L.A.B. DF3 Putters - 2024 Forum Review

[jbern]

On 4/26/2024 at 10:11 PM, CFreddie said:

Good question @cnosil - was actually about to post my quick interview with Calvin (master fitter at LAB - I believe he's done all of our fittings).  Fast forward to 10:10 for my question to him on shaft options - I prefer a firmer feel & sound, so I'm going to go with the TPT.  I believe @MattWillGolf with BGT due to wanting a more "middle of the road" option.

Hopefully I / Calvin were able to address some of the questions people may have on LAB fittings / options!
 

 

@CFreddie - The video was awesome of you and the L.A.B. fitter Calvin! I have to admit that I liked him immediately because of the Independence Day poster in the background! Not only is the movie one of my all-time favorites, but the spaceship looks like the DF2.1! 

Great questions (thank you for asking them) and his comments reiterated what we discussed via email to get me in what, I believe, will be something extremely comfortable the first time I use it. 

@cnosil - Regarding shaft options. Calvin told me that the TPT shaft was the most stable and removes inconsistencies many amateurs golfers have in their putting strokes. With the longer counterbalanced shaft, the TPT was definitely his first choice. He said that I may want to choose another shaft if I prioritize feel.

[jbern]

On 4/27/2024 at 8:29 AM, CFreddie said:

I know some of you have been curious about my FINAL build, so without further ado...

Specs - 35" / 68°

Headweight - Heavy (Calvin said that most heavy mallet putters prefer the heavy weight)

Color - Cappuccino (was going back and forth with green, but ultimately decided to come back to the Cap)

Alignment - U (as I've mentioned in previous posts, I wanted to try and "simplify" the view up top and Calvin thought this was a great option based on my feedback)

Shaft - TPT x LAB (best feeling shaft - at least in my hands - so this was an easy choice)

Grip - Press Pistol 2° ("best of both worlds" - Calvin)

Now...we wait....

Great setup and I'm glad you landed on Cappuccino with a simple three-dot alignment aid. I am very curious to see what it looks like for you and I would love to see it in person sometime!

As far as names go, I'm partial to:

And @TSauer nailed the reasoning behind my choice:

20 hours ago, TSauer said:

He’s known for eating anything in site, and what’s more fitting than Taz snatching up birdies and eagles?

I will admit that I've never seen Star Wars, so I don't have a tie to Chewie. I do love Wolverine (in the comics and the movies), but Taz just hits nicely to me as a solid putter name.

[jbern]

On 4/27/2024 at 5:15 PM, Steve F said:

After the practice and data gathering, I headed over to our local Club Champion to gather some more information. I was able to speak with Mike Kohn, Master fitter, builder and the store manager. I went to ask 1) Have they heard of MGS, and a big smile came over his face, of course! 2) Will they be able to do testing of both putters so I can do a data collection of both side by side (the answer was an emphatic YES!) and 3) How would he recommend that I proceed? His suggestion was wait until the DF3 arrives (c'mon DF3!!) and we could do the collection at the same time. It sounded like he was almost as excited as I am!

This is awesome that you found someone familiar with the forum and is excited to help you on this test! I'm hoping to do the same. I called around to a few places within half-an-hour or so and none have any "technology" based fitting studios. I would really like to use a putting launch monitor in my comparisons, so I'll probably have to extend my search a little farther away.

Keep up the practice and getting your baseline data for the TM Spyder! Thanks for sharing that also!

[GolfSpy MPR]

13 hours ago, Swood1994 said:

I’m not sure if you saw Random Golf Clubs breaking Bandon Dunes video but Sam Hahn had an almost identical spec to yours in that video so I think you could say you have good taste!

I hadn't, but it's absolutely loaded up on my second monitor this morning as I'm doing some writing. I feel validated.

[jbern]

On 4/26/2024 at 3:16 PM, Just_the_Chip said:

Warning: people will notice your putter, and immediately want to try to it, hold it, etc. LOL.

What's your process for dealing with this?

[GolfSpy MPR]

5 minutes ago, jbern said:

What's your process for dealing with this?

This is a good time to mention the infectious skin disease you've been dealing with.

[GolfSpy SAM]

On 4/26/2024 at 7:11 PM, CFreddie said:

Good question @cnosil - was actually about to post my quick interview with Calvin (master fitter at LAB - I believe he's done all of our fittings).  Fast forward to 10:10 for my question to him on shaft options - I prefer a firmer feel & sound, so I'm going to go with the TPT.  I believe @MattWillGolf with BGT due to wanting a more "middle of the road" option.

