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[ilikegolf26]

Are any players on Tour gaming LAB putters?

[Bunkersarebigcups]

11 hours ago, ilikegolf26 said:

Are any players on Tour gaming LAB putters?

Adam Scott had one for a short period of time, one guy played it in the Olympics and several others have been mentioned throughout the thread.

[ilikegolf26]

1 hour ago, Bunkersarebigcups said:

Adam Scott had one for a short period of time, one guy played it in the Olympics and several others have been mentioned throughout the thread.

So I’ll take that as a no then. Cause I ain’t going through 63 pages of this thread to try to find some tour player that may have put one of these in their bags for a week back in 2019. 
 

Are there any tour players CURRENTLY gaming one of these?

[labgolf]

On 8/21/2021 at 4:57 AM, Clemsonfan said:

I have used my 35”, 72* Directed Force putter with the #1 alignment aid for four rounds. I had been using a Stainless steel mallet putter with identical specs since changing my stroke early this year, along with a Spider S. The Spider has been my gamer for 3 years until the stroke change. With the mallet,I averaged 32.8 putts, and the Spider 34.6 this year.

 

My first three rounds I had 36, 36 and 34 putts. 5 three putts in the first round, and 3 each in the next two. I struggled with short putts, as well, missing several great opportunities to save par.  I use the same tempo for all putts, which seemed to vary with their recommended method.  I loved the technology and believe in it and continued to practice indoors and outa frequently as possible working on distance control. 
 

My 4th round was part of an annual tournament with friends and I had a career  ball striking day hitting 16 greens and missing the other 2 by 18”, but nothing inside the leather. After 10 straight pars, I made a 50’ putt on 11; 28’ on 13; and from 34’ on 16. Finished the round with 31 putts on 10-day old aerated greens and a 69. It was my first round in the 60s this century, and I didn’t birdie any par 5s, which is where I get most of my birdies. I still need to work on my short putting, but I have been very impressed with the great distance control on longer putts in my last round and recent practice sessions.

 

Nice! yeah it can take a minute to adjust for sure. Are you missing the shorties in a consistent direction? Make sure to really scrutinize your alignment. The putter is working hard to go where you point so if your aim is off, you'll struggle. Keep me posted and I'll have more to say if you don;t straighten it out on your own.

[labgolf]

1 hour ago, ilikegolf26 said:

So I’ll take that as a no then. Cause I ain’t going through 63 pages of this thread to try to find some tour player that may have put one of these in their bags for a week back in 2019. 
 

Are there any tour players CURRENTLY gaming one of these?

Nobody that made the playoffs. The putter has made over $3m on tour in the last 3 years. They all very much respect the technology and acknowledge its merit but its a much bigger adjustment for them. They are all waiting for a smaller chassis too.

[ilikegolf26]

34 minutes ago, labgolf said:

Nobody that made the playoffs. The putter has made over $3m on tour in the last 3 years. They all very much respect the technology and acknowledge its merit but its a much bigger adjustment for them. They are all waiting for a smaller chassis too.

Thank you for the reply. Is a smaller chassis something that’s on the horizon in the near term?

[labgolf]

4 minutes ago, ilikegolf26 said:

Thank you for the reply. Is a smaller chassis something that’s on the horizon in the near term?

Not near. but one day for sure!

[nsxguy]

On 8/8/2021 at 11:59 AM, bunta said:

@ThinkingPlus give us some B.2 pics man. Everyone and their dam neighbor bags the the DF. Im just here begging myself to pull the trigger on the B.2. Need some motivation lol.

 

Ummmm,,,,,, that would be "Ms." or "Mrs." ("Ma'am" might be acceptable too though).  🙃

[Tupperwolf]

3 hours ago, labgolf said:

Not near. but one day for sure!

 

This is the part I'm yet to understand.  I am aware that the DF head has some "stuff" built into its design with the track in the back that can be used with a golf ball for proper alignment, etc.  But if the putter is torque balanced around the shaft I don't understand why the putter cannot be the same shape but reduced in size by 20%.  It just has to rotate around the shaft axis, right?  Can you enlighten me, as I'm sure this is a subject that's commonly discussed?

[labgolf]

6 minutes ago, Tupperwolf said:

 

This is the part I'm yet to understand.  I am aware that the DF head has some "stuff" built into its design with the track in the back that can be used with a golf ball for proper alignment, etc.  But if the putter is torque balanced around the shaft I don't understand why the putter cannot be the same shape but reduced in size by 20%.  It just has to rotate around the shaft axis, right?  Can you enlighten me, as I'm sure this is a subject that's commonly discussed?

