TPT Putter Shafts for LAB Putters - 2024 Forum Review

[Rearviewmirror]

9 minutes ago, Patrick Dawes said:

I will have some data for this after I play a round this Sunday so hold tight, going to be hitting the putting green for this reason since my indoor setup only give me about 12 feet to work with.

There is some preliminary images in my initial impressions on the first page of some 30 footers I took but I would note that this was with a non-stock grip my original df3 so not a perfect comparison

Awesome! Thank you! Fingers crossed for a great round for you on Sunday!

[cburins]

DAY 4 - 25 Putt Testing

Todays putt was a 7ft putt using a putting mirror and gate.

I have 3 different sizes of gates, but to truly put accuracy and consistency to the test I used the smallest one.

Todays Results!

TPT Shaft:

21/25 Gates

21/25 Putts

 

Stock LAB Shaft:

21/25 Gates

20/25 Putts

I added the gate statistic because I still wanted to account for the speed of the putt. As you can see with the stock shaft I had 1 go through the gate, but I hit it too hard and lipped out.

Todays testing was pretty close, but that one missed putt through the gate shows slightly better consistency/speed control with the TPT Shaft. Also, the putting stroke was feeling really good and smooth. As I have said for each day so far, the TPT Shaft just has a bit more comfortability and fluid feel to it. The thing I will say about both putters and LAB in general is that miss hits are very rare. For those of you that have used putting gates before know how accurate you have to be and for majority of the balls to roll end over end through the gate is really nice to see.

 

I will be heading to the course this weekend, followed by my Tour Championship on Monday/Tuesday which means some good on-course testing!

 

[Patrick Dawes]

Sorry for being short on pictures today as I got excited and wanted to get right to putting after restoring the press 2 pistol grip to my stock DF3. -check the bold at the bottom for the TLDRs

I did get an initial run of what will be my long-term test which is an 8-foot straight putt with make/miss, miss direction, and distance left long or short recorded.  I am calling this my 300 putt challenge as the goal is at least 300 of this putt for each putter by the end of the 5 weeks of testing so that I can do a statistical test to see if the miss/make rates are statistically significantly different

The first round of 30 putts worked out like this:

TPT -

Made/Miss - 17/30

9 Miss Right (all within 2 inches of the hole)

1 Miss Short (3 inches straight in front of the hole) 

3 Miss Left (all within 2 inches of the hole)

Of the misses 9 were between 3 and 5 inches long, 1 was less than three inches long and 3 hit the rear wall (6 inches plus long)

Stock Shaft - 

Made/Miss - 15/30

11 Miss Right (3 within 2 inches of the hole and 9 greater than 2 inches missed right)

1 Miss Short (3 inches straight in front of the hole) 

1 Miss long (over the hole to the back wall -way too fast)

1 Miss Left (greater than 2 inches left of the hole)

Of the 15 misses, 3 were between 3 and 5 inches long or short, 12 hit the rear wall (6 inches plus long)

TLDR - TPT shaft better distance control and more makes in round 1

To look at the distance factor more I took 10 more putts with each shaft this time from 10 feet (the max distance I can do on my indoor setup and just measured the distance missed putting to a tee). - I plan to replicate this test on an outdoor putting green Sunday with a lot more balls and farther distances but the initial results are below

  TPT Shaft - 

Total Inches Missed 81

Average Miss 8.1 Inches

Stock Shaft -

Total Inches Missed 113

Average Miss 11.3 Inches

TLDR - TPT misses "better" or at least closer than the stock shaft so better distance control with this small sample

 

 

[Rearviewmirror]

17 hours ago, Patrick Dawes said:

Sorry for being short on pictures today as I got excited and wanted to get right to putting after restoring the press 2 pistol grip to my stock DF3. -check the bold at the bottom for the TLDRs

I did get an initial run of what will be my long-term test which is an 8-foot straight putt with make/miss, miss direction, and distance left long or short recorded.  I am calling this my 300 putt challenge as the goal is at least 300 of this putt for each putter by the end of the 5 weeks of testing so that I can do a statistical test to see if the miss/make rates are statistically significantly different

The first round of 30 putts worked out like this:

