Viktor Hovland reveals surprise equipment change for the Masters

Viktor Hovland rarely changes equipment. It's important to point this out because it's Masters week and Norwegian is coming off his first win in 18 months at the Valspar Championship.

Messing with a successful setup is advisable, but that doesn't appear to be something Hovland is worried about as he prepares to make his sixth start at Augusta National. Amongst questions about UFOs and "8 Mile" mentions, Hovland revealed a bit of intel that wasn't on the Master gear bingo card.

Instead of standing pat with the usual club setup, Hovland opted to shake things up at the top of the bag, replacing his 9-degree Ping G425 LST driver with the latest G440 LST.

"Last couple of days back in Orlando, I'd say my iron game has been really, really nice, but still was just having a hard time with the driver to get it exactly how I wanted to," Hovland said. "So I asked [Ping tour rep Kenton Oates] to see if he could send some of the new drivers that I tested in the past."

The "tested in the past" comment is important because it indicates Hovland wasn't getting a crash course in G440 LST just days before leaving for Augusta. In fact, Hovland tested Ping's newest low-spin driver earlier in the year but opted to stick with his previous G425 LST gamer due to the state of his golf swing.

"When I wasn't swinging it well, those misses were just accentuated," he said. "I hit those — those high right shots that I had before were even higher and further to the right. I didn't really feel like testing it."

With the swing in a better spot and a questionable G425 LST in the bag, Hovland chose to give it another go with G440. One of the first things he noticed is something we've seen during Golf Digest's robotic driver testing with the Golf Laboratories swing robot: G440 LST is incredibly forgiving for a low-spin offering.

It's performed better than core and max heads in some cases, which is something Hovland saw as well during at-home testing.

"[T]he heel strikes and the toe strikes I'm able to keep the ball speed up compared to the other mis-hits," said Hovland. "And the spin is just way tighter. If I hit it off the toe, it doesn't drop down to 1,700; and if I hit it off the heel, it doesn't go to 3,200."

In layman's terms, it means Hovland can miss and still see playable launch and spin numbers.

"Really just excited about how much tighter the dispersion was and even getting a little bit more ball speed out with the new driver," Hovland said. "It'll be exciting to see how it goes out there."

Along with changing heads, Hovland also switched to Fujikura's Ventus Black VeloCore+ 6TX shaft after noticing how a more reinforced lower section of the shaft benefitted the driver build.

One club change won't define Hovland's week, but having the ability to bomb your way around Augusta National can increase your chances of slipping on the green jacket on Sunday evening. Hovland will be hoping this gear adjustment gets him one step closer to a lifelong dream.