It definitely CAN be smaller. Its not as simple as you might think. Shrinking it proportionally moves the CG quite a bit and would require a lot of engineering. Plus, The smaller it is, the less forgiving it is. Like I have said, someday we will release a smaller mallet but we are in no rush as the results from the current model are profound and the vast majority of our customers are able to get over the look and size really quickly and even start to like the confidence it gives.

[bogey69]

I agree 100%, it's a game changer and I don't care what it looks like anymore.  

[dlow206]

1 minute ago, bogey69 said:

I agree 100%, it's a game changer and I don't care what it looks like anymore.  

glad its working out well

[golfgirlrobin]

It’s quite a change from an Anser style putter, but if you’re coming from one of the larger Spiders or something like the Odyssey Bird of Prey, which I used, the Directed Force doesn’t even seem that large. It also sits so flat that you don’t sense the bulk like you’d think from the room it takes up in your bag. 

[bunta]

7 hours ago, nsxguy said:

 

Ummmm,,,,,, that would be "Ms." or "Mrs." ("Ma'am" might be acceptable too though).  🙃

 

how ignorant of me lol. Apologies. Profile pic shouldve given me a clue. 

[KensingtonPark]

I think it would be a couple of years before we could expect a well-known Tour player to be gaming this putter. Tour players, even the worst ones, have been using face balanced or other types of torque-y putters their entire careers, and they have probably greater than 10K reps with these putters. Even the worst Tour player is a significantly better and more experienced putter than most of us on this forum, and most of them are reflexively looking for putters that allow them to “manage” the torque the way that they historically have with the best “feel” that they can obtain. Having no torque to manage will not feel right to them.

 

The only ones that I would expect to even try a putter like a LAB would be those who struggle with virtually all the putters, which is why Adam Scott was an unsurprising early person to try it. I would keep an eye on college players to see if there will be any Tour uptake in the future. The challenge there, of course, is the cost of the putter. Properly fit, this is quite a pricey putter, so that will reduce the number of college players and juniors who will even venture to try the putter. But it will eventually happen, because the science behind the putter is too sound. It will be a slower adoption, however, for the reasons I cited above.

[labgolf]

25 minutes ago, KensingtonPark said:

I think it would be a couple of years before we could expect a well-known Tour player to be gaming this putter. Tour players, even the worst ones, have been using face balanced or other types of torque-y putters their entire careers, and they have probably greater than 10K reps with these putters. Even the worst Tour player is a significantly better and more experienced putter than most of us on this forum, and most of them are reflexively looking for putters that allow them to “manage” the torque the way that they historically have with the best “feel” that they can obtain. Having no torque to manage will not feel right to them.

 

The only ones that I would expect to even try a putter like a LAB would be those who struggle with virtually all the putters, which is why Adam Scott was an unsurprising early person to try it. I would keep an eye on college players to see if there will be any Tour uptake in the future. The challenge there, of course, is the cost of the putter. Properly fit, this is quite a pricey putter, so that will reduce the number of college players and juniors who will even venture to try the putter. But it will eventually happen, because the science behind the putter is too sound. It will be a slower adoption, however, for the reasons I cited above.

This is spot on. We had 4 in play at the US am. Younger folks have a much easier time accepting technology in general.

[JA17]

7 hours ago, labgolf said:

This is spot on. We had 4 in play at the US am. Younger folks have a much easier time accepting technology in general.

I don’t understand why more pros and top amateurs who use the long putter don’t use it. It’s a different stroke than the conventional way and it’s literally point and shoot. It has improved my putting exponentially. 

[Clemsonfan]

On 8/23/2021 at 12:53 PM, labgolf said:

Nice! yeah it can take a minute to adjust for sure. Are you missing the shorties in a consistent direction? Make sure to really scrutinize your alignment. The putter is working hard to go where you point so if your aim is off, you'll struggle. Keep me posted and I'll have more to say if you don;t straighten it out on your own.

Even though I don’t use a line on my ball, I use the blade for alignment. In Puttlab testing I aim pretty well with previous putters from their reference distance. 
 

I believe my left misses slightly outweigh the misses to the right on short putts. Years ago, I used to miss face balanced putters short and to the right because of reverse rotation- a common miss for many. Your technology does not seem to allow that. My longer misses on slower greens are all short.

 

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

[manVSgolf]

I’ve been gaming my LAB Broomstick for the past 2 months.  I want to tell everyone what an absolute game-changer this is.
 

I never thought that I would achieve this level of proficiency on the greens.  I played 54 holes of golf over the weekend, and 3-putted once (from 50 feet - left it one rotation short!).  I am regularly breaking 80 now.