TPT -

Made/Miss - 17/30

9 Miss Right (all within 2 inches of the hole)

1 Miss Short (3 inches straight in front of the hole) 

3 Miss Left (all within 2 inches of the hole)

Of the misses 9 were between 3 and 5 inches long, 1 was less than three inches long and 3 hit the rear wall (6 inches plus long)

Stock Shaft - 

Made/Miss - 15/30

11 Miss Right (3 within 2 inches of the hole and 9 greater than 2 inches missed right)

1 Miss Short (3 inches straight in front of the hole) 

1 Miss long (over the hole to the back wall -way too fast)

1 Miss Left (greater than 2 inches left of the hole)

Of the 15 misses, 3 were between 3 and 5 inches long or short, 12 hit the rear wall (6 inches plus long)

TLDR - TPT shaft better distance control and more makes in round 1

To look at the distance factor more I took 10 more putts with each shaft this time from 10 feet (the max distance I can do on my indoor setup and just measured the distance missed putting to a tee). - I plan to replicate this test on an outdoor putting green Sunday with a lot more balls and farther distances but the initial results are below

  TPT Shaft - 

Total Inches Missed 81

Average Miss 8.1 Inches

Stock Shaft -

Total Inches Missed 113

Average Miss 11.3 Inches

TLDR - TPT misses "better" or at least closer than the stock shaft so better distance control with this small sample

 

 

Your consistent right miss is interesting. Do you know what your eye dominance is? What alignment mark did you go for?

[Patrick Dawes]

13 minutes ago, Rearviewmirror said:

Your consistent right miss is interesting. Do you know what your eye dominance is? What alignment mark did you go for?

Right handed but left eye dominant.  I went with the long back line alignment I believe it was J it may also be a less then level basement floor and not being able to see that break I was going to take a level to it before the next session to double check too

[Golfspy_CG2]

Great job by the testers so far. 
 

I may be the only staff member no jumping on the DF3 or LInK train.  I have a 2.1 i picked up at 2nd swing on s whil after i rolled  almost every single putt into the cup.  On course it was ok but not spectacular. 
 

But all the talk in our MOD Slack and tbis thread has me on the edge of temptation  

[Rearviewmirror]

10 minutes ago, Patrick Dawes said:

Right handed but left eye dominant.  I went with the long back line alignment I believe it was J it may also be a less then level basement floor and not being able to see that break I was going to take a level to it before the next session to double check too

Theoretically anything right of the shaft should be moving your aim point left so I’m guessing it may be your floor if this is a new thing. I did a write up on what I found for myself (right handed and left eye dominant too):

 

9 minutes ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

Great job by the testers so far. 
 

I may be the only staff member no jumping on the DF3 or LInK train.  I have a 2.1 i picked up at 2nd swing on s whil after i rolled  almost every single putt into the cup.  On course it was ok but not spectacular. 
 

But all the talk in our MOD Slack and tbis thread has me on the edge of temptation  

I have a DF3 in the build queue with my adjusted aim lines based off my test above and I’m similarly considering going TPT. Knowing how much more expensive it would be to send it back and add it later isn’t making it any easier to say no to the upgrade…

[Patrick Dawes]

11 minutes ago, Golfspy_CG2 said:

Great job by the testers so far. 
 

I may be the only staff member no jumping on the DF3 or LInK train.  I have a 2.1 i picked up at 2nd swing on s whil after i rolled  almost every single putt into the cup.  On course it was ok but not spectacular. 
 

But all the talk in our MOD Slack and tbis thread has me on the edge of temptation  

Before I bought my original df3 I was on that edge for a few months too I ran a few rounds with the putter I was using before the df3 (a mini jailbird) and both labs blew it out of the water 

[Golfspy_CG2]

6 minutes ago, Rearviewmirror said:

Theoretically anything right of the shaft should be moving your aim point left so I’m guessing it may be your floor if this is a new thing. I did a write up on what I found for myself (right handed and left eye dominant too):

 

I have a DF3 in the build queue with my adjusted aim lines based off my test above and I’m similarly considering going TPT. Knowing how much more expensive it would be to send it back and add it later isn’t making it any easier to say no to the upgrade…

Ha. I can understand that. 

