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A brief update from last night’s range session with the QI-10. I had an hour to kill after dropping my daughter off at soccer practice, so I took a wedge, 8i, mini driver and the 2 drivers and hit a bucket at the range down the road from the fields. Because I’ve been having face to path issues lately, especially with the driver, when I got to the driver I used an exaggerated strong grip with the intention of hitting duck hooks, along with keeping the club face pointed toward the ground in the takeaway. My first couple balls did exactly what I wanted them to, so I continued by hitting a ball and slightly adjusting my grip back toward neutral until I wasn’t hooking the ball. All in all, I was encouraged by the shape and while the distance still isn’t back to where it should be, I have decided to give the QI-10 every chance to make the bag. The work continues…

Good questions. How would you answer them? For me, stats wise, the most important stat is # of 3 putts. If I'm 3 putting the rest of the stats fall apart also. When it comes to the act of putting, the most important thing to me is speed. If my speed is on, confidence goes up, green reading seems to be better and it leads to more tap-ins and made putts.

Stellar find @Indy_Oz! Love the record player design on the bottom - gives it a nice touch with the naming.

That was a great find on a Toulon and it looks sharp! I hope you sink some putts with it.

Love it! I have done that a time or two as well as a towel right behind the ball drill when I'm chunky. The towel drill has worked wonders for me hitting ball first. No one wants a small towel flying around on the range. Haha. Well done man! Glad you are making some progress.

Michael, absolutely loved your introduction. Well done and I admit I’m envious of the tech toys you’re bringing to the party. Hack, exputt, Stack, Blast and the Edel putter. Sweet setup. I will definitely have to pick your brain on what you like best.

Introduction: I’m Michael. I like putters. My love of putters is almost certainly higher than my actual skill of putting. Putters are like quarterbacks: if your team has two, it probably doesn't have one. And if a golfer doesn’t have one putter, he’s likely not a great putter. And that’s true in my case: I have a rack of putters, a few of which typically see the course each season. This will be my second putter review for the MyGolfSpy Forum. A couple of years ago, when I was still an active moderator, I participated in the Edel EAS review. My EAS 4.0 is, as I write this preview/introduction, still my main putter. Summary of My Putting: I’m not a bad putter, but I’m not an especially good putter either. My Arccos handicap is currently 9.8 (yes, that 0.2 matters a lot to me). If I tweak the comparison benchmark until it gets to 0.0 SG:Putting, I putt at the level of 13 handicap. So I’m just slightly worse than average for my current level. But given that my goal as a golfer is to get to a solid single-figure index, I must improve my putting. What has been a lingering weakness for at least 5 years of stat tracking is my performance with “makeable” putts: those within 8’ (the 50/50 breakpoint for Tour players). Me as a Golfer: I’ll be 45 this summer; I am the pastor of a small church at the west end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where I’ve lived for the past 12 years. My wife and I have six children, ranging in ages from 13 to a few months. Those who’ve followed me on this Forum know that my oldest son is an avid and skilled junior golfer; I play most of my golf with him and am delighted both at the time we get to spend together and the privilege of having a front-row seat to watch him play. My other son always plays on occasion, and my six-year-old daughter also enjoys playing. All three of them will participate in Drive, Chip, and Putt this