Hopefully I / Calvin were able to address some of the questions people may have on LAB fittings / options!
 

 

(Full caveat: my budget did not include the option for TPT)

I went with the white Accra. I have the black Accra in my 2.1, and love the feel and feedback. I discovered long ago that I do not enjoy a very firm feel off the face - much prefer a muted thwack. Also, and this is just silly, but...I wanted the white shaft so that it was all cohesive. Perhaps if the TPT came in white it would be a consideration to try to take out a second mortgage and get it, but... No need

As for sound, I actually love the fact that it "tings" when I hit it out if the toe. A) it let's me know I've mis-struck it, and B) the ball still (somehow) goes on line to the target with no (obvious) loss of distance. 

I basically use it as a reminder that I'm lucky to have a putter that forgives mis-hits

[jbern]

So I asked my kids about giving this guy a name:

 

They had A LOT of terrible suggestions, but a few reasonable ones:

• Gulf (we were just talking about the Gulf of Mexico on the drive to the Tampa airport “AND WATER IS BLUE!”)
• Bluey - I don’t need more of this in my life  
• Sonic - not bad, but not ideal for a putter 
• Dory - always seems to find a way! 

Then my wife and I got in on it and had suggestions of:

• Genie 
• Sully - which takes care of two favorite characters & it was a previous suggestion 
• And then there’s Eiffel 65 - look up the song on YouTube with the volume up. You’ll thank me in 2 years when the song is out of your head!  

I have a couple of front runners names, but I thought I’d post the brainstorming session before whittling it down too far. 

[GolfSpy MPR]

7 minutes ago, jbern said:

Dory - always seems to find a way! 

Added bonus of the same goldfish/Lasso vibe we had with the orange putter: short term memory loss can be a good thing when putting.

[Shrek74]

16 minutes ago, jbern said:

So I asked my kids about giving this guy a name:

 

They had A LOT of terrible suggestions, but a few reasonable ones:

• Gulf (we were just talking about the Gulf of Mexico on the drive to the Tampa airport “AND WATER IS BLUE!”)
• Bluey - I don’t need more of this in my life  
• Sonic - not bad, but not ideal for a putter 
• Dory - always seems to find a way! 

Then my wife and I got in on it and had suggestions of:

• Genie 
• Sully - which takes care of two favorite characters & it was a previous suggestion 
• And then there’s Eiffel 65 - look up the song on YouTube with the volume up. You’ll thank me in 2 years when the song is out of your head!  

I have a couple of front runners names, but I thought I’d post the brainstorming session before whittling it down too far. 

[Steve F]

40 minutes ago, jbern said:

So I asked my kids about giving this guy a name:

 

They had A LOT of terrible suggestions, but a few reasonable ones:

• Gulf (we were just talking about the Gulf of Mexico on the drive to the Tampa airport “AND WATER IS BLUE!”)
• Bluey - I don’t need more of this in my life  
• Sonic - not bad, but not ideal for a putter 
• Dory - always seems to find a way! 

Then my wife and I got in on it and had suggestions of:

• Genie 
• Sully - which takes care of two favorite characters & it was a previous suggestion 
• And then there’s Eiffel 65 - look up the song on YouTube with the volume up. You’ll thank me in 2 years when the song is out of your head!  How

I have a couple of front runners names, but I thought I’d post the brainstorming session before whittling it down too far. 

How about "Blue Velvet"..... smoothest putter around!... just to stir the pot a little. 

Edited April 29 by Steve F

[Cfhandyman]

7 hours ago, jbern said:

This is awesome that you found someone familiar with the forum and is excited to help you on this test! I'm hoping to do the same. I called around to a few places within half-an-hour or so and none have any "technology" based fitting studios. I would really like to use a putting launch monitor in my comparisons, so I'll probably have to extend my search a little farther away.

Keep up the practice and getting your baseline data for the TM Spyder! Thanks for sharing that also!

I wouldn’t worry about this as each of us bring different strengths to the table.  This putter will face a gauntlet of testing led by our fearless Dr. Technology, @GolfSpy MPR  It will be exputted, blasted, hacked and stacked. Any flaws will be exposed by Mr. Quintic and Mrs Sam. It might even be Captoed. Stay tuned for the fun adventures.