1 minute ago, Patrick Dawes said:

Before I bought my original df3 I was on that edge for a few months too I ran a few rounds with the putter I was using before the df3 (a mini jailbird) and both labs blew it out of the water 

Thanks…I think

[MissionMan]

Back from my short holiday so I spent some time on the Exputt with both putters to get a comparison. Decided to split the sessions and alternate which went first.

Feel

The more you play with the TPT and Accra, the more you can feel the difference in feel and stiffness of the shaft. It's so much easier to feel what the head is doing. I'm keen to do some blind test and see if I can tell the difference so I'll test that with my wife at some point.

Exputt Test

For 10 foot, no difference in actual results, although the TPT was marginally more accurate. Not sure at this point if it's psychological or actual so we'll see over time. For launch angle, Exputt seems to sink anything inside 0.6 degrees or better depending on your pace. 10/10 for both putters from 10 foot.

20 foot had similar results, although the TPT was marginally more accurate, but it didn't actually impact the outcome in terms of number of putts sunk. These may seem too good to be true, but remember it's a flat putting surface so I'm not dealing with any form of breaks or hills that could reduce likelihood of holing like a conventional green. It also has markings on the matt so it's easier to get line right. At 20 feet on exputt, you need to be 0.4 or better. 7/10 from 20 foot for both putters.

 

  

 

Edited October 6 by MissionMan

[Josh Parker]

Some great data @MissionMan

[MissionMan]

4 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

Some great data @MissionMan

Not sure how accurate Exputt, but I suspect I'm in for a rude awakening on Wednesday when my putting stroke gets analysed on Samlab.

[Josh Parker]

11 minutes ago, MissionMan said:

Not sure how accurate Exputt, but I suspect I'm in for a rude awakening on Wednesday when my putting stroke gets analysed on Samlab.

It will be interesting to see any variances that pop up and how they can be utilized in improving. 

[Patrick Dawes]

I was able to get a couple of big data points today first I started with an 18-hole round as I have to take advantage of the nice weather before it turns to winter here in New England. As I went out in the early morning chill I had a pretty open course so I took both putters with me and hit with each putter for every hole, I took the same starting putt for each putter and then finished each putter using a different color ball for each putter to keep track. You can just skip to results for just the data.

(I flipped a coin to pick randomly which putter went first each whole) Here I am lining one up for one of these comparison putts.

After the round, I hit the putting green to get some more in-depth and longer distance lag putt data.  For this test, I putt 20 balls at each distance for three distances -30 feet, 40 feet, and 50 feet.  I then measured each ball's distance to the closest part of the hole.

Here is the setup, I measured out my distance marked it with tees, and used these to create a constant starting position.  My goal in my stroke for these tests was to try to be constant as I was looking to lag these not necessary make putts (although the stock shaft df3 did hole one during the 30-foot test) I was putting to the hole that is at the farthest white stake.

Ball cluster of the TPT shaft from 40 feet

Stock Shaft cluster from 40 feet

Test Results:

Comparison Round:

TPT putts for 18-hole round 38 (2.1 putts per hole) 

Stock Shaft puts for 18 holes 40 (2.2 putts per hole)

TPT had 5 3-putts, 10 2-Putts, and 3 1-putts

Stock Shaft had 1 4-putt, 4 3-putts, 11 2- putts, 2 1- putts

I plan to get at least two more full comparison rounds in before the test period concludes.

Lag Putt Test:

Average Miss Distance in Feet:

Stock Shaft:

30 Foot putt - 2.95 feet

40 Foot putt - 5.1 feet

50 Foot putt - 5.95 feet

TPT Shaft:

30 Foot putt - 2.2 feet

40 Foot putt - 3.8 feet

50 Foot putt - 6.125 feet

The TPT shaft was almost 30% closer on 30 and 4-foot putts but there was only a 3 % difference (in favor of the stock shaft) from 50 feet.  I will collect more of this data to increase the sample size so stay tuned.

 

Edited October 6 by Patrick Dawes

[Patrick Dawes]

@MissionMan and other tester how has your feel on longer puts like 20 feet (5m) plus been in terms of how hard you feel you have to hit the putt?  I noticed today when I was doing a massive amount of lag putts to test that it just felt easier to get the ball to distance with the TPT shaft.  For example, when I was putting 40 feet I felt like I could take a natural smooth putting stroke with the TPT shaft but for the same putt with my steel shaft df3, I felt like I had to putt harder to get the same result so my strokes were not as smooth.  I am going to try to focus on this when I do more lag putt testing as once I got out around 50 feet for a putt things seemed to wash and it may have been I lost that smoothness I still had at 40 feet with the TPT once I was way out there on a putt.