 

It is so different that it “shocks” your body into thinking about putting differently.  No matter how many different standard putters I used (at one point, I had 30 different putters), I could never visualize speed and feel as well as I do with this.  It happened so quickly and effectively, it blew me away.  
 

If you have never tried a broomstick, I can’t recommend it strongly enough.  IMO, LAB putters are the best out there.  I have sold 80% of my old putters and honestly have zero interest in anything else.  

[ilikegolf26]

I called a Club Champion about trying one of these out and getting fitted. The guy I spoke to said it would be $100 whether I ended up ordering one or not. I really don’t need the comprehensive fitting, just confirm the lie angle and length that feels the best but apparently that’s $100? I know they have to keep the lights on but if I liked it I would probably order it directly from them. My other option is to go to a PGA Superstore but I’m not sure I would even trust their floor guys to get my lie angle correct. 

[BrendanH]

Well, L.A.B. has another convert on their hands!

 

Not long ago I started to doubt my Newport 2 as the best choice for my game. When I'm practicing a lot I can get dialed in with it and I love how it feels, but if my tempo starts to drift at all I begin to struggle starting the ball on line.

 

From there I decided to try something face balanced as I felt that would handle tempo shifts much better. Along came my Ping Harwood and I saw an immediate and substantial improvement. I briefly struggled with pace but adjusted quickly. At that point my success with the Harwood simultaneously made me think I should just stick with it, but since it also validated my tempo vs. line mindset I got very interested in the low/zero torque options.

 

Well, just about a week ago I took the plunge on a stock DF 2.1, since I already know my specs and they just happened to have a perfect stock match. I received the putter on Monday and played yesterday (Tuesday). The looks took a little while to settle in for me, but not really because of the head size, more so due to the onset face. It didn't take long to get a good feel for how to set up to it however, and I started rolling some putts. The pace control was surprisingly good right out of the gate, but the stunning aspect was line control. It just feels like once I have this thing lined up I can be absolutely assured that is where my ball will start. I just keep my hands out of it now and rock my shoulders. Couldn't be simpler really. As for the onset face, I now really love it. All that exposure makes it dead simple to line up correctly.

 

Its first hole was a birdie and it just kept on working. Time after time I was starting the ball on line with ever-improving pace. I made just about everything I "should" make, along with a few that defied the odds, including a ~30 ft snake that just had no business seeing the bottom of the cup, lol. The only missed putt that should have gone in was a 4 footer that I just did not line up. I knew it was breaking a little off the left but I absent mindedly lined up dead center and watched the ball roll over the right lip. Oddly enough, that miss was the putt that most convinced me this putter was staying in the bag. I could honestly say for the first time in quite a while that I knew exactly why I missed the putt and I knew it was just a stupid and fixable error. No questions remain about the putter, now it's just down to me not screwing it up.

 

So an easy 2 under round and a firm spot in the bag was not a bad first day for my DF 2.1 🙂

 

 

[golfgirlrobin]

5 hours ago, ilikegolf26 said:

I called a Club Champion about trying one of these out and getting fitted. The guy I spoke to said it would be $100 whether I ended up ordering one or not. I really don’t need the comprehensive fitting, just confirm the lie angle and length that feels the best but apparently that’s $100? I know they have to keep the lights on but if I liked it I would probably order it directly from them. My other option is to go to a PGA Superstore but I’m not sure I would even trust their floor guys to get my lie angle correct. 

The LAB website has an excellent online video fitting available. Definitely worth trying. You can call and they’ll walk you threw it. Mine came out virtually the same as the in person fitting I had at one of their retailers. 

[ilikegolf26]

4 hours ago, golfgirlrobin said:

The LAB website has an excellent online video fitting available. Definitely worth trying. You can call and they’ll walk you threw it. Mine came out virtually the same as the in person fitting I had at one of their retailers. 

Thanks. May try this but Club Champion is actually going to get me in for a fitting that isn’t the standard putter comprehensive fitting since I already know what I want and it will only take like 15 minutes for length and lie measurements. 

[JA17]

11 hours ago, manVSgolf said:

I’ve been gaming my LAB Broomstick for the past 2 months.  I want to tell everyone what an absolute game-changer this is.
 

I never thought that I would achieve this level of proficiency on the greens.  I played 54 holes of golf over the weekend, and 3-putted once (from 50 feet - left it one rotation short!).  I am regularly breaking 80 now.

 

It is so different that it “shocks” your body into thinking about putting differently.  No matter how many different standard putters I used (at one point, I had 30 different putters), I could never visualize speed and feel as well as I do with this.  It happened so quickly and effectively, it blew me away.  
 

