MEMBER REVIEWS: L.A.B. Golf Putters! Read What Members Are Saying Now!

[Cliffy2020]

47 minutes ago, JA17 said:

You’re right and old language habits die hard. But hopefully someone will address the point of the question. I’ve seen in quite a few posts and in different reviews that others experience the same issue. Longer putts seem to start on line more often than short putts. Anyone else experience this and is there anything you have found that helps? My guess is more tension and grip pressure on the short putts greatly contributes to this.

This putter wants to stay square to your arc.  Your arc does NOT stay square to target, nor does this putter.  

[Cliffy2020]

11 minutes ago, Cliffy2020 said:

This putter wants to stay square to your arc.  Your arc does NOT stay square to target, nor does this putter.  

To answer the point of the question. Yacking the short putts likely due to ball position.  Too far back will produce a shove right.  Too far forward will miss left.  Highly recommend a putting mirror for consistency of set up, ball position, eye position etc (for any putter) but especially this one that is designed to play the ball more forward than usual.

 

Full disclosure.  First putt I had on course with this putter I yacked a 2’ birdie putt so bad it missed the hole completely. (Dead right shove). So embarrassing with all eyes on me to finish the hole and all the “what the hell is that thing” comments prior to it’s inaugural putt.  Drained a 20’ birdie on the next hole 🤣

Edited January 21, 2021 by Cliffy2020

[bobbyclampett!!]

17 hours ago, JA17 said:

Question for the veteran DF 2.1 users. During my round the longer putts from 10 feet and beyond were spot on for line due to the longer flowing stroke (my assumption of plenty of time to square up the putter). But I missed my starting line a few times inside of 6 feet. I’m also struggling a bit inside on the putting mat from 4 to 6 feet. Any tips on the length of stroke or any adjustments anyone makes on the short putts to get them to start on line more often? Thanks!

Not a veteran DF2.1 user, so take this for what you will, but so far I have noticed two things that seem to make a LAB putter want to start off line: 1) too much grip pressure or manipulating the putter with force in any way and 2) having the shaft at a lower or higher lie angle than it was designed for. 

 

I'd say to check issue 1, do the thumbs off drill. You might find that when you take any grip pressure out of the stroke, you need a longer stroke, even on the short ones, as you are not using any force from your hands to push or pull the putter through impact, but rather you are relying only on gravity and the mass of the club to propel the ball. This might require a longer stroke than you are used to.

 

For issue 2, I like to hover the putter just a bit (just like it would hover off the ground in The Revealer), as it seems to want to hover perfectly planed. Put another way, to hover it in a distorted lie angle would require some kind of force from your hands or arms to get the toe or heel pointed up or down. If you hover it without applying any force, it will naturally hover at the right lie angle. This has the added benefit of taking force and tension out of the grip, which will also help with issue 1.

 

So now my preshot routine involves getting set up with thumbs slightly hovering off the grip and the putter head slightly hovering off the ground. This gets me into a perfect set-up, both grip tension-wise and lie-angle wise. Then I ever-so-gently rest my thumbs on the grip and ever-so-gently rest my clubhead on the ground. Then I'm ready to rock the shoulders and let the magic happen! I also think once you do all this your main focus still needs to be rolling the ball down your target line, and you still have to have that laser sharp focus, as you can't totally go out to lunch during the stroke. Once you get in the perfect set up, focus on rolling your ball down your starting line and make it happen.

 

Not sure if either of those tips will help, but thought I'd give it a shot!

 

 

 

 

 

[Minarets]

Out here working on it again. Did @labgolfsay it was still ok to forward press some? I know my press II 3° already had it built in but its almost my trigger.  I need to move a little before starting the stroke. Smooths it out.  

Edited January 22, 2021 by Minarets

[Minarets]

14 hours ago, Minarets said:

Out here working on it again. Did @labgolfsay it was still ok to forward press some? I know my press II 3° already had it built in but its almost my trigger.  I need to move a little before starting the stroke. Smooths it out.  

Anyone? 

[Cliffy2020]

1 hour ago, Minarets said:

Anyone? 

It’s free to try.  But while I was transitioning to this unique putter grip any added forward press resulted in a 1* + open face at impact according to my Blast Motion sensor.  This was then training me to aim left to compensate.
 

I inquired and considered puting the Press 1.5* on the DF2.1 ( and still am for several reasons I posted a couple  of pages ago ).  Many others have inquired about putting their favorite standard grip on this putter.  Paraphrasing for LAB, yes you can but to maximize the benefits of the technology, use the grip designed for it.