Edited October 6 by Patrick Dawes

[Rearviewmirror]

I think I might join the fun here as a semi unofficial tester. I feel like I’ll always be asking “what if” if I don’t give the TPT shaft a spin on my new build. 

[MissionMan]

4 hours ago, Patrick Dawes said:

@MissionMan and other tester how has your feel on longer puts like 20 feet (5m) plus been in terms of how hard you feel you have to hit the putt?  I noticed today when I was doing a massive amount of lag putts to test that it just felt easier to get the ball to distance with the TPT shaft.  For example, when I was putting 40 feet I felt like I could take a natural smooth putting stroke with the TPT shaft but for the same putt with my steel shaft df3, I felt like I had to putt harder to get the same result so my strokes were not as smooth.  I am going to try to focus on this when I do more lag putt testing as once I got out around 50 feet for a putt things seemed to wash and it may have been I lost that smoothness I still had at 40 feet with the TPT once I was way out there on a putt.

I think the rigidity of the shaft. For example, I think the TPT feels lighter than the Accra when I suspect it isn't. I think the lack of noticeable flex in the shaft makes it feel lighter, but in reality, it's just the feel thats there.

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

Sorry fellas, been slow to post - kid's 6th birthday was on Wednesday, and the in-laws have been in town since Thursday, so it's been a slow few days for the test. Getting back to it this week though - have a SAM session booked for Friday afternoon. 

Right before they came to town, did a session on the BirdieBall hitting 6-footers -- lined up six balls across, then hit two at each of the three holes. Did it a few times with each putter - in terms of made putts, the Accra actually won by one (had two 5/6 with TPT, only one with Accra on the 4 series). But, that's not the whole story - the very notable thing is that the TPT speed felt way more consistent. The TPT seemed to fall into the mini cup at nearly the same speed each time, where the Accra had some die in, some clang off the flag, etc. It will be interesting to see what the SAM data shows. 

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

Also made two slow-mo videos of the Accra (white) vs TPT (black) -- don't think it shows much, but I've taken very few putting videos before, so kinda looks cool.

 

 

Don't mind the Crocs  

[MissionMan]

Our course got vertidrained today and it was raining most of the day, which limited course practice. I spent some time back on the Exputt. Didn't feel like taking the new putter onto recently sanded greens in wet weather. It will be like putting snowballs with the sand sticking. 

My first putt from 50 foot, distance control on the TPT worked well with a switch from 20 foot to 50 foot. I'd be happy with that any day of the week.

Sadly, it took me 17 putts to put one down. I was leaving it a foot short when I got it online.

Did some 30 footers and averaging 4/10 which isn't terrible. My launch direction is definitely a lot more flakey on long putts so it's something I need to work on.

 

 

[Cfhandyman]

18 hours ago, Patrick Dawes said:

I was able to get a couple of big data points today first I started with an 18-hole round as I have to take advantage of the nice weather before it turns to winter here in New England. As I went out in the early morning chill I had a pretty open course so I took both putters with me and hit with each putter for every hole, I took the same starting putt for each putter and then finished each putter using a different color ball for each putter to keep track. You can just skip to results for just the data.

(I flipped a coin to pick randomly which putter went first each whole) Here I am lining one up for one of these comparison putts.

After the round, I hit the putting green to get some more in-depth and longer distance lag putt data.  For this test, I putt 20 balls at each distance for three distances -30 feet, 40 feet, and 50 feet.  I then measured each ball's distance to the closest part of the hole.

Here is the setup, I measured out my distance marked it with tees, and used these to create a constant starting position.  My goal in my stroke for these tests was to try to be constant as I was looking to lag these not necessary make putts (although the stock shaft df3 did hole one during the 30-foot test) I was putting to the hole that is at the farthest white stake.

