L.A.B. Putters - 2023 Forum Review

[pozzit]

Hey all, Just posting to give a bump to my data so far with the DF2.1 following my first round and 200 putts on the putting green comparing my 2-ball to LAB.

[TSauer]

So, let’s dabble in a little data.

All of my indoor testing was done on a 14’ x 4’ BirdieBall mat. For me, this would remove one crucial factor when it comes to sinking putts… reading them. It would allow me to focus more on the ability to hit my line and test whether or not I can keep the face square through impact. I used a laser level to make sure I was lining up correctly each time. The plan was to roll 100 putts with each putter; Link.1, Evnroll ER2, and the Scotty Cameron Newport 2. The shorter putts were pretty straightforward, as you’ll notice in the table below. Once we got to the eight footers, there was a slight right to left break I had to pay attention to and adjust for. Before I recorded anything with the Link, I made sure to get some practice in with it and become a little more accustomed with the setup and motion of it all. Not only is this my first LAB putter, but it’s my first center shafted putter as well.

 

 

The practice setup looked like the photo above. I had the tape measure laid out to make sure I was at the proper distance each time, the laser was propped up on the box to assure it would reach each distance, and I hit putts in batches of 20 balls making sure to take plenty of breaks. This entire process was spread out over 2-3 weeks and I made sure I didn’t hit too many batches at once so I didn’t fatigue myself and possibly skew the results. So, without further ado, these are the numbers from that testing.

 

 

During my week off, I was also able to make it up to the course each day to work on performing the same test but only on real greens. Those results are still in the works, as it’s a little more intense trying to hit dozens of putts with the sun beating down on you. However, I did manage to get some numbers on putt proximity. I wanted to gather the average proximity to the hole from 30 feet. For this I did batches of 10 balls, but kept the total number of balls hit to 40 for each putter. Again, this was done throughout the course of a week or so. Living in a rather small town means I had the course to myself most of those days, which made this test especially easy.

 

 

So far, so good for the Link. As I mentioned earlier, the testing is still a work in progress and there will be more numbers to come in the following weeks!

[GolfSpy SAM]

3 hours ago, TSauer said:

So, let’s dabble in a little data.

All of my indoor testing was done on a 14’ x 4’ BirdieBall mat. For me, this would remove one crucial factor when it comes to sinking putts… reading them. It would allow me to focus more on the ability to hit my line and test whether or not I can keep the face square through impact. I used a laser level to make sure I was lining up correctly each time. The plan was to roll 100 putts with each putter; Link.1, Evnroll ER2, and the Scotty Cameron Newport 2. The shorter putts were pretty straightforward, as you’ll notice in the table below. Once we got to the eight footers, there was a slight right to left break I had to pay attention to and adjust for. Before I recorded anything with the Link, I made sure to get some practice in with it and become a little more accustomed with the setup and motion of it all. Not only is this my first LAB putter, but it’s my first center shafted putter as well.

 

 

The practice setup looked like the photo above. I had the tape measure laid out to make sure I was at the proper distance each time, the laser was propped up on the box to assure it would reach each distance, and I hit putts in batches of 20 balls making sure to take plenty of breaks. This entire process was spread out over 2-3 weeks and I made sure I didn’t hit too many batches at once so I didn’t fatigue myself and possibly skew the results. So, without further ado, these are the numbers from that testing.

 

 

During my week off, I was also able to make it up to the course each day to work on performing the same test but only on real greens. Those results are still in the works, as it’s a little more intense trying to hit dozens of putts with the sun beating down on you. However, I did manage to get some numbers on putt proximity. I wanted to gather the average proximity to the hole from 30 feet. For this I did batches of 10 balls, but kept the total number of balls hit to 40 for each putter. Again, this was done throughout the course of a week or so. Living in a rather small town means I had the course to myself most of those days, which made this test especially easy.

 

 

So far, so good for the Link. As I mentioned earlier, the testing is still a work in progress and there will be more numbers to come in the following weeks!

Killing it. Keep it up!

[RoverRick]

I just updated the First Impressions sections. Along with uploaded some putter pics. RoverRick

 

 

[RoverRick]

I realized today that this putter is pointing out a flaw in my putting technique. I mentioned that I was having some issues with the shorter breaking putts under pressure. This is from using too much hand action. I spent some time before the round today and worked this out. However, I was in a match play tournament round, and my opponent hit an incredible shot on 11 and made an eagle, and I had an unfortunate bounce 90° and 40 yards OB and found myself 2 down with 6 to play. I had 4 opportunities to win holes and missed 4 short (6-8 feet so not that short) breaking putts to win holes and didn’t get it done. 
 

