How to confirm Governor is functional

[Phenom_17]

Hello,

I just bought my son a 1997 Kitty Cat and I'm now just cleaning it up and getting familiar with the machine.
I plan to give it to him for his birthday in January.

The sled seems to start up and run well. No issues that I am aware of.
While familiarizing myself with the engine and all the components during clean-up, I did notice that the governor arm is very sloppy and it does not return back to the idle stop without physically pushing it back.
My first thought was to attach an extra spring somewhere on the arm to have it return back to the idle stop when the throttle is released.
Does this seem like a logical solution?
I can only assume that when the throttle is released the pivoting arm on top of the carb should naturally return back up against the throttle stop (idle position) whether the engine is running or not?
Perhaps this changes when the engine is running? I can't start it at the moment to test this out since I removed the gas tank to repair a leaking valve.

I have read many posts here about by-passing the governor.
I would much rather have everything stock to ensure no engine damage occurs related to by-passing the governor. The thing is that I am not sure if the previous owner made any adjustments to by-pass it.

Question is, is there any way that I can confirm that the governor is functioning as originally intended on the stock engine?

Thanks for any advise!