year. I play almost all my rounds every year at the one course that we have locally. They offer a clergy discount, so for $320 I can play as much golf as I wish during our six(ish) months without snow on the ground. Kirke plays for free. I never have to book a tee time; I just show up and start my round. I don’t take this privilege lightly. The one factor of our course that will affect my testing: our greens are tiny. Pebble Beach is famous for (a lot of reasons, but relevant here) having the smallest greens on the PGA Tour. The average green at Pebble is around 3,500 sq. ft. The average green at Gogebic Country Club is 3,200 sq. ft. This has a couple effects on this test: I almost never have a putt of 50’ or more. I miss a lot of greens relative to my handicap, despite having a relatively decent approach skill. The disparity is captured in this Arccos graphic, which shows that my total proximity is slightly better than a 10 handicap, while I hit 2 fewer greens per round than an average 10 handicap: Thus, I’m normally hitting my first putt from much closer than an average player of my skill level. My short game (as per Arccos) is the strongest part of my game, but this is why it’s so crucial to me that I improve in the makeable putts range. Compared to a scratch golfer, here is my current performance: Testing procedure: I love data and gadgets. These will play a significant role in my testing and reporting here. In the time spent waiting for the fitting and arrival of my L.A.B. DF3, I’ll be establishing some baseline numbers with two putters from my collection: the Edel EAS 4.0 mentioned above and my Evnroll Midlock ER11v. “What numbers?” you ask. I’ll be using the Putting Stability feature of the HackMotion wrist sensor to measure lead wrist stability through the stroke. I’ll likely use the Blast Motion sensor to track face opening/closing, loft/lie angle changes, tempo, stroke time, etc. I’ll also be using the ExPutt (arriving this week, according to FedEx!) to track all the club and ball data that it measures. My intention with the ExPutt is not only to track this club and ball data, but also to pit these putters against each other in matches using the practice features in the software. Now, on to the course! First, I’ll be using Stack Putting to compare the performance of these putters in putting comps. If the weather and time permit, I’d love to do at least three Stack Putting sessions with each putter, and then be able to compare the Strokes Gained putting numbers I’m getting with each of them. Once the L.A.B. arrives, I intend for that to be my exclusive gamer for the entire testing period. I’ll be collecting stats with Arccos, and I have my baseline here from Arccos with my last 20+ rounds with the Edel. Fitting Expectations: I will be using L.A.B.’s online remote fitting option. Until my Edel test, I had never been fitted for a putter. My Edel fitting was reassuring, because my fitter (the current owner of Edel!) more or less confirmed the things I had discovered about my putting using the “fitting by eBay” method. I have settled on a 34” length for standard putters. I aim roughly 2° to the right on most putts and pull them. My stroke is ugly; having early on read Dave Pelz, I tried to ingrain a straight back/straight through stroke that ended up being “take it back outside the line and reroute to something useful.” I don’t know what lie angle L.A.B. will recommend, but I suspect it will end up being fairly upright. I’m currently eyeing getting my DF3 in a counterbalanced setup, at 37”. My Edel is quite heavy, and I find a level of comfort in that. The fact that L.A.B. offers a Garsen Quad on the counterbalanced putter is awesome, because that’s currently what I’m using on my Edel. Many of the clubs in my bag (and my whole bag and pushcart setup) have a red and black color scheme, so that’s where I’m intending to go with my DF3.