[GolfSpy SAM]

2 hours ago, jbern said:

So I asked my kids about giving this guy a name:

 

May I?

Dr. Manhattan has a certain...excellent, terrifying ring to it.  And "Kurt Wagner" (Vog-ner) is a weirdly great, weird name, one of those IYKYK.

  

Then, of course, we have Beast

And naturally, Mystique. 

[CFreddie]

Nightcrawler was my favorite X-man, so I’d vote him @jbern!

[GolfSpy SAM]

2 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

...thief
 

 

[widget]

6 hours ago, jbern said:

So I asked my kids about giving this guy a name:

 

They had A LOT of terrible suggestions, but a few reasonable ones:

• Gulf (we were just talking about the Gulf of Mexico on the drive to the Tampa airport “AND WATER IS BLUE!”)
• Bluey - I don’t need more of this in my life  
• Sonic - not bad, but not ideal for a putter 
• Dory - always seems to find a way! 

Then my wife and I got in on it and had suggestions of:

• Genie 
• Sully - which takes care of two favorite characters & it was a previous suggestion 
• And then there’s Eiffel 65 - look up the song on YouTube with the volume up. You’ll thank me in 2 years when the song is out of your head!  

I have a couple of front runners names, but I thought I’d post the brainstorming session before whittling it down too far. 

lots of good suggestions…if i may add to your list…

1) COOKIE MONSTER (or some iteration of)

2) GROVER

3) ELWOOD (from the iconic Blues Brothers)…my personal favorite!

Edited April 30 by widget

[Rob Person]

6 hours ago, jbern said:

So I asked my kids about giving this guy a name:

 

They had A LOT of terrible suggestions, but a few reasonable ones:

• Gulf (we were just talking about the Gulf of Mexico on the drive to the Tampa airport “AND WATER IS BLUE!”)
• Bluey - I don’t need more of this in my life  
• Sonic - not bad, but not ideal for a putter 
• Dory - always seems to find a way! 

Then my wife and I got in on it and had suggestions of:

• Genie 
• Sully - which takes care of two favorite characters & it was a previous suggestion 
• And then there’s Eiffel 65 - look up the song on YouTube with the volume up. You’ll thank me in 2 years when the song is out of your head!  

I have a couple of front runners names, but I thought I’d post the brainstorming session before whittling it down too far. 

How about MC hammer? only because the alignment on the front looks like MC. Hammer..  

Of course, it does kind of look like aladdin, too

[Michael.Sandoval33]

37 minutes ago, Rob Person said:

How about MC hammer? only because the alignment on the front looks like MC. Hammer..  

Of course, it does kind of look like aladdin, too

I cannot unsee the MC Hammer now

And @jbern I did not even listen to the song you are referencing and I can't get it out my head

[Northern Monkey]

Definitely looks like MC Hammer. Good spot @Rob Person

[Rob Person]

6 hours ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

I cannot unsee the MC Hammer now

Just be glad his kids are unaware of this fact...  

[jbern]

9 hours ago, Rob Person said:

How about MC hammer? only because the alignment on the front looks like MC. Hammer..  

Of course, it does kind of look like aladdin, too

 

8 hours ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

I cannot unsee the MC Hammer now

And @jbern I did not even listen to the song you are referencing and I can't get it out my head

 

6 hours ago, Northern Monkey said:

Definitely looks like MC Hammer. Good spot @Rob Person

I looked at the putter for about a full minute and did not see the MC Hammer reference. Then I turned my head away and responded to an email. When I turned my head back I saw it immediately!  Great eye and great suggestion!

 

9 hours ago, widget said:

lots of good suggestions…if i may add to your list…

1) COOKIE MONSTER (or some iteration of)

2) GROVER

3) ELWOOD (from the iconic Blues Brothers)…my personal favorite!

Thanks for the additional suggestions! I am surprised cookie monster and grover never came up in discussions with my kids! I do have a reputation as a cookie monster (because cookies disappear anytime they show up in the house) 

 

16 hours ago, Steve F said:

How about "Blue Velvet"..... smoothest putter around!... just to stir the pot a little. 

It sounds like smooth will be required for using the DF3 and it's also something I struggle with. Might be a perfect fit!

 

13 hours ago, GolfSpy SAM said:

May I?

Dr. Manhattan has a certain...excellent, terrifying ring to it.  And "Kurt Wagner" (Vog-ner) is a weirdly great, weird name, one of those IYKYK.