 

Maybe try a Zac Radford style trigger move vs. the Phil Mickelson style press trigger move?  
 

 

[Minarets]

13 minutes ago, Cliffy2020 said:

It’s free to try.  But while I was transitioning to this unique putter grip any added forward press resulted in a 1* + open face at impact according to my Blast Motion sensor.  This was then training me to aim left to compensate.
 

I inquired and considered puting the Press 1.5* on the DF2.1 ( and still am for several reasons I posted a couple  of pages ago ).  Many others have inquired about putting their favorite standard grip on this putter.  Paraphrasing for LAB, yes you can but to maximize the benefits of the technology, use the grip designed for it.

 

Maybe try a Zac Radford style trigger move vs. the Phil Mickelson style press trigger move?  
 

 

Well, my distance control was way better with the forward press but it’s because it what I’m comfortable with.  I’m askin more does it screw up any of what’s going on for the putter already?  Like balance or something like that? Since it’s already built in

[Cliffy2020]

5 minutes ago, Minarets said:

Well, my distance control was way better with the forward press but it’s because it what I’m comfortable with.  I’m askin more does it screw up any of what’s going on for the putter already?  Like balance or something like that? Since it’s already built in

It simply delofts and opens the face at address.  Important to note, just because to press to start your stroke doesn’t necessarily mean you deliver the putter to the ball in this position at impact!  You may very well impact the ball in the original setup position prior to your press trigger.

 

Another reason I like BM.  I know where my face was lined up and I know where the face was at impact. 

[Red4282]

Ive gotten a few rounds in with mine now, and results have been up and down. First few rounds were just meh. Solid, lot of two putts, not alot of made putts. Prob would have made a few had my pace been just a little faster on some. Ive also been working very hard at getting rid of my cut stroke, adding arc and gate.
 

This last round was interesting. I made a some putts, from the 7ft-20ft range that ive so desperately wanted to get better at. But i had 3 three putts which is very uncharacteristic of me, but to be fair these greens i played were ridiculous. The kind that you might have a 5ft two cups outside left to righter that if you missed, no matter the pace you were 10 feet by.

 

I flirted with some other putters the other day at the big box store, and im still up in the air at the moment if the DF will stay in the bag. Not a knock on the DF because its a pretty darn good putter, but for ME, it seems, If i put in work on my stroke, the putter im using really doesnt matter much. If I were to make the switch it would just be purely a feel and looks thing (confidence). I state that just to help give LAB some feedback. I told myself id give it some time, so i plan on using in through the spring before i make any decisions. 

[Minarets]

28 minutes ago, Cliffy2020 said:

It simply delofts and opens the face at address.  Important to note, just because to press to start your stroke doesn’t necessarily mean you deliver the putter to the ball in this position at impact!  You may very well impact the ball in the original setup position prior to your press trigger.

 

Another reason I like BM.  I know where my face was lined up and I know where the face was at impact. 

Correct.  I mean with the back stroke with “thumbs off” method.  I didn’t want to disrupt this part at all. 

[TheMagicStinger]

On 1/17/2021 at 4:34 PM, bobbyclampett!! said:

 

str8 trippin'.... another LAB convert.  I love it!

[Minarets]

42 minutes ago, Cliffy2020 said:

It simply delofts and opens the face at address.  Important to note, just because to press to start your stroke doesn’t necessarily mean you deliver the putter to the ball in this position at impact!  You may very well impact the ball in the original setup position prior to your press trigger.

 

Another reason I like BM.  I know where my face was lined up and I know where the face was at impact. 

What is BM? 

[Cliffy2020]

22 minutes ago, Minarets said:

What is BM? 

Blast Motion

[Sons_of_Pitches]

1 hour ago, Red4282 said:

Ive gotten a few rounds in with mine now, and results have been up and down. First few rounds were just meh. Solid, lot of two putts, not alot of made putts. Prob would have made a few had my pace been just a little faster on some. Ive also been working very hard at getting rid of my cut stroke, adding arc and gate.
 

This last round was interesting. I made a some putts, from the 7ft-20ft range that ive so desperately wanted to get better at. But i had 3 three putts which is very uncharacteristic of me, but to be fair these greens i played were ridiculous. The kind that you might have a 5ft two cups outside left to righter that if you missed, no matter the pace you were 10 feet by.

 

I flirted with some other putters the other day at the big box store, and im still up in the air at the moment if the DF will stay in the bag. Not a knock on the DF because its a pretty darn good putter, but for ME, it seems, If i put in work on my stroke, the putter im using really doesnt matter much. If I were to make the switch it would just be purely a feel and looks thing (confidence). I state that just to help give LAB some feedback. I told myself id give it some time, so i plan on using in through the spring before i make any decisions. 

