lab golf df3 available to order

[ryan.mzzz]

at least for previous customers but presumably the link will work for anyone. really liking the selection of alignment marks this time around. currently available in traditional and counterbalanced aka no armlock or broomstick yet.

https://labgolf.com/shop/putters/df3-custom/

 

[Josh Parker]

Waiting for the broomstick.  But it will be in the bag

[ole gray]

Waiting for the broomstick.  But it will be in the bag

Licking my lips like a Basset Hound on a pork chop!


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[vamosjackets]

NOOOOOOO, I love my DF 2.1! Please don't make me switch! Don't even put the thought in my mind!!  

[ryan.mzzz]

1 hour ago, vamosjackets said:

NOOOOOOO, I love my DF 2.1! Please don't make me switch! Don't even put the thought in my mind!!  

if you like how your df2.1 functions, as I do, you may be pleased to know that based on the language in the email announcement, your df2.1 is functionally superior to the df3. 

from the email(bold/underlined/italics by me):

“Like DF 2.1, DF3 is “fully automatic.” That means you'll get the full experience of DF3 wanting to guide itself on the correct path on the way back and through.

And because of all we’ve learned about building Lie Angle Balanced putters over the years, we were able to give DF3 almost all of the forgiveness and stability that makes DF 2.1 the easiest-to-use putter in the game.”

 

it seems like they redesigned the df to be more palatable to the masses, which is fine, and i’m sure the difference in functionality is minimal. I also would have no problem ordering one if something happened to me df2.1 or I ever decide to make the leap to broomstick. But if you love your 2.1, and you don’t mind the shape or the width of the face, you have no reason to FOMO…unless you really want that new ball picking up technology. 

[edingc]

On 1/19/2024 at 12:29 PM, ryan.mzzz said:

if you like how your df2.1 functions, as I do, you may be pleased to know that based on the language in the email announcement, your df2.1 is functionally superior to the df3. 

from the email(bold/underlined/italics by me):

“Like DF 2.1, DF3 is “fully automatic.” That means you'll get the full experience of DF3 wanting to guide itself on the correct path on the way back and through.

And because of all we’ve learned about building Lie Angle Balanced putters over the years, we were able to give DF3 almost all of the forgiveness and stability that makes DF 2.1 the easiest-to-use putter in the game.”

 

it seems like they redesigned the df to be more palatable to the masses, which is fine, and i’m sure the difference in functionality is minimal. I also would have no problem ordering one if something happened to me df2.1 or I ever decide to make the leap to broomstick. But if you love your 2.1, and you don’t mind the shape or the width of the face, you have no reason to FOMO…unless you really want that new ball picking up technology. 

I LOVE my DF 2.1, but I will say, the DF3 look is sleek. It would be interesting to try these head-to-head. But, as you said, it really would be change for change's sake and not for anything technical. 

[GolfSpy BOS]

1 hour ago, edingc said:

I LOVE my DF 2.1, but I will say, the DF3 look is sleek. It would be interesting to try these head-to-head. But, as you said, it really would be change for change's sake and not for anything technical. 

But Winter is long in Michigan, so sometimes you just need a change for change's sake to get through it, right???

[GolfSpy_KFT]

I was never crazy about the shape of the 2.1. The 3 has me very, very intrigued. Always thought the only other putter I'd consider trying was the Link.1 as I love my Scotty Newport 2, but the DF3 is quite tempting...

[IndyBonzo]

I have been eyeing the 2.1 for a long, long time.  So yeah - this is very intriguing.

Logic tells me they cannot be exactly the same.  One must be better than the other for certain golfers, and it is likely a personalized thing.  At that price, I would want to get fitted and try the two side-by-side.  Which I may do this spring when the DF3 is out and available!

EDIT:  It's the qualifier that makes me just a teeny bit uncertain . . .

“With DF3, we refined every aspect of the design. DF3 is quite a bit smaller, but because of all we’ve learned about building Lie Angle Balanced putters over the years, we were able to maintain almost all of the forgiveness and stability that makes DF 2.1 the easiest-to-use putter in the game.”

-L.A.B. Golf CEO Sam Hahn

Edited January 25 by IndyBonzo

[Golf2Much]

I have two DF 2.1 putters (one that stays at the course and one at home to practice with).  It didn't take me too long to get past the size and shape of the putter, especially when I started making more putts.

Looking at the 3 version, the one feature I find the most beneficial is the sizing of the back hole that acts to pick up the ball off the green.  Over the last year or so, I've tried to master the back hand flip to capture the ball in the depression in the back.  Even with all the practice, I'm successful less than half the time.  Incorporating the ball pick up in the back of the version 3 may make me want to pick one up!