Ball cluster of the TPT shaft from 40 feet

Stock Shaft cluster from 40 feet

Test Results:

Comparison Round:

TPT putts for 18-hole round 38 (2.1 putts per hole) 

Stock Shaft puts for 18 holes 40 (2.2 putts per hole)

TPT had 5 3-putts, 10 2-Putts, and 3 1-putts

Stock Shaft had 1 4-putt, 4 3-putts, 11 2- putts, 2 1- putts

I plan to get at least two more full comparison rounds in before the test period concludes.

Lag Putt Test:

Average Miss Distance in Feet:

Stock Shaft:

30 Foot putt - 2.95 feet

40 Foot putt - 5.1 feet

50 Foot putt - 5.95 feet

TPT Shaft:

30 Foot putt - 2.2 feet

40 Foot putt - 3.8 feet

50 Foot putt - 6.125 feet

The TPT shaft was almost 30% closer on 30 and 4-foot putts but there was only a 3 % difference (in favor of the stock shaft) from 50 feet.  I will collect more of this data to increase the sample size so stay tuned.

 

Great data.  Very well done. 

[Patrick Dawes]

Got some time in today with testing and added some great new data to the pile.  

Firstly got on a SAM and once I get the reports back will post the initial numbers for both putters and will be going back end of October after both putters have been more thoroughly tested to see if anything changes.  

Was able to sneak a quick 18 using the TPT shaft exclusively (was playing with a couple of random guys so no double putting today) and it was my best-putting round of the year with 34 total putts and 1.9 putts per hole average (my first sub-two round ever since I began tracking my stats over the last couple of years) - 4 one Putts, 12 2 Putts, and only  2 three Putts.

After the round, I hit the putting green and tried a new setup to test putt consistency.  I tried to take the stroke difference and offline strokes out of the equation by using the Why Golf putter thing with its ball guide in.  This meant the balls were on a "track" and rolled more consistently even with slightly off strokes.  I used a tee for reference for a consistent backstroke (I am going to redo this setup indoors with more backswing control than I could do out in the open air to get additional data).  

Here is the setup:

Data came out to be an average greatest dispersion for TPT of 16,75 inches and an average greatest dispersion for the Stock Steel Shaft of 23.75 inches.  Below you can see pictures with my 35" putters for scale (these were the worst of the dispersions for both putters)

TPT shafted putter is the green head and Stock is the black head:

 TLDR - Putting better in regular play with the TPT and TPT showed better initial distance dispersion constancy.

****Bonus fact for those who are interested the TPT shafted DF3 actually heaver weighing in at 550 grams (to the steel shaft putters 536 grams ) But the steel shaft actually has a higher swing weight****

[MissionMan]

I had my Sam PuttLab session today and the results were pretty fascinating. Apologies for the photos of the screens. The Sam PuttLab location I was at had network issues, and they weren't sure when they could export and email data, so I figured the photos would be the best outcome in the short term. If you don't want to read the data, go to the summary at the bottom.

The bad and the good news

The first conclusion has nothing to do with the putters. My putting stroke is crap. On a positive note, it's fairly consistently crap so that at least helps me make more putts. I spent the first half of the one-hour session with some tests on the putters before I reverted to the TPT only to fix the problems with my putting stroke, thanks to the latest technology. At the end of the session, I ended up with a half-decent/consistent stroke, but I didn't take that data as it wouldn't be fair in the comparison. I have a final Sam PuttLab session booked for the beginning of November to close out the test.

What was wrong with my stroke?

I'll provide this first, as it may help evaluate the test results.

Well, my putting stroke results in an open face with an out-to-in swing. The ball is coming off the face online, so I can make putts from 10 feet with that stroke, but the moment it gets longer, it becomes very hard because it's a little like a slice; the harder hits are going to have more side spin and slopes will have a varied impact because a right slope will break more than a left slope. 

He's given me some drills to work on so the next Sam PuttLab session should be interesting. It has nothing to do with LAB putters in case you're wondering, I'm putting with too big an arc which is causing the inconsistency.

The Sam PuttLab instructor reassured me that it wasn't as bad as I thought. You'll never get a 100% accurate stroke; consistency is the key. 

The results:

So, now that we've addressed my horrible putting stroke, lets get into the meat of the evaluation.