Concur with if your putting in the work on your stroke the putter should not matter. However, one thing to also consider in which the DF does incredibly well is on mishits.  You are not punished for heel and toe strikes as they still make it to the hole. Whereas others just die.

[Sons_of_Pitches]

55 minutes ago, Cliffy2020 said:

Blast Motion

+1 on Blast Motion.  It is a great tool for both putting and full swings to work on face anges, tempo, etc...

[Red4282]

30 minutes ago, Sons_of_Pitches said:

Concur with if your putting in the work on your stroke the putter should not matter. However, one thing to also consider in which the DF does incredibly well is on mishits.  You are not punished for heel and toe strikes as they still make it to the hole. Whereas others just die.

I would say it is a very forgiving putter. There are others out there that are at least as forgiving in my opinion. However i typically don't mishit many putts, maybe on some really long lag putts i will.

[Sons_of_Pitches]

51 minutes ago, Red4282 said:

I would say it is a very forgiving putter. There are others out there that are at least as forgiving in my opinion. However i typically don't mishit many putts, maybe on some really long lag putts i will.

I hope to get there some day but I occasionally still hit them on the toe and heel on the 10' and longer and love the forgiveness the DF 2.1 provides along w/ all the other tech.  As a result of all the tech and the fwd press grip I have not rolled the ball better in my entire golf career.  This thing, as ugly as it is, has made me a much better putter along with some practice of course.  

[bobbyclampett!!]

6 hours ago, Minarets said:

Anyone? 

Sorry, I didn't jump in earlier because I didn't want it to seem like I was monopolizing the thread with all my recent posts!

 

I think I saw somewhere on LAB website or other literature that you don't want to forward press with a LAB putter, which is why they made those Press grips: to get your hands slightly in front of the ball without having to forward press. I imagine forward pressing the DF2.1 and picking the back end of the space ship up might throw the lie angle balancing off somehow, and also deloft the putter, which would be a fine thing for an Anser style blade that is in the middle of your stance with 4* of static loft, but not for a putter like DF2.1 that is meant to have the ball further up in the stance and a loft angle designed for no forward press.

 

I used to forward press when I was younger and I admit it gave me great feel. But I have taken the forward press out of my stroke in later years as I felt it introduced a variable to the face angle that I didn't want to mess with. There are some other triggers you can experiment with other than forward press to start the stroke: one is gently tapping the putter up and down like you're tamping down a spike mark just before you go; another is having an extremely light grip and then just ever so slightly firming up the grip right before you go. Another thing to try is just never getting static in the first place (forward press helps you get out of a static state and into a rhythmic, flowing state): keep your feet kind of shifting and finding balance and keep your eyes busy looking from hole to ball and just keep the subtle movements going until you're ready to stroke it and then basically stopping the subtle movements will become your trigger.

 

Hope that helps!

 

 

 

 

[labgolf]

On 1/20/2021 at 6:31 PM, bobbyclampett!! said:

This might be a weird question, but does the DF have a similar head weight or static weight or swing weight to the B.2? Does it kind of feel the same way to swing? Is it a putter you could or would want to hover before a takeaway? It looks like it would be heavier in the head than the B.2, but maybe the B.2 materials are more dense and the DF materials are lighter and they end up feeling the same during the swing. Put another way: are they easy to switch back and forth between? Or is there kind of a learning curve?

Great question. The DF actually tends to feel lighter to most folks and in most cases, actually is a touch lighter but not by much depending on length and lie. That added perceived stability of the DF can tend to make the head "disappear" for some at first because the absence of torque can make the head feel lighter. There is a slight difference in ball position. You'll want the ball a bit more forward with the DF. But yes, they are pretty easy to switch back and forth which is a great reason to have both. Sometimes a change is nice and to be able to change without having to completely change your relationship with the way the putter torques is great.

[labgolf]

On 1/21/2021 at 8:39 AM, JA17 said:

You’re right and old language habits die hard. But hopefully someone will address the point of the question. I’ve seen in quite a few posts and in different reviews that others experience the same issue. Longer putts seem to start on line more often than short putts. Anyone else experience this and is there anything you have found that helps? My guess is more tension and grip pressure on the short putts greatly contributes to this.

The very first thing to do is to scrutinize your aim. the putter is working very hard to arrive where it srtarted so if you are aiming poorly, you'll struggle. If your aim is on point, the next thing to experiment with is your ball position. Are the misses from short range consistently in one direction or another?