[Josh Parker]

1 minute ago, Golf2Much said:

I have two DF 2.1 putters (one that stays at the course and one at home to practice with).  It didn't take me too long to get past the size and shape of the putter, especially when I started making more putts.

Looking at the 3 version, the one feature I find the most beneficial is the sizing of the back hole that acts to pick up the ball off the green.  Over the last year or so, I've tried to master the back hand flip to capture the ball in the depression in the back.  Even with all the practice, I'm successful less than half the time.  Incorporating the ball pick up in the back of the version 3 may make me want to pick one up!

I posted a video on this thread somewhere showing the easiest way to master the flip.  I'll see if I can't find it quick

[ryan.mzzz]

On 1/25/2024 at 9:53 AM, Jnoble89 said:

I was never crazy about the shape of the 2.1. The 3 has me very, very intrigued. Always thought the only other putter I'd consider trying was the Link.1 as I love my Scotty Newport 2, but the DF3 is quite tempting...

The thing I love about my df is how good it works. The thing I hate about it is that I used to be able to appreciate and be excited by all sorts of different putters. Bettinardi were my favorites but i also used to love evenroll and I always imagined i’d find myself a teryllium insert scotty one day. Now I’m restricted to buying from Lab, as all the other putters are now, for me, relegated to the dustbin of history. If you love traditional putters, don’t watch those videos with sam from lab golf with the “revealer.” Once you figure out what he’s actually saying, and then you realize what’s actually going on during the putting stroke as far as rotational forces inflicted onto your hands by the traditional putters, it’s all over, and now we have to wait for the Lab golf patent to expire before we get any selection or meaningful competition in the marketplace. It actually kind of sucks. That being said, I have a df2.1 with a bgt stability shaft that I consider at this time to be the best putter available to anyone on earth (except potentially the df2.1 with the tpt shaft,) so i’m good at least.

…

after watching the revealer video’s and examining my personal gamers, here’s what I found:

my center shafted face balanced seemore mfgp2:

backswing -> face tries to open 

through swing -> face tries to open

my compensation: prayer grip, slow backswing, increasing velocity “pop” stroke to minimize rotation. I didn’t realize I was doing this at the time, but this is what I was doing. Pre lab golf, I hit the best putts of my life with the mfgp2.

my bettinardi #8:

backswing -> face tries to close

through swing -> face tries to open

my compensation -> “pendulum” motion. trying for the same speed back and through. though I didn’t know it at the time, this was essentially timing out my stroke so at the moment of impact, I achieved a putter face that was perpendicular to my intended line at its moment of inflection/transition as the face moved from closed to open. As a tennis player, this is kind of like trying to hit a serve when during the toss, as the ball transitions from moving against gravity to moving with gravity, the ball is for a moment motionless in space. With my bettinardi, for a moment, the face is square to my path, and my brain did everything it could to get that moment to be the same moment as my putter struck the ball. A df with the bettinardi studio stock steel face is my dream now. 

my df2.1:

backswing -> face tries to stay true to path

through swing -> face tries to stay true to path 

my compensation -> having putted for years with either a blade or a center shafted mallet, at first the df felt foreign and weird. It probably took me 6 months to get comfortable with the way swinging the df felt, but during that time my on course confidence  was growing, and putts kept falling, so I stuck with it. Because your hands are used to working against the forces generated by traditional putters, when those forces are no longer present, your hands are a little confused. Because this confusion is normally resigned to our unconscious thought, recognizing the source of the confusion/difference is a bit of a subtle art. You have to allow your mind to be still and yourself to exist in the moment to allow yourself to recognize the difference between rotational forces being exerted by the putter into your hands versus the lack of those forces. If you’re like me, your brain will be confused for some amount of time until it clicks, and then your putting life is much improved. Over time I learned to bring the club back, and let gravity bring the club back to the ball. Which I’m still working on. The muscle memory from the compensations I used with my previous putters still exists and causes me to push or pull one, but I can feel it now, and I know what I did wrong. But, if I can keep my hands still and not fire any superfluous muscles during my putting strokes, I get better results with my df than i’ve ever had in life.

 

Edited January 26 by ryan.mzzz

[ryan.mzzz]

On 1/25/2024 at 10:20 AM, IndyBonzo said:

Logic tells me they cannot be exactly the same

if lab is to be believed, as I’ve yet to hold a df3, the difference is not of kind it’s a difference in degree. similar to the difference between a df to a mezz or a mezz to a link. the differences boil down to forgiveness for off center strikes and the amount of force you need to introduce to the putter grip with your hands in order to get the putter face to twist. The df 2.1 is physically larger so it can position weight further from the center which increases the leverage exerted by that weight. 