I've only hit with indoor castle tees, nothing to the touch but not wiping off either. I would hate to think that one tee shot marked the surface like that...and my drives aren't consistent to the point of repeated hits to the exact same location on the face. No matter what I tell my golf buddies

I think it's a good drill that gets you to focus externally instead of getting caught up in focusing internally to try and figure out what your doing. I honestly enjoy these drills.

Partly the phone cam lens .. at the end of the tall fences, maybe about 205ish yds, it's about 50 yds across .. so yeah very good trying to hit "fairways" practice! hah! HAHA!! ..we'll see what happens when we get there, but I appreciate the vote of confidence!

Got my intro up: https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/64035-testers-announced-lab-df3-putters/?do=findComment&comment=1051655 I may or may not be hitting refresh on my Gmail account a dozen dozen times per day right now, waiting (im)patiently for my online fitting reply from L.A.B.

The Introduction First off, massive thanks to MGS and L.A.B. Golf for this incredible opportunity - if you’ve been following me since the introduction of the DF3, I’ve had my eye on the DF3 for sometime! My name is Chris, and I currently reside in Atlanta, Georgia, with my wife (of 9 years) and 2 children (5 and 1.5 years). And while we do get (mostly) year-round golf, the busyness of my personal & professional life afford me those precious few rounds of golf during a typical month. However, I hope that's changing in the coming years, as both my wife and oldest are picking up the sport I’ve known & loved for many years. Crossing fingers it sticks! Living in Atlanta, we have a number of “ok” options - mostly munis or semi-private tracks that aren’t maintained that well and / or way too busy. If you get outside, you have better options, but you are looking at a full day of golf / travel, which isn’t the most conducive to having a young family. Regardless, I make it work, and usually focus on planning my next golf trip (these are Tobacco Road & Bandon Dunes, respectively). The Game If you have followed a previous testing thread of mine (Cobra 50th Challenge & Member Test), I’ve been playing golf “most” of my life (most meaning once / year), but didn’t really take it seriously until the world shutdown in 2020 and it was basically the only thing you could do outside. Since then, I’ve gotten the bug, and thrown myself headfirst into the game - first playing with hand me downs from my dad, then getting to build a fully fitted bag from Cobra (thanks again MGS - forever grateful). Currently, I carry a 13.1 handicap, thanks in large part to my recent performance at the end-of-season VCT Tournament (shoutout to my awesome partner @Javs). I’ve been going through some distinct swing changes through an online swing coach / program, and have seen massive gains in my driver down to short irons (shoutout my most excellent collaborator @Preeway). And for the most part, my putter has held its ground (although that’s pretty shaky ground at most times). My current gamer is a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 (similar head shape to JT / Homa / Cantlay’s putters), which I selected off the rack a couple years ago. The Setup As an engineer (Go Jackets), I’ve been drawn to the L.A.B. concept for some time, and have been a huge fan of Sam / the business he’s built to this point. Prior to being selected, I obsessed over the idea of gaming the DF3 - a putter which I believe combines some of the best aspects of their other models, particularly the stated forgiveness of the DF2.1. And with the ability to create your own “virtual” putter on LAB’s website, I took many liberties in creating a multitude of designs - different color / shaft combinations, grips, and 33 (yes, 33) different alignment options. Is this the one? Stay tuned and see... As I think about this test, I’m planning to breakdown this process in a couple distinctive sections: 1) The Fitting - LAB offers a unique fitting experience that seems to have its fans (and detractors). Lets see what works well, what doesn’t, and how it could be a good option for others considering a LAB in their future. 2) The Numbers - In order to capture the requisite data points, I’m planning to utilize Arccos as my on-course data capture tool, augmenting it with some old-school data capture techniques on my Perfect Practice mat at home and some LM time at a local Club Champion. In addition, I’ll plan to sprinkle in some additional “mini-competitions” on a local putting green, and heck, maybe even another surprise or two (hint - anyone remember a certain Cobra test with flat-sticks last year? ). 3) The Course - Most importantly, the DF3 will be put through its paces on the course - comparing to previously captured results from my Scotty and doing a couple head to head matches with friends of various putting prowess (maybe even a fellow MGS member perhaps?). And with that… The Fitting A unique part of LAB’s model is a remote fitting process, which asks the player to create a short (3-5 second) video, using a door jamb as a reference point, and submit through their website. Yes, its that simple - in a couple days, you get a response from your fitter who can then walk you through your measurements and answer any questions you may have. And boy, did I have questions… (insert cliffhanger)

@CFreddie put together a great list of questions for the LAB fitter in the DM thread and one of them was about alignment marks on the putter. I have to admit that I'm a bit baffled with all of the choices. I watched the video below from Edel's YouTube page and it was evidence enough for me to determine that, at a minimum, alignment aids are important for aiming. Does anyone have any insight into the more abnormal alignment marks like the ones below (e.g. what kind of putter would benefit from one over another)? This could be a rabbit hole I'm not ready to go down, but I'll still pose the question. This alignment mark is on the top of my list: These few are curious to me: Please note: these are not all on my short list of alignment marks, but they all made me look at them several times.

Well I got to the range today and boy did it feel good. I hit 80 balls then played the short course. I worked on ball contact today, so did really worry about distance or where as long as club met ball with decent form and no hurry. I then played rotating tees and it was a tale of 2 9s. I was +9 on the front, which has more water and is likely longer. Alot of holes i just didnt make contact, even though i just worked on it. On the back, I was +4, with a Triple bogey on 1 hole. So really +1 through 8 on the back lol Putting was unreal today, I am going to try to pull the shot scope data up before we leave tomorrow to check to see strokes gained were. Try to compare the 2 nines as well as the last round I had as well. Thank yall for yall's support.

Uh so I probably snagging the Death Star one and maybe the Falcon as well!

You can find a Bushnell second hand for a really good price many times on FB Marketplace or EBay. I bought my V5 on sale with the X3 model came out last year for under $400. I don’t think you have to overspend in order to get good quality in a range finder. I know Blue Tees makes a good one too.