[5baytjd]

2 minutes ago, labgolf said:

Sometimes a change is nice and to be able to change without having to completely change your relationship with the way the putter torques is great.

Or how the putter doesn't torque, in the case of the L.A.B. Golf putters😉

[labgolf]

23 hours ago, Minarets said:

Out here working on it again. Did @labgolfsay it was still ok to forward press some? I know my press II 3° already had it built in but its almost my trigger.  I need to move a little before starting the stroke. Smooths it out.  

Forward press is totally ok. If the putter feels crappy at impact or the roll isn't tight, you are pressing too much. Next step would be getting the Press II, 1.5° grip. if the problem persists, try a standard grip.

[Minarets]

49 minutes ago, labgolf said:

Forward press is totally ok. If the putter feels crappy at impact or the roll isn't tight, you are pressing too much. Next step would be getting the Press II, 1.5° grip. if the problem persists, try a standard grip.

It feels crappier when I don’t forward press than when I do.  
 

It does not feel crappy though. I was using your words. It just feels better when I Ford press a little bit But worried I was being counterproductive somewhere

Edited January 22, 2021 by Minarets

[Minarets]

Also noticed that pull is my miss now with this after 3 days in a row putting.  I missed more 5’ than normal and almost all were pulls. Still getting used to it.  Excited though.  

[bobbyclampett!!]

Just now, Minarets said:

Also noticed that pull is my miss now with this after 3 days in a row putting.  I missed more 5’ than normal and almost all were pulls. Still getting used to it.  Excited though.  

Keep going, seriously. I had a lot of very bizarre and wonky putts in my first week. This thing really does work fundamentally different than everything you've ever putted with. I am starting to really get the feel for it and am starting to get that "automatic" feeling of "can't miss." And I'm just a week in. Keep experimenting and keep an open mind. You might have to do some things quite a bit different than you're used to, but I believe it's for the better.

[Minarets]

From @labgolf

 

If your aim is on point, the next thing to experiment with is your ball position. Are the misses from short range consistently in one direction or another?

 

 

I think this is it for me. Maybe i have ball too forward in my stance.  Even with a standard putter i centered my grip, not the ball.  So this is even more forward of that.  I kept pulling putts when I missed.  I moved the ball slightly further back and the miss was no longer left.   I wasn’t missing. 😉

 

 

[TylerJ89]

On 1/21/2021 at 8:09 AM, Mr_Wolfe said:

Can anyone who REALLY likes their (hand) grip, show a picture of it? I would like to see how you are laying your hands on the grip. I keep changing my hands and while they all feel pretty good, I haven't settled on one yet.

 

Mr. Wolfe

I would also love to see this.  I have been switching all sorts of stuff up to try and find something that I’m totally comfortable with.

[Minarets]

Just ordered  the American flag head cover.  I love custom or non stock head covers on my woods and putters.  Love my TBC putter covers but with this being center shafted the options are limited.  Saw the custom one a few pages back and it looks good.  I Ike the American flag one they offered so thought while not.  That’s a good sign I’m keeping the putter. 

[bobbyclampett!!]

Got my B.2 out in the wild for the first time today. I think it's going to be even better on the course and under pressure than it is on my practice mat at home.  It's so easy to align, and the work I put in on the pre-shot routine and set-up paid off out there. Walk into the putt, aim with thumbs off and clubhead slightly hovered to make sure the shaft is on plane, then gently set thumbs on grip and putter head on the ground. Take one last look and rock the shoulders while cradling the grip in my fingers. Head stays square effortlessly. So much fun.

 

On the practice green my longer putts were coming up short, which was probably due in part to the greens being shaggy and wintery. No problem- just rocked the shoulders more, longer stroke, and boom, got it dialed in. Longer uphill putts on slow greens need a BIG shoulder rock (no force coming from hands, all from shoulders and gravity). Might have to experiment with a little more grip pressure and force on seriously long putts.

 

I had no three putts, even on bad greens. Last hole of the day I have about a 60-70 footer uphill and my ball was resting up against the collar. I only caught the top half of the ball and my stroke wasn't nearly long enough. Came up about 15-20 feet short. And then came my best putt of the day. Started to feel more confident. Less thinking, more feeling. One of those you almost know you're going to make before you do. Slightly uphill, slight right to left. Putt a good stroke on it, center contact, tight roll, never a doubt. 

 

I think this baby is going to be the real-deal.

[Minarets]

Still working on just not controlling the putter.