Today L.A.B. Golf released their new OZ.1i HS putter. It takes the silhouette of the successful OZ.1i and converts it into a heel shafted design with a more traditional looking top line that a large bucket of players prefer the look of. This opens up a new market for L.A.B. to potentially battle in, but lots of golfers are confused by the new release. Let’s talk about what you missed, how they got to a heel shafted offering, and why it matters for the future of L.A.B. Golf.
Let’s recap really quick what the L.A.B. lineup currently looks like. We’ve got the O.G. DF2.1, the more popular DF3, the less popular LINK, the almost forgotten Mezz and Mezz MAX, the Standard OZ.1 as well as the OZ.1i that includes a milled insert, and now the OZ.1i HS. If we look at the progression here from L.A.B., and you’ve been paying attention the consumer base since they gained their popularity, a clear pattern emerges. L.A.B. research and development is driven by the consumer. And this is exactly the way they want to grow their company.
I was fortunate enough to attend a L.A.B. Golf media day to launch the new HS putters at their headquarters in Eugene, Oregon. We started off the day getting introduced to the product from Sam and team, and then split off into groups to get fit for the new putters and tour the facility.
The fitting was incredibly simple. They have tools to adjust lie angle rather quickly that get you properly set over the golf ball, and then check your body position and eye line to dial in the proper length. From there it’s as simple as picking the head style you like (in this case we obviously all went with the HS) and then trying out a couple of the aftermarket shafts to see which one felt the best and provided the best roll. I was sold on the new Mitsubishi offering that’s coming soon until they put the TPT in my hands, and I changed my mine really quick. I ended up in a blue head with a sight dot and a matching width flange line at a 71 degree lie angle.
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And while that was all really fun and getting a tour of the facility was a special surprise that opened my eyes to a couple of different things, the real fun came when we were able to ask Sam and team some interesting questions. And the one answer that kept coming up was: “If that’s what the customer wants.” I think I heard Sam say this 5 or 6 times over the course of the day, and it wasn’t just him brushing off questions; it was his true answer. L.A.B.’s R&D team definitely has their own goals and projects, but the company is very focused on keeping an ear on the consumer base and listening to what the market wants them to make and then finding ways to rapidly prototype those ideas and bring them to market. That brings us back to the lineup.
The DF 2.1 from Bill Presse IV was the catalyst for the entire concept. Straight in shaft to the center of gravity of the head for the easiest putter to keep square to the putting stroke that they could possibly make. The problem? It was giant, and it was ugly. Answer? The L.A.B. LINK. Which, could possibly be the least talked about L.A.B. putter in existence. In fairness, it’s actually one of my favorites, but that’s because I’m a blade guy. The LINK didn’t really hit the market with a strong presence, and it’s definitely fallen off of the map, mostly because the benefits of the mallet shapes add so much to the concept of L.A.B. putters.
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So that wasn’t the answer they wanted it to be. Then we got the DF3, which for most golfers is the sweet spot in the L.A.B. lineup. It’s still big and still maybe not the most attractive putter but it’s got the ball pick up hole, and it at least looks purposeful. Like somebody truly sat down and designed a putter to match the concept.
After the DF3, things got weird. The Mezz.1 released and people were confused. What was L.A.B. thinking? They were trying to appease the smaller shapes that blade users wanted, but they ended up making something that looks like a tool used to stir up the fire pit. And then when people thought that it was just a weird proportion, they brought us the Mezz.1 MAX, which in a way, actually does look a lot better at that size, but still, the DF3 was actually the more attractive option.
At that point, there was a slight pause in L.A.B. development. Presumably because the company didn’t know where to turn after the lackluster love for the Mezz.1 and the MAX. But then we got the OZ.1 and the market was very very happy. Still maybe not the sleekest or most attractive offering on the market, L.A.B. threw it out into the world as “at least it’s the best looking one so far” and we enjoyed the OZ.1 until L.A.B. responded to complaints about slow ball speed with the OZ.1i and it’s milled insert.
And now finally we arrive at the birth of the OZ.1i HS, a heel shafted variant of the “okayest looking” L.A.B. golf offering for players who just refused to play the straight-in shaft offerings.