Javs, thanks for sharing. Good points raised by all. Here are my 2 cents with 2 options. Option 1. 1. With respect to lessons, find a good golf coach/teacher that you can relate to. Be open to suggestions and practice those changes between lessons. Take putting and short game lessons. Make sure your fundamentals (grip, setup, alignment and stance) are solid. Start slow with slow half speed swings. 2. Go to a reputable fitter and invest in fitted equipment. Don’t forget to get fitted for your wedges (scoring clubs) as well as putter (35-40% of your strokes). You don’t have to buy everything at once. 3. Dedicated Practice (have a plan) and practice some more. Don’t play all the time. Build regular practice into your schedule. Concentrate on shots from 100 yards and in as that accounts for 65-70% of your shots. You can save yourself a bucket load of strokes by deploying a good short game by hitting the ball to within 5 to 6’ from the hole and then making 1 putt. Develop a wedge matrix where you know how far a half swing, 3/4 and full swing go. Practice your putting and develop a feel how far a 10’ goes vs a 20 or 30 footer. 4. Course management. Work from the green back and calculate which distances you are more comfortable hitting as an approach shot. E.g 75 or 100, 125 yard full swing club vs a 42 yard shot. If you don’t hit the fairway with your drive, Don’t go for the hero shot, rather hit the shot you can repeat 8 times out of ten. I.e. Play for the bogey and avoid the double, triple or worse. 5. Invest in Arccos or Shotscope - the data provided is invaluable as you will reliably know how far you hit each of your clubs and where you are losing strokes. An alternative is to spend an hour of time indoors using Trackman or GCQuad and hit 10 shots with each club and email the report to yourself. Eliminate the outliers and you will have a good idea of your carry and total distances for each club. 6. Use the winter (for us northern folks) to set goals and practice and work on your swing Option 2 - don’t take lessons, learn from your buddies, buy what’s on sale, don’t practice and then be surprised your game hasn’t improved (in 30 or so years of playing).

Congrats @CFreddie!!! Hope I can get some of that good juju and get picked for the Paradym Smoke driver My birthday is on Monday, hoping I can start 37 as a certified MGS tester! Hope you love that LAB putter!

Thanks, Jason! Was good to just feel some good strikes and some progress. Gonna make it a regular routine thing to keep me in check and hopefully it’ll lead to more consistent good ball striking

The Masters proved to be a pretty brutal week for the pick’em league. More war of attrition than birdie bonanza. Congrats to @Pettitt95 _and_ @SBB on the win - the only 2 teams to finish under par (-1). They had different teams but finished at the same score total and winnings. Presumably @GolfSpy BOS is going let us know soon whether they both won a set of Lamkin grips or will be facing off in a double tie breaker coin flip. Another signature event this week for the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, so the big names are in town. With Meredith in the baby red zone, ride the Scheffler heat at your own peril. Good luck errbody!

https://hellforleathergolf.co.uk/ man they have a lot of cool stuff on their site.

It's good to hear you got your contact issues figured out, Jason. There's nothing worse than hitting hosel rockets.

Where did you find that dude?!

Walked 18 holes this morning, I hadn't played since last Thursday. Hit a few balls over the weekend. Worked specifically on a couple of things. In anticipation of new irons, I reset the 3 & 4 Rescue clubs. Setting 3 rescue to 18 degree from 19 degrees & the 4 rescue setting to 21 degrees from 22 degrees. The results weren't bad. Had one 3 rescue off the tee that was a poor drive. Too much movement during swing. The 4 rescue was hit well and long with baby draws. I reached a par 5 in 2. The drive was about 290yds leaving 197 yards to the hole, a bit uphill. I choked down on the 4 rescue & hit a nice shot ending up about 14 feet from hole. (Missed the eagle putt) Specifically worked on takeaway and making sure for the first 7-8 inches my hands stay quiet allowing my shoulders to start the swing along the toe line & making sure the club comes up vs going out too long & too low. Had a couple of memory lapses during the round on tee shots, specifically with the irons. One led to a double bogey, hitting the tee shot OB on a par 3, which is a rarity. Honestly, it was a poor setup, which led to a poor swing causing me slide instead of turning and get ahead of the shot. However, it did wake me up for the rest of the round. Playing again tomorrow at 7am, will be working on the same things, especially patience & tempo.