I'll start with the summary because that's the part that most people care about. TPT score an overall of 69.1%

Accra trailed marginally behind with an overall score of 68.9%, not a huge difference. Timing was a little better, but that's like because I've been using the putter for a while and the TPT is new.

From a face aim at address perspective, TPT again was marginally better on aim but slightly worse on consistency, again, probably because I am used to the Accra. 

The Accra scored better on consistency as shown below.

At impact however, the TPT took the lead with 78% on face and 88% consistency

Accra scored higher on path consistency.

TPT also was best on consistency for impact point. I was surprised with the consistency given my stroke.

Accra lagged on consistency but match the spot although, it seemed to be more centred so I need to check with that is good or bad.

Finally, face rotation for the data nerds. My consistency on face rotation was woeful. Part of the problem with my current stroke is my arc is way to bent, so I need to straighten my stroke. This is the leading cause of the inconsistency for me and by the end of the session, I had massive improvements in this space. The face rotation isn't the club's fault; I'm making it rotate more than it needs to due to poor backstroke. 

The consistency on the Accra wasn't quite as poor, but as mentioned, this is more of a backswing issue than anything that can be attributed to the shaft.

Summary

For those too lazy to read the data, here is the summary and conclusion:

My putting stroke isn't as good as it could be by a long way; I have a mild slice in my putting with an open face. It's straight, consistent, but could be a lot better.

The TPT performed marginally better, but at this point, it's not likely to have a considerable impact. This could well be due to having used the Accra for much longer than the TPT. I've used the TPT for less than a week because I took leave and haven't even played a full round of golf with it.

The next test should give a lot more insight into how the shaft has performed as I would be used to the TPT by that point. It will also be interesting to see the improvement in the putting stroke (if any) from the drills compared to where I am now.

I will say, for anyone who hasn't done Sam PuttLab, I'd highly recommend it. It's pretty insightful and my learnings from it, have resulted in me making the call to return post TPT test on a 6 monthly basis. 

Edited October 9 by MissionMan

[Patrick Dawes]

2 hours ago, MissionMan said:

I had my Sam PuttLab session today and the results were pretty fascinating. Apologies for the photos of the screens. The Sam PuttLab location I was at had network issues, and they weren't sure when they could export and email data, so I figured the photos would be the best outcome in the short term. If you don't want to read the data, go to the summary at the bottom.

The bad and the good news

The first conclusion has nothing to do with the putters. My putting stroke is crap. On a positive note, it's fairly consistently crap so that at least helps me make more putts. I spent the first half of the one-hour session with some tests on the putters before I reverted to the TPT only to fix the problems with my putting stroke, thanks to the latest technology. At the end of the session, I ended up with a half-decent/consistent stroke, but I didn't take that data as it wouldn't be fair in the comparison. I have a final Sam PuttLab session booked for the beginning of November to close out the test.

What was wrong with my stroke?

I'll provide this first, as it may help evaluate the test results.

Well, my putting stroke results in an open face with an out-to-in swing. The ball is coming off the face online, so I can make putts from 10 feet with that stroke, but the moment it gets longer, it becomes very hard because it's a little like a slice; the harder hits are going to have more side spin and slopes will have a varied impact because a right slope will break more than a left slope. 

He's given me some drills to work on so the next Sam PuttLab session should be interesting. It has nothing to do with LAB putters in case you're wondering, I'm putting with too big an arc which is causing the inconsistency.

The Sam PuttLab instructor reassured me that it wasn't as bad as I thought. You'll never get a 100% accurate stroke; consistency is the key. 

The results:

So, now that we've addressed my horrible putting stroke, lets get into the meat of the evaluation.

I'll start with the summary because that's the part that most people care about. TPT score an overall of 69.1%

Accra trailed marginally behind with an overall score of 68.9%, not a huge difference. Timing was a little better, but that's like because I've been using the putter for a while and the TPT is new.

From a face aim at address perspective, TPT again was marginally better on aim but slightly worse on consistency, again, probably because I am used to the Accra. 

The Accra scored better on consistency as shown below.

At impact however, the TPT took the lead with 78% on face and 88% consistency

Accra scored higher on path consistency.

TPT also was best on consistency for impact point. I was surprised with the consistency given my stroke.

Accra lagged on consistency but match the spot although, it seemed to be more centred so I need to check with that is good or bad.