If you have never tried a broomstick, I can’t recommend it strongly enough.  IMO, LAB putters are the best out there.  I have sold 80% of my old putters and honestly have zero interest in anything else.  

Same for me with my broomstick. I still 3 putt sometimes but it’s always because I misread the speed and then pick the wrong line. But it always starts where I want it to and I honestly have never had a putter that did it until this one. 

[Calle83]

Well i have tried the DF 2.1 before and I think I dismissed it to fast.. I have been armlocking for the last 3 years and sometimes using a broom so the transition to a standard length putter felt to weird haha 

 

so I ended up selling it and kept buying/trading in hope to finding the putter for me. I eventually ended up with a couple of standard length putters and have been getting used to that way of putting again and the last putter was a Scotty 2.6 

 

through a friend I know traded that putter for a 2.1 with tha sight line I want and my specs so I guess it was meant to be 😄 

 

this time I’m going to stay with it! I think you really need to spend time and practice to get the best out of it! And right know I love how easy it is to aim with the huge line 

 

and the bigger grip really suits me more then my previous 2.1

[KensingtonPark]

@Calle83Congrats! One thing that I would advise is that you avoid the temptation to change your stroke too much. I have seen a lot of discussion of “straight back straight through” (“SBST”) in this forum as somehow a necessity. My feeling is that this putter can really work with any putting stroke. The key is that you use the stroke that gets you back to square. While that is true for all putters, the thing about torque is that at impact torque and the feeling it creates will conspire to encourage you to unconsciously manipulate the club, causing the face to close or open. This putter really eliminates that, so as long as you are square at impact, the ball will roll on line. The only thing I have really needed to do is change my setup and keep working on distance control, which is more a function of headweight differences from my other putters.

[iceman1118]

Has anyone had any experience with upgraded shafts? Looks like the Accra is out of stock but Stability Tour and now LAGP are in stock. Any real thoughts on whether the upgrade is worth it or not?

 

@labgolf any way you can chime in with some thoughts?
 

I am sure it has been discussed in this thread before but too many pages to go through now, which is great, still loving how this is going strong

Edited August 26, 2021 by iceman1118

[dlow206]

1 hour ago, iceman1118 said:

Has anyone had any experience with upgraded shafts? Looks like the Accra is out of stock but Stability Tour and now LAGP are in stock. Any real thoughts on whether the upgrade is worth it or not?

 

@labgolf any way you can chime in with some thoughts?
 

I am sure it has been discussed in this thread before but too many pages to go through now, which is great, still loving how this is going strong

 

I game the Accra shaft in my DF 2.1 and love it.

 

I need to hit more putts side by side to feel the difference though between the steel shaft and the Accra. (my small business sells LAB putters so i have my gamer DF 2.1 and a fitting bag with multiple LAB putters, so I will try to do a comparison between the Accra and the steel shaft). 

[Calle83]

7 hours ago, KensingtonPark said:

@Calle83Congrats! One thing that I would advise is that you avoid the temptation to change your stroke too much. I have seen a lot of discussion of “straight back straight through” (“SBST”) in this forum as somehow a necessity. My feeling is that this putter can really work with any putting stroke. The key is that you use the stroke that gets you back to square. While that is true for all putters, the thing about torque is that at impact torque and the feeling it creates will conspire to encourage you to unconsciously manipulate the club, causing the face to close or open. This putter really eliminates that, so as long as you are square at impact, the ball will roll on line. The only thing I have really needed to do is change my setup and keep working on distance control, which is more a function of headweight differences from my other putters.

Thx for the advice 

 

I feel I have to move the ball forward in my stance to get the best roll and I have been tinkering with the grip, right now a standard grip with the hands feels the best just need to stop gripping it so hard. As soon as I grip it light I feels great and I’m hitting the ball on line 

 

[manVSgolf]

11 hours ago, iceman1118 said:

Has anyone had any experience with upgraded shafts? Looks like the Accra is out of stock but Stability Tour and now LAGP are in stock. Any real thoughts on whether the upgrade is worth it or not?

 

@labgolf any way you can chime in with some thoughts?
 

I am sure it has been discussed in this thread before but too many pages to go through now, which is great, still loving how this is going strong

I have the standard stability shafts on my Broomstick and on my Armlock, then the stability tour on my standard.  I believe they are worthy the money.  
 

On the standard, it feels surprisingly soft when striking the ball.  I have the stability tour/black on several of my putters and this is  consistent throughout.  
 

Regarding the longer putters, it just feels solid.  At a minimum, eliminating one extra variable from your mind (will my putter shaft be swaying during this long putt?) will free up mental resources to help you putt better.  
 

The shafts are awesome.  I have honestly putted so so much better after putting with the LAB putter with stability shafts.