In building off my last post in the thread, I had the BEST practice session I have had in recent weeks last night in regards to my case of the shanks. To that point, I think I had been taking the wrong approach. I was just trying to "fix" my swing by trying to work through it, with no real intent or drills that actually helped me. You live and you learn! I saw a drill posted on IG from Justin Kraft, who is a teaching professional in the Minneapolis area. I really like his delivery style for instruction, and as a visual learner, being able to see someone not only perform a drill, but see it repeatedly (thanks social media!), helps me a lot. The drill is quite simple in matter of fact terms. You set your club down on the mat/ground, place a tee outside the toe and inside the heel, and then try to swing through the gate without hitting the tees. I started without a ball and with 1/2 swings and shorter, and it honestly took me quite a good amount of time to get to the point where I wasn't wiping out the outside tee. I made it a point to get "through the gate" 10 times in a row before introducing a ball to the drill. It was probably 15 minutes before I accomplished that, but it allowed me to start to feel the difference between a swing that didn't clip the tee and one that did. The biggest thing I noticed feel wise was that when my arms felt connected to my upper body, mainly my trail arm feeling connected to my ribcage, I was getting through cleanly. If I didn't have that feel, I clipped the tee. After introducing the ball, I immediately hit the outer tee, and went right back to no ball to work on the feel again. I was eventually able to make solid contact with the ball and not the tees, then took the ball away and worked more towards a full ROM swing. I never felt like I actually took a full speed swing, but it's far too early for that IMO. set my goal of at least 7/10 swings without hitting the tee in full ROM, then introduced the ball and worked through the same progressions. By the end of my practice session, I was able to make flush contact and made a point to finish on two consecutive flushed shots, which I did. Hoping to get another practice session in again tonight, but we will see how the evening goes. If not tonight, tomorrow for sure. Really, REALLY happy to finally feel like I've taken a step in the right direction, and this drill is now going to be a mainstay for me every time I practice at home and on the range. Including a photo of my ball striking at one point during the evening just because it felt darn good to make some consistent impact. Clearly still enough room for improvement, but so much better than it has been and I am proud of that.

Continuing the theme of this being short game week, today was chipping practice in the yard with my 3 primary chipping clubs: 42* Smart Sole "C" and 50* and 58* CBX4s. I set a "target" (my shag bag) at 5-yards and worked on carrying the ball to that distance, using the same body-driven, no hands swing with each club. What is interesting, to me at least, is that a swing of approximately 7:00 to 5:00 with each of these clubs results in the same 5-yard +/- carry. Until my home course allows chipping to the practice green so I can determine the exact rollout, working on carry will have to do.

Back to the sim last night, spent most of my time with the Performance Center/Strokes Gained mode. Improved my average to -.55 from -.70 the night before. Managed two in 30 shots that gained strokes against the tour average, compared to the night before I only managed 1 in 60. Really enjoying this type of practice.

@GolfSpy_BEN that is encouraging news on your Q10 testing front, and hopefully as the season unfolds the speed comes back and you find it capable of making your bag. It always seems to take some time to get acclimated to new tools or clubs, so patience is a virtue to have going forward.

Day 94 (17 Apr 24) - Range time fell thru, picked back up with drills in backyard - setup, ball position, swing tempo….good easy day..

A few years ago I joined a private club .. to be able to play almost on demand, and to practice whenever I wanted .. and, yeah, there's a dress code .. and, yeah, I think it could be be a *little* more relaxed... For example, I like to go untucked everywhere. I wear nice polos but still don't understand the insistence on being to be tucked in on the course. Another example .. women like to wear leggings, but those are considered athletic wear and so not allowed. OTOH the dress code (whatever it actually is) at this club appears to me to be inconsistent - e.g. you'll see guys out there with large, colorful NFL or MLB team logos emblazoned across the chest... Anyway first world problems and we're kinda committed to staying/playing there for the time being .. so "it is what it is"!

I can’t say for sure if they are legit or not but an email to KBS with the serial numbers and other markings should shed some light.

Right now it's an Aldila Ascent PL Blue (40/A); self-selected after participating in the Otto-Phlex Experiment from which I was happy using a Grafalloy Pro Launch Blue (45/A).

Mine is just like that, and I think it's currently hiding out in that super fancy Bettinardi Custom fitting studio

Seems like these bags are getting out super quick…excited that these are arriving soon for the test group!

Heading to Phoenix to see my Mother and play some golf. My brother is also coming out at the end of the week because his middle daughter is moving there. My sister and her daughter live there too. Haven’t seen my Mom in a few years. Will get to see my new grand niece and grand nephew as well. Short layover in Dallas due to my flight from Savannah being delayed. Luckily the next flight was just a couple of gates down. Quick bathroom break and grabbed a brisket sandwich combo meal and will eat it on the plane. Hoping my golf clubs make it.

