Gear: L.A.B. DF3 putter
Price: $449 (stock) and $559 (Custom)
Specs: 6061 aluminum with steel weights. 69-degree lie angle
Who It’s For: Golfers who struggle to square their putter face at impact or start putts on their intended target line.
The Skinny: Using a unique weighting and balance system, the DF3 putter is designed to keep the face square to the arc you create when you set up to putt and help you start your putts on your intended line more easily.
The Deep Dive: Anyone who has ever seen a L.A.B. Golf putter has heard the snickers and jokes like, “Even Stevie Wonder thinks that’s an ugly putter,” and “Hey, what’s with the potato masher on a stick?”
The putter corral at your local pro shop may be filled with offerings that mimic the elegant Ping Anser, the timeless Wilson 8802 blade and the trend-setting TaylorMade Spider, but L.A.B. Golf has never offered anything like those putters. Instead, the Creswell, Oregon-based brand asks golfers to look past the aesthetics and allow the form to follow function.
A few years ago, you may have spotted Adam Scott using a Directed Force mallet putter, a massive mallet with a circular shape in the back that L.A.B. Golf still offers today. The company’s new DF3 putter for 2024 is similarly shaped but smaller. While that might make it more appealing to some golfers, it retains the critical technology that started L.A.B. Golf’s cult following — lie angle balance.
The LAB Golf DF3 putter has eight screw-in weights in the sole to push more mass toward the hitting area. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The conventional wisdom states that golfers who create a strong arc in their putting stroke will benefit from a putter that has significant toe hang, while golfers who create more of a straight-back, straight-through stroke benefit from putters that are face-balanced.
The L.A.B. Golf DF3 is designed entirely differently. After you sole the putter behind the ball, the DF3’s weighting encourages the face of the putter to remain square to the arc you establish in the address position.
To be clear, this is not face-balanced. This is lie angle balanced (L.A.B. stands for lie angle balance).
To make this effect happen, each DF3 putter, which is made from 6061 aluminum, is center-shafted and has eight weights positioned in specific areas in the front of the sole. The weights vary based on the putter’s length, and they are all measured and installed by hand.
The angled shaft entry into the grip creates this forward press. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The other unique thing about the DF3 putter is that it comes standard with a Press Pistol 2 Degree grip that holds the shaft asymmetrically. The shaft enters the grip on an angle that tips away from your target and creates a forward-press in your address position. As a result, the hitting area and most of the DF3’s weight are in line with your hands at the address, while the hoop portion of the putter, which has a golf ball-grabbing hole, is set back.
Some may see the DF3 and other lie angle balance putters as a gimmick, but Grayson Murray won the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii using a L.A.B. Golf Link.1 putter and Lucas Glover won back-to-back PGA Tour events (the 2023 Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship) using a L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max, signaling that elite players are taking notice of what the small brand is doing.
L.A.B. sells black DF3 directly to golfers on its website in 34 and 35-inch lengths, but custom-fitting is highly encouraged and allows golfers to mix and match colors, lengths, shafts and alignment features.
Below are several close-up images of the L.A.B. Golf DF3 putter.