Oh well 2 more matches in the first round so I have more chances. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

On 5/31/2023 at 2:56 PM, TSauer said:

So, let’s dabble in a little data.

All of my indoor testing was done on a 14’ x 4’ BirdieBall mat. For me, this would remove one crucial factor when it comes to sinking putts… reading them. It would allow me to focus more on the ability to hit my line and test whether or not I can keep the face square through impact. I used a laser level to make sure I was lining up correctly each time. The plan was to roll 100 putts with each putter; Link.1, Evnroll ER2, and the Scotty Cameron Newport 2. The shorter putts were pretty straightforward, as you’ll notice in the table below. Once we got to the eight footers, there was a slight right to left break I had to pay attention to and adjust for. Before I recorded anything with the Link, I made sure to get some practice in with it and become a little more accustomed with the setup and motion of it all. Not only is this my first LAB putter, but it’s my first center shafted putter as well.

 

 

The practice setup looked like the photo above. I had the tape measure laid out to make sure I was at the proper distance each time, the laser was propped up on the box to assure it would reach each distance, and I hit putts in batches of 20 balls making sure to take plenty of breaks. This entire process was spread out over 2-3 weeks and I made sure I didn’t hit too many batches at once so I didn’t fatigue myself and possibly skew the results. So, without further ado, these are the numbers from that testing.

 

 

During my week off, I was also able to make it up to the course each day to work on performing the same test but only on real greens. Those results are still in the works, as it’s a little more intense trying to hit dozens of putts with the sun beating down on you. However, I did manage to get some numbers on putt proximity. I wanted to gather the average proximity to the hole from 30 feet. For this I did batches of 10 balls, but kept the total number of balls hit to 40 for each putter. Again, this was done throughout the course of a week or so. Living in a rather small town means I had the course to myself most of those days, which made this test especially easy.

 

 

So far, so good for the Link. As I mentioned earlier, the testing is still a work in progress and there will be more numbers to come in the following weeks!

Cannot wait to see more of this... You may also have to tell me how it what program you used to make those charts as they are awesome!

[FDC]

wow, fantastic work. your attention to detail and ability to remove all random factors is remarkable!

[TSauer]

7 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Cannot wait to see more of this... You may also have to tell me how it what program you used to make those charts as they are awesome!

Fun fact, I actually got my inspiration from this Shot Scope test that MGS did last year lol.  I really liked how that one looked and couldn't find any similar charts that looked interesting. So, I used Photoshop to create everything and used those colors.

I can probably get a template made and add more boxes, colors, etc if anyone wants!

[TG8]

On 5/31/2023 at 7:56 AM, TSauer said:

So, let’s dabble in a little data.

All of my indoor testing was done on a 14’ x 4’ BirdieBall mat. For me, this would remove one crucial factor when it comes to sinking putts… reading them. It would allow me to focus more on the ability to hit my line and test whether or not I can keep the face square through impact. I used a laser level to make sure I was lining up correctly each time. The plan was to roll 100 putts with each putter; Link.1, Evnroll ER2, and the Scotty Cameron Newport 2. The shorter putts were pretty straightforward, as you’ll notice in the table below. Once we got to the eight footers, there was a slight right to left break I had to pay attention to and adjust for. Before I recorded anything with the Link, I made sure to get some practice in with it and become a little more accustomed with the setup and motion of it all. Not only is this my first LAB putter, but it’s my first center shafted putter as well.

 

 

The practice setup looked like the photo above. I had the tape measure laid out to make sure I was at the proper distance each time, the laser was propped up on the box to assure it would reach each distance, and I hit putts in batches of 20 balls making sure to take plenty of breaks. This entire process was spread out over 2-3 weeks and I made sure I didn’t hit too many batches at once so I didn’t fatigue myself and possibly skew the results. So, without further ado, these are the numbers from that testing.