Because the hippies and anti dress code crowd will be after you. i agree with you. The piece wasn’t great and missed the point of what the issues was. But it’s not the only opinion piece on the main page that has issues, but I digress. I like what Augusta does along with Wimbledon.

Things should start moving pretty quickly. Ghost Golf has confirmed the orders and shipping labels have been completed with UPS. Since the product is coming from Georgia is looks like a quick trip to Virginia.

That’s a nice putter…love the green on it!

The Masters “rules” are all about protecting their brand - you can’t even take a bottle of water onsite unless you can rip the label off or it has the official Masters logo. This is nothing new for the last 88 years. The white painter suits and green hats on the caddies are part of the tradition but corporate sponsorships are what’s paying the bills so I think there has to be some middle ground beside allowing the players to put a maximum size logo on their chests and collars. Now playing in shorts on the PGA should be the next discussion - the Aussies have figured it out and their game is not falling apart….. just saying

I played a full 18 with my friend today n he helped fix my grip n swing and I shot a 131 today, gettin better and i only lost 3 balls to the ole water holes today and saw 2 big gators and a baby one lol prolly gonna try and play again this weekend

Oops, how did that happen... Odyssey Toulon Design Memphis putter. A few years old but in great condition and feels nice rolling the ball on the indoor putting mat. I've tried a few mallet putters in this shape and really liked the alignment and strike feel when I tried this and the more recent version of the Memphis. Got it for a great price, so if it doesn't work out after some initial testing I shouldn't lose much $$ on resale.

I am surprised we haven't seen a brand like Ralph Lauren with a large branding across some apparel. I have a feeling that if this was a brand with previous golf exposure it might be a non-issue. While the vest and the baggy pants aren't my style, I definitely appreciate a lot of Malbon designs. I've become pretty fond of the Malbon mascot.

Bought a stealth three wood for $100 today. Steal not??

Beautiful weekend in the PNW. Chambers Bay had some gorgeous views. 83% of my game even looked pretty good (3 frickin holes ). But a great daybfor golf!

Heard this on PGA Tour Radio on Monday and forgot to mention it here: Every year at the Masters, they have a media lottery and a few of the credentialed media (there are 20 winners) covering the tournament get to play ANGC on the Monday after the tournament. A good friend of mine once won that lottery for which he has my permanent envy. Same was the case this year. One of the lottery winners was one Julia Westerman, a TV sports anchor in Columbia, SC. She got to play the course on Monday. Here's the catch: Julia HAD NEVER PLAYED A ROUND OF GOLF BEFORE. Her first lifetime round was at ANGC. Where do you go from there? Somehow your Columbia munis, or even the plushest country club in town, would be about five steps down. What do you think a noob hacker would shoot at ANGC? My guess is she didn't break 200. EDIT: A reply on her Xwitter thread says she shot 129; she neither denied or confirmed it. The only detail she provided was that she bogeyed #7, just like Scottie. They play from the members tees, which apparently are about 6300 yards.

Continued my 3 times a week chipping and putting ritual. This is getting pretty consistent now. This was chipping from 25-30ft..

You sure you’re in Orlando and not Australia? Those greens are the wrong way up

As part of the process, all the testers have submitted their fitting videos and we are awaiting our results. The process is as follows: Remote online fitting – L.A.B. requires you to send in a very short video of 5-10 seconds recording you in your golf shoes, making a putt with a vertical wall or door jamb in the background. They will also require your height as well as length of your current putter from the centre of the putter face to the end of the grip. I have included my 5 second clip. LAB putter fit - short Trim.mp4 Send in your video to L.A.B. and they will use their video fitting software to analyze your stroke and calculate your ideal length and lie angle. They will then send you an email confirming your specifications. https://labgolf.com/pages/remote-fitting Now the fun begins, selecting from the various colour options, alignment aids, shaft, grip, etc. To follow.