Edited January 26 by ryan.mzzz

[IndyBonzo]

That makes good sense, @ryan.mzzz.  Thank you.

[ILMgolfnut]

I stopped by Golf Galaxy this morning and saw several versions of the DF 2.1 in their putting area, so with a little bit of time to kill, I gave it a try. Soon I was making 30-footers with what the staff referred to as the "branding iron" model. Still not gonna spend that much money on a putter when the real issue is the guy who's holding it, but I was very impressed with how it felt. The DF 3 will be interesting to try when it gets to GG floor.

[manVSgolf]

On 1/26/2024 at 11:57 AM, ILMgolfnut said:

I stopped by Golf Galaxy this morning and saw several versions of the DF 2.1 in their putting area, so with a little bit of time to kill, I gave it a try. Soon I was making 30-footers with what the staff referred to as the "branding iron" model. Still not gonna spend that much money on a putter when the real issue is the guy who's holding it, but I was very impressed with how it felt. The DF 3 will be interesting to try when it gets to GG floor.

I disagree with you, respectfully.  Watch a video featuring the revealer - golfers have learned to overcompensate and manage the forces that all other putters succumb to during the putting stroke.  

Just this one time, it’s not you.  It’s your equipment.  

If you are draining 30 foot putts with a putter that’s not fighting you, that says something.  It’s not a cheap product, but it’s the last putter you’ll ever need and you are buying American.  These are the best putters in the world, imho and I would do whatever is necessary to get one in your bag.  
 

 

[DechamBRO]

Well, poop. Definitely want this now. Might have to sell, trade several other putters first…. Out get a credit card my wife doesn’t know about

[Bogey Depot]

Ordered my DF3. Can’t wait to get it. 

[RangerGrey]

Well I fell for the hype so in 6 weeks it should be delivered. I have always felt that a great putter is will help lower your scores over any driver out there. Can't wait 

Edited February 25 by RangerGrey

[HAC]

Ordered a DF3 (left-handed!!!!) yesterday.  Got it in black with the B alignment aid.  Got a black Accra shaft.

Got fitted on a SAM machine.  Putted substantially better than with my current putter, even though I was using a Mezze stock to fit me that differed a bit from the custom DF3 I ordered with my specific measurements.

Cannot wait to get the putter.

[LeftyScratchGolfer]

LAB putters are legit! I game a Mezz.1 Max and it has been the best putter I have ever owned. People are hesitant to buy one because of the price tag, but this thing will stay in my bag for the foreseeable future. Great investment for my game.

I will most likely try the df3 when the broomstick model comes out, but between those two putters I won't have a need for another putter for the next 20 years. They are that good!

[RangerGrey]

Yes they are pricey but when putting is 46% of your game it's worth it.  A driver with a premium shaft in it is more expensive as it get used so little compared to using a putter so to me they are well worth the price as a good putter is more valuable to me than a premium driver. There is so much truth in drive for show putt for dough 

[ILMgolfnut]

Just now, RangerGrey said:

Yes they are pricey but when putting is 46% of your game it's worth it.

There is no high-tech, high-dollar putter that will fix the flaws of the person holding it, namely me. It won't read the green for me, and it won't force me to start the club on the right path (my tendency is to pull my putts) or keep it there. I've played around with the PAR 2.1 at PGASS and GG; it was fun, and it puts a good roll on the putts if I start it out straight. But I don't always start it straight. And my old Z/I Delta putter also puts a good roll on it if the moron holding it does what he's supposed to do. So for me it's not worth it.

[RangerGrey]

One thing L.A.B. putters supposedly are able to do is keep the face square without twisting to the target providing you start the face square when you 1st align it up. It's one putter that does this better than all of the others, okay thats debatable IK. Now there are many other boutique putters out there that are much more money that don't do this as I'm not sure how much you paid for your driver but many people will go out and easily spend $600-$800 on a driver and not think too much about their putter. I'm not sure what putter exactly you are talking about when you said you played around with the PAR 2.1 is that the LAB DF 2.1 as I'm new to this brand as I they are way too big for my liking as thats why I'm going with the DF 3 model. Getting fit is a key to anyone wanting to improve their games I know its the Indian not the arrow. We all have flaws but there are putters that actually help you to be a better putter just like there are drivers that can help you find more fairway despite your flaws. 

[chadmariage]

Ordered DF3 Green with W alignment...looking forward to seeing how it improves my putting.

Edited February 26 by chadmariage

[LeftyScratchGolfer]

On 1/18/2024 at 4:13 PM, Josh Parker said:

Waiting for the broomstick.  But it will be in the bag

Same here! It will be in the bag, but waiting for the broomstick.