  

Then, of course, we have Beast

And naturally, Mystique. 

Dr. Manhattan does have a creepy/powerful ring to it! I decided to stay away from x-men. I read the comics and watched all the shows/movies, but the family thinks it's weird! 

 

16 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Added bonus of the same goldfish/Lasso vibe we had with the orange putter: short term memory loss can be a good thing when putting.

That was my thought exactly! Dory was a big hit!

 

 

[Just_the_Chip]

22 hours ago, jbern said:

What's your process for dealing with this?

You have to look them square in the eye, get as serious as you can and say slowly and clearly "Absolutely not." then while maintaining eye contact, kiss the putter and put it away in the super plush magnetic DF3 headcover. 

[TSauer]

17 hours ago, jbern said:

So I asked my kids about giving this guy a name:

 

They had A LOT of terrible suggestions, but a few reasonable ones:

• Gulf (we were just talking about the Gulf of Mexico on the drive to the Tampa airport “AND WATER IS BLUE!”)
• Bluey - I don’t need more of this in my life  
• Sonic - not bad, but not ideal for a putter 
• Dory - always seems to find a way! 

Then my wife and I got in on it and had suggestions of:

• Genie 
• Sully - which takes care of two favorite characters & it was a previous suggestion 
• And then there’s Eiffel 65 - look up the song on YouTube with the volume up. You’ll thank me in 2 years when the song is out of your head!  

I have a couple of front runners names, but I thought I’d post the brainstorming session before whittling it down too far. 

Since we're brainstorming, I'm going to throw out Stitch and Buster

 

             

Edited April 30 by TSauer

[Cfhandyman]

So here is a summary of the final selections.  Orders are in and the putters are in the production queue.  A big thanks to Calvin and L.A.B. for all their help, support and tremendous service.  Even better we all received the following in our order notes:  "Expedited per CAL. Have Cade build. Alignment Mark EE + C" in my case.  So what do people think?

Final Selection

 

[CFreddie]

Thanks for summarizing @Cfhandyman!  Good looking set of putters there!!!

[TSauer]

8 minutes ago, Cfhandyman said:

So here is a summary of the final selections.  Orders are in and the putters are in the production queue.  A big thanks to Calvin and L.A.B. for all their help, support and tremendous service.  Even better we all received the following in our order notes:  "Expedited per CAL. Have Cade build. Alignment Mark EE + C" in my case.  So what do people think?

Final Selection

 

Good stuff, man! A good little mix of everything it seems

[GolfSpy_KFT]

17 minutes ago, Cfhandyman said:

So here is a summary of the final selections.  Orders are in and the putters are in the production queue.  A big thanks to Calvin and L.A.B. for all their help, support and tremendous service.  Even better we all received the following in our order notes:  "Expedited per CAL. Have Cade build. Alignment Mark EE + C" in my case.  So what do people think?

Final Selection

 

These are SO SICK 

[Cfhandyman]

One of the things the DF3 testers have been looking at is naming their individual putters (summarized below).  Most of the name suggestions are related to the color of the putter selected. 

In my case, I really like the blue LAB rats log and given my science and healthcare background

But what if we expanded our creativity.  What if we looked at fighter pilot call signs for inspiration?  What names might we be looking at then?  I present to you the following:

Caddy, Chaos, Clutch, Boss, F bomb, EZ, Lab rat, Bam Bam, Sidewinder, Money, Taxman - everyone pays, Touchdown, Yoda and Big Mama

Let me know what you think or if you have individual suggestions for each of us.  Let the games begin.

[GolfSpy_KFT]

@CFreddie can't wait to see in-hand photos of the cappuccino! 

[StrokerAce]

27 minutes ago, Cfhandyman said:

So here is a summary of the final selections.  Orders are in and the putters are in the production queue.  A big thanks to Calvin and L.A.B. for all their help, support and tremendous service.  Even better we all received the following in our order notes:  "Expedited per CAL. Have Cade build. Alignment Mark EE + C" in my case.  So what do people think?

Final Selection

 

Big fan of the green color here so Sam gets my vote but I also really like the cappuccino and simplicity of Freddie's version.

Can you choose shaft color or are they all black?

I'm very curious how the counterbalanced fare vs the standard versions.

@jbern and @GolfSpy MPR - have you used CB putters in the past? is this something you were interested in trying or is there a specific reason you went w/the CB version?