 

 

During my week off, I was also able to make it up to the course each day to work on performing the same test but only on real greens. Those results are still in the works, as it’s a little more intense trying to hit dozens of putts with the sun beating down on you. However, I did manage to get some numbers on putt proximity. I wanted to gather the average proximity to the hole from 30 feet. For this I did batches of 10 balls, but kept the total number of balls hit to 40 for each putter. Again, this was done throughout the course of a week or so. Living in a rather small town means I had the course to myself most of those days, which made this test especially easy.

 

 

So far, so good for the Link. As I mentioned earlier, the testing is still a work in progress and there will be more numbers to come in the following weeks!

You lucky dawg. Professional review!

[Syks7]

Man, I'm going to have to up my graphics game...   For now all I can do is promise that it'll be better presented in the final review.  

 

For now, all I can say about week 3 of my 5' test is "of all weeks where I couldn't play a round ".  The flat sticks were hot!  Not sure what the deal was (it might be that I've been rolling 300? putts a week for the last three weeks) but I missed a grand total of 7 times over 153 putts (this includes two misses in the warmups.)

Bettinardi Innovai 6.0 CTR

42 Putts, 42 Makes, 100.00%  The Innovai made a case for itself this week.  The unstable feeling was gone.   One thing that I noted is that the face is notably softer than the other two putters.  It's more forgiving of overpower but way less forgiving of decel.  Two of the 7 misses were in warmup for the Innovai so make of that what you will.

YES Callie

42 Putts, 39 Makes, 92.86% Make.  Still might be my favorite feel off the face.  Something about the C-groove just works.  All three misses were toward the end one just short the other two lipouts.

L.A.B.  Link1

42 Putts, 40 Makes, 95.24% Make.   Still wildly consistent.  Two silly misses where I got a little handsy at the end otherwise just straight down the line every time.

 

After three weeks and 123 putts here are the total make percentages for each putter.  

L.A.B.  Link1 -- 93.65%

YES Callie -- 83.33%

Bettinardi Innovai 6.0 CTR -- 86.51%

All three are well above PGA make percentage (with a lot of assistance in perfect conditions) but the thing that has struck me so far is that even on a week where I felt off (last week) the Link stays consistent.  This seems to be true out on the course as well where it just stays consistent even when my stroke or my aim sucks.   I haven't had a super hot day with it yet, but I also haven't had a day where I went ice cold and had zero feel.    

One of my favorite things after three weeks is that I feel like it's vastly improved my game all around.  It so consistent that it's helped me identify some inconsistencies in my putting stroke, setup, and alignment.  Kind of a neat trick since it also lead me to identify the same inconsistencies accross my game from tee to green-- Apparently the worst part of my game ( by far ) is my ability to align my feet to where the club is pointing.    It is comically bad for someone at my index and might account for a high double digit percentage of my misses from tee to green.

In any case, back to the testing front, I picked up a couple things I'm going to use to do a few more tests & for just general practice.

First, some flat rubber cups so I can be out of the way of other when I'm testing (Making 150+ putts)

Second, some rings for dispersion testing from lag distances.  I'll run this against the Callie & Innovai.

And last, a home made version of this.  (I'm not going to spend $19 when I have thinner longer tent stakes and mason string in the garage). 

 

I'm going to do linear (speed) dispersion with this from 10 & 20 feet.   I'll set it up parallel to my line beside the cup with some markings on the string to identify distance.  I'll then plot where each putt stops so that I can put together a plot graph that will look a graphic version of this.

If you don't know what this is it's a Scott Fawcett Decade Golf concept that you have a speed dispersion pattern when putting.  You leave x number short at the bottom of the pattern, x number in the center, and x number at the end.  The idea is to center the heaviest concentration of your speed dispersion pattern on the hole so you make more.  It makes you putt more freely doing this since you're less concerned with speed and more concerned with putting the ball on a line that's going to center your dispersion pattern over the hole.  Should be a good test of the speed control of the Link vs. the other putters.

[GolfSpy_APH]

With all your excitement and early success I broke and ordered a putter through Sam. 

We had a great exchange and did a virtual fit which was stupid simple. 

With that even though not an official tester as I will have a putter around the same time (due to arrive Tuesday) and since baby is coming June 13th I will have a lot of time for putting and not much else I will be doing a review along side you guys!

[Josh Ross]

15 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

With all your excitement and early success I broke and ordered a putter through Sam. 

We had a great exchange and did a virtual fit which was stupid simple. 