Finally, face rotation for the data nerds. My consistency on face rotation was woeful. Part of the problem with my current stroke is my arc is way to bent, so I need to straighten my stroke. This is the leading cause of the inconsistency for me and by the end of the session, I had massive improvements in this space. The face rotation isn't the club's fault; I'm making it rotate more than it needs to due to poor backstroke. 

The consistency on the Accra wasn't quite as poor, but as mentioned, this is more of a backswing issue than anything that can be attributed to the shaft.

Summary

For those too lazy to read the data, here is the summary and conclusion:

My putting stroke isn't as good as it could be by a long way; I have a mild slice in my putting with an open face. It's straight, consistent, but could be a lot better.

The TPT performed marginally better, but at this point, it's not likely to have a considerable impact. This could well be due to having used the Accra for much longer than the TPT. I've used the TPT for less than a week because I took leave and haven't even played a full round of golf with it.

The next test should give a lot more insight into how the shaft has performed as I would be used to the TPT by that point. It will also be interesting to see the improvement in the putting stroke (if any) from the drills compared to where I am now.

I will say, for anyone who hasn't done Sam PuttLab, I'd highly recommend it. It's pretty insightful and my learnings from it, have resulted in me making the call to return post TPT test on a 6 monthly basis. 

I had a very similar experience with my SAM session yesterday. I will post it once I get the report so I can share the numbers and graphs as you did.  Had me want to work enough that I invested in a blast sensor https://blastmotion.com/products/golf/#gref to track my face and tempo better when practicing but also booked a follow-up for the end of the month to see if the two get close once I have some hours under my belt it with the TPT shaft.  

 

 

[cburins]

On 10/6/2024 at 2:11 PM, Patrick Dawes said:

@MissionMan and other tester how has your feel on longer puts like 20 feet (5m) plus been in terms of how hard you feel you have to hit the putt?  I noticed today when I was doing a massive amount of lag putts to test that it just felt easier to get the ball to distance with the TPT shaft.  For example, when I was putting 40 feet I felt like I could take a natural smooth putting stroke with the TPT shaft but for the same putt with my steel shaft df3, I felt like I had to putt harder to get the same result so my strokes were not as smooth.  I am going to try to focus on this when I do more lag putt testing as once I got out around 50 feet for a putt things seemed to wash and it may have been I lost that smoothness I still had at 40 feet with the TPT once I was way out there on a putt.

I can definitely relate to this. I find the TPT has way more feel and communication than the steel shaft on longer putts. I know as soon as I hit a putt if it's short, long or pulled. With the steel shaft it's not as informative and responsive. 

[cburins]

TPT x LAB Golf Shaft - Tournament Review

Hey Spies,

Sorry for the silence, I had my Tour Championship and didn’t expect it to take up so much of my time.

I had some time after rounds to do some testing, BUT the ultimate test was on-course testing. I used the putter both days for the tournament and was overall pleased with my putting performance and the performance of the TPT Shaft.

Both rounds I had 36 putts - 2.0PPH Average.

This is slightly above average for me, but these greens were extremely tricky and modulated so I am pleased with these results.

The rest of my game wasn’t good and both rounds I just couldn’t get comfortable and string together 3 good shots together. I played my final back 9 at 3 over par with 3 Birdies which was nice to finish strong.

Putts Per Round:

Day 1:

1 Putts: 1

2 Putts: 16

3 Putts: 1

Day 2:

1 Putts: 4

2 Putts: 10

3 Putts: 4

The thing I struggled the most with was reading these greens. Bad reads were costing me 3 putts which didn’t help the scorecard.

What I notice about the TPT Shaft is that all my putts are rolling end over end. I use a red line on my ball and it’s nice to see that red line stay stable and straight. I definitely need to work on my reads, but I’m getting very comfortable with the TPT Shaft over the stock shaft and can definitely see this putter taking over and being the new gamer.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I didn't have time to take photos of myself on the course during the tournament.

I had my Quintic Session this morning, just waiting to get the data sent over!

[MissionMan]

5 hours ago, cburins said:

I can definitely relate to this. I find the TPT has way more feel and communication than the steel shaft on longer putts. I know as soon as I hit a putt if it's short, long or pulled. With the steel shaft it's not as informative and responsive. 