Who I am – MGS Tester Introduction My name is Chris and welcome. I am a 65 year old male and I live with my artist wife Sue and two huskies in Oakville, in the greater Toronto area in Ontario, Canada. To put things into perspective the province of Ontario is 1.5 times larger than the state of Texas and 4 times the size of the U.K. Why I am testing: I am very grateful to MGS and L.A.B. and excited by this opportunity. I am keen to see if the L.A.B. DF3 and its lie angle balance approach to putter design works as claimed. It was designed to eliminate torque and produce a repeatable swing. The DF3 is the smaller, sleeker version of its bigger brother, the directed force, DF2, but does it deliver the goods? It has gained significant traction on tour and begs the question of how it stacks up to my fitted reference putter(s). VERSUS But this is no ordinary Evnroll. It has been fitted and modified with a stability tour shaft and an Evnroll gravity grip. For more information on this and my putting statistics, see, What am I looking for in the L.A.B. DF3: I gave a lot of thought on how I would test this if given the opportunity before applying. I am a fairly decent putter averaging 31 to 32 putts per round based on my Arccos data. If it proves to deliver the putter more consistently to the ball and results in more one putts, less three putts and overall, less putts per round, it will be a candidate to go in the bag permanently. I am particularly interested in how it performs from 10’ feet and in. Does it offer good value for the money? My putter testing protocol including testing on Quintic to follow in a separate post. Moreover, thorough testing of the L.A.B. DF3 will focus me on improving my putting and working on my putting drills. So thankyou MyGolfSpy. Making those short putts is critical. Who I am: I am driven by challenges and the constant need to learn and improve and I’m passionate in what I do. I am also data driven and analytical in nature. Needless to say, I am a golf, data and equipment junkie. I have had many careers. After graduate school, I did medical research looking at factors involved in preterm labour. I then moved onto organ donation and transplantation, eventually running the organ donation program based out of Toronto General Hospital. Toronto General hospital (TGH) is one of the premier transplant centres and hospitals in the world. They pioneered both successful single and double lung transplantation in the eighties. I had the distinct pleasure of working in multi organ transplant in the early days (80’s/90’s) and worked with many brilliant and incredibly smart people. Where the driving principle was you do what’s best for the patient and what does the data show. What is the source of that data, is it evidence based, is it fair, balanced, and non promotional in nature. You had to know your stuff and be prepared for anything. Back then it was routine to work 24-36 hours straight procuring and transplanting organs. Think of the guy getting off the Lear jet in OR greens with a cooler. I was that guy. I’ve been in every teaching hospital and most ICU’s (intensive care units) across Canada and many in the US. No frequent flyer miles I’m driven by the need to learn, push myself and enjoy what I do. I then transitioned to career 3, moving to the “dark side” starting with Wyeth and then Pfizer in their Rare Disease group and the launch of Rapamycin for organ transplantation. So, I stayed in transplant, interacted with all the people I worked with for many years, although now in a different capacity. If you’re going to go to industry, it’s the best way to go. Over time, bleeding disorders (hemophilia) and growth disorders were added to my portfolio but the same guiding principle of doing what’s best for the patient and what does the data actually show, guided me. Career 4, presented itself during the pandemic and the opportunity to take early retirement with no more Zoom calls and the opportunity to be a full time golf aficionado and pickleball player was too irresistible to pass up. My other passions are building, home renovation and cooking. When I was young, I bought a water access shell of a cottage as my first property. Not being handy at the time, I proceeded to take courses in construction, carpentry, electrical and plumbing. I then proceeded to completely wire the cottage, plumb it, insulate it, drywall, install flooring, build the kitchen, bathroom, etc. I’ve built and rebuilt docks, decks, so hence the handyman moniker. There’s not much I can’t do, although with age comes wisdom. Golf: I have been playing golf on and off for 40 plus years. After not playing golf for 10+ years, I got back into golf at the age of 60. I was inspired by a friend who once said, golf is the only game you can play for 30 years and never improve. When I thought about it, it is rather true, so I was determined to do it right the second time around. At the time I was about a 25ish handicap. Hence lessons, fitted equipment and diligent practice. I was inspired again when I went to Tour Experience Golf (TXG) 5+ years ago and came out not only with expertly fitted and built clubs, but many new friends. I now go at least twice a year to tweak my setup. My current handicap is 6.3, but I have been as low as 4 or high as 8.5. Most of my rounds are in the 78 - 82 range. My home course is TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley featuring 3 courses all ranked within the top 60 courses in Canada and all 3 in the top 20 public courses in Canada. TPC Sawgrass, I’m the guy in the middle in the blue and black. I love scenic, challenging courses, especially mountain or coastal courses. What drives me is hitting good shots and being consistent. My philosophy is if you hit good shots the score will “usually” take care of itself. If you don’t like the score, play better. I am competitive, however, I play more for the joy of the game. I strive to improve each year and keep father time at bay. Now, my day job is golf, pickleball and my two huskies. Myah (front) and Hazel (rear) Thank you for your patience and understanding in reading my introduction.

