Gear La Golf Bel-Air and Malibu putters Pricing: $499 for Bel-Air or Malibu, $599 for Bel-Air X.
Specifications: Carbon fibre heads with stainless steel inserts on the face, graphite shafts and tungsten weights
Who is it for? Golfers that love technology, and who want forgiveness and extreme perimeter weighting in a putter of traditional size.
The skinny: LA Golf’s Bel-Air putter heads and Malibu putter head are made from carbon fiber, instead of steel. This allowed designers to place large tungstenweights at the heel and toe to increase stability. A variable-loft front also helps improve consistency.
The Deep Dive LA Golf, an equipment manufacturer that specializes in graphite putter shafts as well as high-performance graphite woods and irons, has become a household name. The company also signed several well known players as brand ambassadors including Bryson deChampeau Dustin Johnson and Michelle Wie West.
LA Golf launched its first club last year. was a blade putter made of carbon fiber, instead of steel, and it came with a graphite shaft. The brand knew that it wouldn’t sell many putters at this price point, but it was a way to show what LA Golf can do. With the release of the GEN 2 putters, the Bel-Air & Malibu, LA Golf brings the technologies that it introduced last year to a wider audience.
LA Golf Malibu Putter. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
LA Golf’s putter heads are made of carbon fiber, unlike most putters that you may have used. The carbon fiber used in the Malibu mallet and standard Bel-Air blade is compressed molded. This process involves heating and pressing the carbon fibre into the desired shape. The carbon fiber for the Malibu X and Bel-Air X putters is forged as a block, then milled to the final shape using a computer-guided tool.
Carbon fiber in both cases is five times lighter than stainless steel, which is often used to make putters. This allows for a significant amount of weight that can be added in order to enhance performance.
The GEN2 putters have a 106-gram tungsten toe weight and an 88 gram tungsten heel weight that are responsible for most of this weight. These weights produce extreme perimeter weighting which increases the sweet spot, and keeps the Malibu and Bel-Air stable when hitting off-center.
The LA Golf putters are equipped with a P-Series SoHo Shaft as standard. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Each Bel-Air or Malibu putter is fitted with a LA Golf P-Series graphite shaft to help it resist twisting when hit off-center. The shaft is designed to reduce excessive vibrations and is stiff. When combined with the perimeter-weighting in the head it should help you roll your putter in your target line more frequently.
LA Golf has a grooved face insert that descends in loft on the Bel-Air, and Malibu. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Both the Bel-Air, and the Malibu, have a grooved stainless-steel face insert with Descending Loft Technology. The feature was originally developed by a brand named SIK that LA Golf acquired. The top quarter of the insert has 4 degrees of loft, and the lower quarters have 3 degrees, 2 degrees, and 1 degree.
When you press your hands slightly in front of the putter head and make contact with the golf ball, the face will normally de-loft and the ball will go down into the ground and then pop up like a chips. The additional loft on the insert at the top reduces this effect. If you strike your putt in a downward path, then the reduced loft can also help to keep the ball from hopping. This will result in a more consistent roll putt to putt.
The LA Golf Bel-Air is still bigger than most blades. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The GEN 2 Bel-Air is smaller than the original LA Golf Blade, but it has the same shape. The club is slightly longer from heel-to-toe and bigger from face-to face than other blade style putters. Malibu’s fang-style mallet is slightly bigger than others of its kind. The carbon fiber is pressed and forged to give each putter a unique look and finish.
