Watch Viktor Hovland’s takeaway. Notice anything?

Viktor Hovland spent the weekend following his U.S. Open not on the golf course—he had missed the cut by one on Friday—but on the range.

He spent a chunk of hours practicing there in all, grinding on a very specific move in his takeaway. It’s the move in Viktor’s swing that makes it all work. Here’s how to spot it, and what you can learn from it.

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The takeaway

The takeaway is one of those golf things that matters a lot more for some golfers than others. You can find any number of great players with strange takeaways, and lots more great players who work hard on getting their takeaway perfect.

One common mistake golfers fall into with their takeaway is using too much of their body to get the club going, which causes them to sway and wobble and all sorts of things.

Another is the opposite; they use so much wrist movement that they end up rolling the clubface open and inside, and hitting slices because of it.

It’s why the guys at Athletic Motion Golf say a good feeling is to feel like you’re not turning, and to feel like you’re shaking hands with someone to your right.

Viktor Hovland’s key move

Viktor has a good player tendency of the second one. He says his tendency is to over-flex his lead wrist. To bow it too much.

David Cannon

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When that happens, the clubface closes too much, too early. Now he has to compensate somewhere else in his swing to open it back up.

“When that happens, I spend the rest of my swing trying to get out of it,” Hovland said.

Either he doesn’t compensate enough and misses left, or too much then misses right. A flatter wrist for him is the sweet spot.

It’s why you see him rehearsing his takeaway move right before his actual swing right here.

A week before the Travelers, Viktor Hovland had just missed the cut by one at the U.S Open, and spent four hours the next day on the range practicing. He was working on his takeaway; he said his left wrist tends to over-flexes, which closes the clubface.“When that happens I… pic.twitter.com/tuWRSEg4OZ

— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) June 29, 2026

His problem and solution apparently were pretty spot on. After some range work at Shinnecock, he arrived at the Travelers Championship sharp, led the field in SG: Off The Tee, and won the tournament.