Yeah, agree. The more I use the TPT, the more I realise that the shaft is worth it for the feedback alone. I could take a putt blindfolder and know what's happened, where I don't think I'd have the same confidence with the Accra or steel.

[cburins]

Day 5 - 25 Putt Testing

Today’s putt was an 8ft downhill, slight left to right break.

My first ever post on MGS was about the putting green project my Dad and I made! This is what I used for the testing.

It’s not the prettiest setup, but it definitely gets the job done.

The TPT Shaft really shined through in todays testing as the speed control over this downhill putt was extremely crucial. It would tough to get the speed right with the stock shaft, but with the TPT shaft the putts felt automatic and consistent - This definitely seems to be a theme throughout this testing.

Todays Results:

Stock LAB Shaft - 14/25

TPT x LAB  Shaft - 21/25

This is the biggest difference yet for the 25 putt testing. So far each day has been pretty close with the TPT coming out on top by a few putts.

Most putts with the stock shaft went long and that’s a theme I’ve noticed with the stock LAB Shaft.

I feel like a broken record with the TPT, but I have way more control. Controlled shaft + LAB putter head is a deadly combo… I need to work out a few issues with my stroke in general, but once I get that down I can see my putting getting to an amazing level.

When I wiggle each shaft its a completely different feel. The stock LAB Shaft feels flexy, but the TPT feels sturdy and I can tell that there is different flexes in different areas of the shaft - I would love to know the science behind that, but for now if the ball goes in the hole more that’s all I care about!

During my Tour Championship one of the staff mentioned that LAB recommends the TPT Shaft on the broomstick for ultimate sturdiness and consistency as long putts with the broomstick flex too much with the stock shaft. I thought that was extremely interesting and gives you a better understanding to how good this shaft is.

I wish we have a broomstick tester!!!

 

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

Back at it tonight. Decided to jump back to 15 footers and focus purely on speed/consistency - nothing scientific, just looking at where the ball stops in relation to the hole. It was again mixed/comparable results, so I'm really interested to see what SAM says on Friday. 

Did a couple sets of 15 putts from 15 feet with each putter. To keep things fair, decided to start with the TPT this time (been starting with Accra each time so far). 

Set 1: with TPT, had two outliers - one long, one short, otherwise everything was within a 1 foot short/long. With Accra, had three blasted past, but the other 12 were slightly tighter than TPT. But, the short TPT putt was the worst of the set. 

Set 2: nearly identical, just without that bad short TPT putt. TPT saw one blasted long, Accra had two, otherwise pretty tight in terms of length. 

Oh, and if anyone's wondering why I said I suck at putting in my intro... Grabbed another slomo tonight, and it totally caught my occasional-to-frequent hitch on the takeaway (for the record, same Crocs, different day - they're my "downstairs Crocs"). 

 

 

[Patrick Dawes]

I was able to get a quick outdoor practice after work and decided to do a more intermediate test (went with 12 feet).  Defiantly not my best total putting round but it was cold and I was dumb enough to set up with the wind in my face so got chilly in a hurry as you can see from the pics we are in full fall mood at Gillet Ridge Golf Course in Bloomington, CT

Today's test was a slightly uphill 12-foot putt with a moderate left-to-right break.  Putter ten balls at a time with a coin flip each round for which the putter went first.

Measure both made and missed and the largest distance between the missed balls to get a dispersion measurement.  Pics of some of the typical results are below remember green df3 is the TPT shaft.

The numbers for the results:

TPT - 18 of 50 (36%)Putts Made an average dispersion of 2.2 feet per round.

Stock - 18 of 50 (32%) Putts Made an average dispersion of 2.8 feet per round.

TPT dispersion was 24% better than Stock

So the trend continues TPT shaft is slightly better seeming to mainly be around distance control and consistency.

Fun interaction for the day had a chat with one of the course pros on the way in as he was getting his club out of his car saw the two lab putters and told him about comparing the shafts he also had similar thoughts on the LAB with TPT shaft and its affinity for distance control as he had one in his bag and was happy to hear about the test going on.  Maybe I will get lucky and he'll read this and I'll get a round at Gillet Ridge and some swing tips out of it.