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

[Cfhandyman]

3 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

I could have never imagined a PM thread could come close to what the Cobra Challenge one did, I guess that's just goes to show how excited our testers are. 

Now you've got me curious as to the bomb you dropped on them. As one of my favorite authors used to say, I'll have to ROAFO. (Read on and find out).

@Cfhandyman, I'm really looking Forward to the reviews and believe y'all will knock it out of the park. 

If we don't knock it out of the park, there will be hell to pay.  But seriously, we want to make this fun, informative and answer all questions people have.  This is a very intriguing putter and test.  The testers are currently awaiting their online fitting results before we can order and proceed.  Be prepared to see some great putter combinations.  And now a bit of humour.

[Harry Pearson]

Congrats fellas. Enjoy your experience. Have to admit though, I’m going to research jbern’s arm lock putter.

[Fongle]

Congrats testers! I'm definitely not supremely jealous, with a gaping, DF3 sized hole in my heart, and in my admittedly already overgrown putter collection 

Really keen to see the results of the tests and how they work out

[Splatt]

Congrats testers.

The new DF3 putter looks incredible. I'm looking forward to seeing if it performs as well as it looks.

[jbern]

4 hours ago, Fongle said:

Congrats testers! I'm definitely not supremely jealous, with a gaping, DF3 sized hole in my heart, and in my admittedly already overgrown putter collection 

Really keen to see the results of the tests and how they work out

Can the DF3 sized hole in your heart serve as a ball-picker-upper? 

[TSauer]

Really cannot wait to see your all's in-hand photos of these!

[TSauer]

Also, great intros @jbern & @Cfhandyman, really looking forward to following the process!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Man, I can't wait to see what colors and alignment aids everyone ends up going with! Anyone have their virtual fits scheduled/submitted yet?

[GolfSpy_KFT]

15 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

I could have never imagined a PM thread could come close to what the Cobra Challenge one did, I guess that's just goes to show how excited our testers are. 

Now you've got me curious as to the bomb you dropped on them. As one of my favorite authors used to say, I'll have to ROAFO. (Read on and find out).

@Cfhandyman, I'm really looking Forward to the reviews and believe y'all will knock it out of the park. 

We have @CFreddie as the Cobra alum to tell us how it compares directly! That Cobra PM was almost as much fun as the testing thread 

[jbern]

55 minutes ago, GolfSpy_KFT said:

Man, I can't wait to see what colors and alignment aids everyone ends up going with! Anyone have their virtual fits scheduled/submitted yet?

We have all submitted online fitting videos, which is the most common way for LAB to fit putters. It was also SUPER easy to make a 3-5 second video of your putting stroke with a door pane behind you.

One of the testers, @MattWillGolf, has received the fitting results back from LAB's fitter via email.

I have so many color/alignment options that I'm thinking through that I don't think I want to inundate the thread with all the screenshots! 

Edited April 17 by jbern

[CFreddie]

4 minutes ago, jbern said:

We have all submitted online fitting videos, which is the most common way for LAB to fit putters. It was also SUPER easy to make a 3-5 second video of your putting stroke with a door pane behind you.

One of the testers, @MattWillGolf, has received the fitting results back from LAB's fitter via email.

I have so many color/alignment options that I'm thinking through that I don't think I want to inundate the thread with all the screenshots! 

+1 here - no promises, but I'm going to ask if my fitter would be open to recording our fitting call.  Would love to share with this group to get a better understanding of L.A.B.'s process.  Stay tuned!

[steve2526]

Does anyone else see a goldfish cracker when looking at the DF 3 in orange?  I'm a huge Df 2.1 fan.  Best putter ever...

[GolfSpy MPR]

1 minute ago, steve2526 said:

Does anyone else see a goldfish cracker when looking at the DF 3 in orange?  I'm a huge Df 2.1 fan.  Best putter ever...

Well, I certainly do now. And forevermore. Thank you, I think?

[CFreddie]

8 minutes ago, steve2526 said:

Does anyone else see a goldfish cracker when looking at the DF 3 in orange?  I'm a huge Df 2.1 fan.  Best putter ever...

 

[Jim Shaw]

congrats testers... have fun with this one, lots of "noise" on this site about LAB, what enquiring minds need to really know is "can you open a stubby with one" 

[Braehead]

2 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

congrats testers... have fun with this one, lots of "noise" on this site about LAB, what enquiring minds need to really know is "can you open a stubby with one" 

It would need to be a very large one 

[snoopy79]

Congrats to the testers! This is a hot item right now. Lots of noise around these like @Jim Shaw said.

Is anyone going to go with the broom stick option?

[Cfhandyman]

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.

                  

   

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TJ Hall]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Well, I certainly do now. And forevermore. Thank you, I think?

Agree, that is all I will see with this!

[TSauer]

2 hours ago, steve2526 said:

Does anyone else see a goldfish cracker when looking at the DF 3 in orange?  I'm a huge Df 2.1 fan.  Best putter ever...

golDFish

[widget]

5 hours ago, jbern said:

We have all submitted online fitting videos, which is the most common way for LAB to fit putters. It was also SUPER easy to make a 3-5 second video of your putting stroke with a door pane behind you.

