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