Introduction Thank you to L.A.B. Golf and the MGS Forum for this unbelievable opportunity to test the new L.A.B. DF3 putter! As a husband and father of 3 young children (Ages are 6, 4 and 1.5 years old) my main job is reading children’s books in funny voices and expertly applying superglue and packaging tape to broken toys! I have a side gig in building creative (and mostly safe) obstacle courses for the kids to jump around on. As a family, we also like going on hikes and bike rides. The photo below is from a local hike that has a viewing/learning area about farms and crops and their various growth stages (my wife and I decided not to put our kids on any social media, so you’ll just get the backs of their heads ) We live in an area of Southern Michigan that is known for having a lot of lakes, so we try to spend a lot of time in and around the water (in the summertime) in this beautiful area. It's also a great area for golf and there are at least 12 golf courses within 20 minutes. My day job is working as an electrical protection engineer for generating facilities throughout the state of Michigan, protecting the people and equipment within the facilities. It’s an incredibly interesting job and I’ve enjoyed it for the last 10 years! As far as golfing goes, I started golf when I was 14 and played on the H.S. golf team. My peak handicap was 5 during that time. After high school I almost never golfed, playing 7 times over 15 years. I got hooked again in the fall of 2021 and haven’t looked back. I got my first ever fitting in the fall of ’22. I’m a proud member of the pushcart mafia and walk every chance I get (check out the Clicgear 4.0 review thread; in ‘23, I had lower scores when walking)! I’ve put in quite a bit of practice to get my HCP from 17 in ’21 to my current HCP of 7.4. Putting has improved, but my golf game has traditionally gone as my driver goes and putting has always been my biggest weakness. Being a weak putter, L.A.B. golf putters have been of obvious interest to me, and there seems to be excitement around these putters in everyone from professionals to weekend warriors. I love that they're using technology and engineering to try to make putting easier. I’ve had about 100 different combinations of L.A.B. putters in my cart over the past year or so! That being said, I have never rolled a single putt with a L.A.B. putter… yet! I did a putter fitting in '22 and it was based on my static measurements and my putting stroke style. My putting stroke is straight-back straight-through so they recommended a mallet, face-balanced putter that is 33.25" long putter with a lie angle of 69*. We'll see what LAB recommends via their online fitting! My current gamer putter is a Sub70 AL-6 armlock putter that is 39.5" long with a lie angle of 72*. I did an unofficial review last year of the putter and switching to armlock. You can see the review here. I had significant improvement switching to armlock! VS. Over the course of this test, I plan on putting the LAB DF3 through it’s paces in 3 main ways: The key testing method is going to be on the course. Before switching to the AL-6 armlock, my average putts per round was 38.7 putts. With the armlock putter over the last 9 months my average putts per round is 34.1. Will the LAB DF3 improve my putts per round? I’m going to keep more detailed records on my putting than ever before (e.g. length of putt, make/miss, long/short, left/right, confidence over putt). Tempo has been something that I’ve struggled with, so it’s what I practice most at home and so far that has consisted of rolling putts in my living room using a ruler to gauge my takeaway length and a mirror to keep setup consistent. This setup is easy, has worked and I’d like to see how quickly I establish a good tempo with the DF3. I will also be using the EXputt putting simulator, which should be arriving any day now, to compare my armlock putter stroke to the DF3 and get data on face, path, and speed control. As a side test, I’m hoping to go to a true putter fitting experience and get their thoughts on the DF3 vs. my gamer armlock AL-6 putter. I also want to answer the following questions: How long does it take to get used to the L.A.B. style of putting? Is going from armlock style to L.A.B. style more difficult than my transition from normal to armlock? Do I like the looks/feel/sound of the putter? How was the fitting and ordering process? Thanks again to the MGS Forum staff and L.A.B. Golf! Let us know if you have any questions that you’d like answered throughout this test!