All because L.A.B. is driven by the consumer. Each model release was an answer to a problem. Performance, blade users, looks, looks again, looks for a third try, performance, and now traditionalism.
This one’s actually an easier question to answer than you may think. And L.A.B. isn’t actually the first to make a putter that works in a revealer that is heel shafted, but they’re definitely the the first ones to do it their way, with a truly balanced putter that has a consistent sweet spot and maintains its balance at any lie angle.
From a strictly mathematical view, creating a putter that balances toe up, or works in a revealer isn’t difficult. If you can get the axis of the shaft into the center of gravity of the head, you’ve solved the problem. And that’s why we see so many other low-torque, toe up putters options on the market. And when I asked Sam why it took L.A.B. (what I felt) was a while to get to this point he said that two things continued to really bother him. One is that everyone else’s options had to be bent to different lie angles, and when you bend the lie angle, that shaft axis is no longer in line. This means that if you bend a putter outside its stock lie angle, it wouldn’t pass a revealer test. This of course, is unacceptable to L.A.B. Golf. They weren’t going to release a heel shafted putter for the sake of getting it out the door, they wanted to make sure that it remained within the L.A.B. ethos.
The other is an issue that Sam calls a ‘Graduated Sweet Spot’ which is a sweet spot that isn’t centered or symmetrically shaped on a putter that uses weight placement to pass the revealer test and may result in a significant difference in weight from heel to toe. That’s a no-go for L.A.B. Golf.
That’s how we got the new Riser Hosel, or Riser Hosel System rather. The system creates a different hosel for each individual lie angle. The flatter lie angles are a bit shorter, and the more upright angles get taller. This helps to keep the knuckle of the hosel, and the axis of the shaft, going into the center of gravity of the head, without having to worry about bending, or changing the onset of the hosel. So while others on the market may have released heel shafted options with very low torque, toe up designs, nobody has handled the issue of changing lie angles. L.A.B. now has, and because of the change in parts depending on the lie angle that you get fit into, the builders actually have an easier time balancing the putters and making sure they pass the revealer test. They simply grab the correct lie angle part, torque the hosel into the head thanks to the consistent placement that’s milled out of each head, and then build the putter the same way they would have with any other model in the L.A.B. family. They of course finalize and check the build to make sure it meets the correct lie angle.
The one question that I was left with is how this change in height affects the way the shafts play. L.A.B. gave us some quick insight into their shaft testing process and why they are very picky about what shafts they offer, and it wasn’t out of the question to wonder if this change in height (and thus a change in how much of the butt section you cut from the shaft) affected the play from one lie angle to the next even with the same shaft. The answer to that was… interesting, but I can’t talk about it just yet.
Check out this fantastic video from L.A.B. Golf about their new Riser Hosel System.
I firmly believe that L.A.B. is heading towards a modular system that can be balanced at home. And I asked that question to Sam. I wouldn’t say that he gave me a super positive answer, but he definitely didn’t shy away from stating that it was a cool concept and that he loves to cater to the crowd who loves to tinker. Players that want to be at home with 4 different shafts, 3 different lie angles, 2 different alignment lines, and 6 grips. They exist. I am them. They are me.
Think about how cool that would be. You could change the hosel, the head, the face, the shaft, and the grip all within a modular system that maintains its lie angle balance. Right now it’s not doable, but the signs are there that it’s possible for the future. Even something as simple as being able to swap out your setup for a new head that comes out, or a new face milling type would be an incredible upgrade for the product line.
There is no doubt in my head however that L.A.B. will continue to answer the “What’s Next?” question by asking and listening to the consumer base and their fans. The industry has crowded this market, there is no denying that. So for L.A.B. its going to be about staying one step ahead and remaining the category thought leader. They have a free license to try things that other OEMs just can’t and I know that they’re going to take that license and run wild with it. They already teased us on some things that might be coming and it is quite exciting. They love their customer and their customer loves them more. It’s what’s gotten them this far, and it’s what will continue to take them into the future.
You can purchase a new L.A.B. Golf HS from Fairway Jockey or directly from L.A.B. Golf
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Interested in getting fit for your new L.A.B. Golf putter? Visit your local True Spec Location!
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