With that even though not an official tester as I will have a putter around the same time (due to arrive Tuesday) and since baby is coming June 13th I will have a lot of time for putting and not much else I will be doing a review along side you guys!

Awesome, mine arrives Wednesday! 

[Bucky CC]

15 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

With all your excitement and early success I broke and ordered a putter through Sam. 

We had a great exchange and did a virtual fit which was stupid simple. 

With that even though not an official tester as I will have a putter around the same time (due to arrive Tuesday) and since baby is coming June 13th I will have a lot of time for putting and not much else I will be doing a review along side you guys!

That's awesome.  MGS forum discount code incoming?  Haven't seen this much excitement on the forum about a brand of putters since Evnroll swept the most wanted awards a few years ago.

 

[GolfSpy_APH]

1 hour ago, Bucky CC said:

That's awesome.  MGS forum discount code incoming?  Haven't seen this much excitement on the forum about a brand of putters since Evnroll swept the most wanted awards a few years ago.

 

No discount codes unfortunately. Between the testers success and @GolfSpy SAM raving non stop about his there was simply too much evidence saying it would help my putting. Which is going through a bit of time right now. 

Bottom line theme really seem to be onto something with their tech making putting a lot more simpler. 

as this is also a data heavy review I am more intrigued and will give me an excuse to get on SAM Lab to see some other real world results 

[TSauer]

I just wanna chime in real quick and say I love the Link. I’m getting more used to the setup and stroke and have been dropping some serious putts! I think once I switch out the grip, it’s gonna become a glorified cheat stick. 

[pozzit]

With all your excitement and early success I broke and ordered a putter through Sam. 
We had a great exchange and did a virtual fit which was stupid simple. 
With that even though not an official tester as I will have a putter around the same time (due to arrive Tuesday) and since baby is coming June 13th I will have a lot of time for putting and not much else I will be doing a review along side you guys!

So what did you order??? Lets hear all the details.

[GolfSpy_APH]

47 minutes ago, pozzit said:

22 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

With all your excitement and early success I broke and ordered a putter through Sam. 
We had a great exchange and did a virtual fit which was stupid simple. 
With that even though not an official tester as I will have a putter around the same time (due to arrive Tuesday) and since baby is coming June 13th I will have a lot of time for putting and not much else I will be doing a review along side you guys!

So what did you order??? Lets hear all the details.

Well it is arriving soon so I will do a full Unboxing and everything when it arrives!

[Peaksy68]

2 hours ago, pozzit said:

23 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

With all your excitement and early success I broke and ordered a putter through Sam. 
We had a great exchange and did a virtual fit which was stupid simple. 
With that even though not an official tester as I will have a putter around the same time (due to arrive Tuesday) and since baby is coming June 13th I will have a lot of time for putting and not much else I will be doing a review along side you guys!

So what did you order??? Lets hear all the details.

 

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Well it is arriving soon so I will do a full Unboxing and everything when it arrives!

I think I might know. Perhaps I saw a sign(ature) somewhere

[IndyBonzo]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Well it is arriving soon so I will do a full Unboxing and everything when it arrives!

Such a tease. Lol. 

[McGolf]

Using the MEZZ Max Putter.  I am not a Putter Ho so my comparisons will be along with my gamer a Makefield original with a BGT shaft.

For reference My gauge is the total number of putts for a round and the info from the CAPTO unit. 

I took out the Makefield on the first round of the year and had a terrific round of putting ending up with 3 putt on each side and a few one putts for a even 36 putts. OK its a regulation round.

Week one with the mezz mzx and I recorded the same number of putts however there where more  3 putts and more 1 putts. 

Week two was not a go day of putting.  no concentration resulting in a putt count of 38.

Week 3 was a different week entirely.  a record low for me at 33 putts! only one 3 putt a side. 

This took me indoors for a CAPTO session which will be posted later. 

As a reminder I am releasing a video as to the initial thoughts of the  putter and on course putting.  We will also be discussing it on the live stream tonight at 530 pm eastern. look up mcgolf on youtube if you want to watch and or listen. Might even be talking the pinehurst trip.

Needless to say the putter aligns well and the feel for the "NO TORQUE" is certainly a thing. Thing so far that is most impactful to me is where the shaft enters the head. It is back from the face far enough to allow for some alignment lines and NOW when looking at the ball I'm able to see the face to the ball in relation to the direction of the putt. I.e, less crap in the way to putt better.