride ZGrip

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

More photos of Thomas Pieters WITB in the forums.

More Thomas Pieters WITBs

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Whats in the Bag

Ludvig Aberg WITB 2023 (June)

Published

8 hours ago

Jun 8, 2023

GolfWRX Staff

Driver: Titleist TSR2 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue M-AX

3-wood: Titleist TSR2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue 75 TX

Irons: Titleist T-MB 718 (2 iron), Titleist T-100 (4-9 iron)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (50, 54, 60 degrees)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X

Putter: Odyssey Works Versa #1

Ball: Titleist 2023 Pro V1x

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Equipment

Next “Ping Slam” putter announced: Ping PLD Limited Zing 2

Published

10 hours ago

Jun 8, 2023

GolfWRX Staff

Following the Pal and Pal 2, Ping today announced the release of the third of four “Ping Slam” putters, which commemorate the 1988 season in which the brand won all four men’s major championships.

The precision-milled PLD Limited Zing 2 putter commemorates Curtis Strange’s 1988 U.S. Open win — the first of his two consecutive U.S. Open wins using the putter.

“We’re really enjoying celebrating the ‘Ping Slam’ and reliving some wonderful memories from 1988,” said John A. Solheim, Ping’s Executive Chairman. “Curtis’ thrilling win at the U.S. Open was soon followed by the U.S. Women’s Open champion using a Zing 2, giving us wins at both national championships that summer. The next year Curtis won the U.S. Open again with his Zing 2. That was a remarkable run for the Zing 2 and secured its place in Ping’s putter history.”

Arriving on tour in 1984, the original Zing 2 was inspired by the Zing was cast from stainless steel. Ping cites the heel-shafted design and heel-toe weighting as key elements of the putter’s popularity.

The putters are custom-built by Ping WRX master craftsmen at the company’s headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. Each putter is serialized for authenticity and includes a custom headcover. Ping’s engineers and company historian scoured the archives to retain the integrity of the four classic designs during the milling process, spending time in the legendary Ping Gold Putter Vault to ensure the integrity of the designs.

Pricing, availability

Only 88 of the 100-percent milled, 303 stainless steel, natural finish putters are available via pingpld.com at 2 pm ET, Tuesday, June 13 at a price of $990.

Later this year (December 5), 35 complete sets of the PLD Limited ‘Ping Slam’ putters will go on sale for $4,990 (limit one per customer), which will include a custom-designed display unit.