One of the testers, @MattWillGolf, has received the fitting results back from LAB's fitter via email.

I have so many color/alignment options that I'm thinking through that I don't think I want to inundate the thread with all the screenshots! 

i was the same with so many options but settled on the EE option (basically an arrow)...it took awhile to decide as i thought it may be to busy on top and could not find any reviewers that had it...received putter 2 days ago and it looks amazing...this putter is point and shoot so the arrow fits perfectly as it makes it super easy to aim (especially if you use a line on the ball...i do not) ... have not had it on an actual green yet (looks like christmas outside today ) but so far it putts the lights out on carpet ...just my $.02.cheers and happy testing to all

[Cfhandyman]

Hi all, as I work on my putter testing protocol for the L.A.B. test, the science guy wanted to know what does the data show and what should be our benchmarks for some of the putting metrics?  So I looked at a variety of data (Arccos, Shotscope, etc) and set up a spreadsheet to look at it.  I know, I'm nuts.    Some of the things I will be looking at will be number of 1 putts, 2 putts and 3+ putts as well as my actual make percentage from 5, 10 and 20 feet with the L.A.B. DF3 versus my comparators (Evnroll tour, Scotty Camerson Phantom X11, Odyssey Exo 7).  I have Arccos, so I have my baseline data, but if you don't know your stats, you now have a rough guide to help you.  Caveats: Please note, the numbers vary slightly year to year, so this is a rough but good approximation.   But it also begs the question, what's most important to you with respect to putting?  What matters to you and what do you look for?

 

[jbern]

26 minutes ago, widget said:

i was the same with so many options but settled on the EE option (basically an arrow)...it took awhile to decide as i thought it may be to busy on top and could not find any reviewers that had it...received putter 2 days ago and it looks amazing...this putter is point and shoot so the arrow fits perfectly as it makes it super easy to aim (especially if you use a line on the ball...i do not) ... have not had it on an actual green yet (looks like christmas outside today ) but so far it putts the lights out on carpet ...just my $.02.cheers and happy testing to all

That is awesome to hear! The arrow (Option EE) is on my short list of alignment aids. It's nice to know someone has a good experience with it!

2 hours ago, TSauer said:

golDFish

Phenomenal stuff! 

[GolfSpy MPR]

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.

[Cfhandyman]

49 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

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.

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. 

[jbern]

5 hours ago, Cfhandyman said:

But it also begs the question, what's most important to you with respect to putting?  What matters to you and what do you look for?

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.

[jbern]

@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. 

 

Edited April 18 by jbern
removed extra photos

[CFreddie]

Introduction posted - I had some big shoes to fill with the excellent intros so far!

Keep those fitter questions coming - hoping to get time setup with our fitter shortly.  In the mean-time, how about some more mock-ups?  

Recently, I've been going down the rabbit hole on alignment aids (i.e. the lines / markings on top of the putter), pouring through articles, forum posts, and videos (shoutout to Edel for the EXCELLENT YT series on their fitting process). 

Since I've never been officially fit for a putter, I focused first on determining eye dominance, and concluded that I'm left eye dominant (as a righty).  Here is a simple test if you need to determine eye dominance - https://www.diyphotography.net/a-neat-trick-to-determine-your-dominant-eye/.  

One question I plan to dig into with my fitter is this finding - is there a certain aid that would be best for my eye dominance?   Traditionally, I've preferred a line on the top flange on the putter, but is this actually best for me?  Should I go to a simple dot (or 3 dot) setup to remove some of the "busyness" of the top of putter (and put my focus more on the back of the ball)?  More to come...

Edit - looks like @jbern and I are on the same wavelength 

Edited April 18 by CFreddie

[jbern]

@CFreddie - There are 33 different options to choose from! I think the alignment aid discussion should start sooner rather than later! 

I just did your eye dominance test and I am definitely right eye dominant! I messaged a friend who is left handed everything, except golf, and he is left eye dominant. He replied that his favorite putter for alignment was the Odyssey two ball style. He didn’t have a reason why, he just said that’s what he liked best out of putters he’s used. His current Scotty Cameron has a single dot and he said, quote, “clean top with a dot so I know where the center of the putter is also works nicely for me.”

Edited April 18 by jbern

[downlowkey]

19 minutes ago, jbern said:

@CFreddie - There are 33 different options to choose from! I think the alignment aid discussion should start sooner rather than later! 

Not to further complicate deliberations, but also specifically to complicate matters further than you ever thought possible, there’s an Easter Egg on L.A.B. Golf’s Meet DF3 page, that explains how you can even _combine_ multiple alignment aid options.

If anyone else hears something that resembles a distant steaming kettle, do not be alarmed, as it is just @CFreddie’s brain in full meltdown after reading these words.

I’ll give you fellas one hint where to find the double secret alignment option - Go Nuts