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We Tried It: L.A.B. Golf DF3 Custom Designer
There is a lot of cool gear in the golf world that doesn’t always fit into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised.
What We Tried
L.A.B. Golf DF3 Custom Designer
Your Putter Designer
Dave Wolfe– Lover of putters. Seriously, like all of the putters. It’s a thing.
We Tried It: L.A.B. Golf DF3 Custom Designer
L.A.B. Golf continues to be one of the hottest putter companies.
No other small putter shop has a growing professional tour presence like L.A.B. Golf. New professionals are putting L.A.B Golf putters in the bag every week. Just a few weeks ago, we saw Will Zalatoris return to the first page of the leaderboard at Riviera with a L.A.B. Golf putter in his bag. If you check his WITB from 2023, you’d find a Cameron in his putter well.
No, Will does not lay the L.A.B. putter flat on the turf at address, either.
Just this week we learned that Phil Mickelson was trying out a L.A.B. Golf DF3. Can’t wait to see if it is in the bag on the weekend.
Regardless, if the people who make big money on Sundays are putting L.A.B. putters in their bags shouldn’t we, the golfing public, consider doing the same thing?
Today we are going to take a look at the new L.A.B. Golf Directed Force 3 Custom program. The Directed Force 2.1 has a dedicated following but some folks, like yours truly, found it just too large to consistently bring to the course.
I do like how the DF2.1 rolls the ball, though. Huge it may be, but it gets the ball to the hole. If the DF3 can produce similar results with a smaller profile, L.A.B. Golf may have created something truly special.
Using the DF3 Interface
Building custom putters on the computer has become commonplace. That said, not every company gets it right. Any time I use a custom golf club interface, there are a few things I take notice of. First, how easy is the interface to use? I want to spend my time designing the putter, not figuring out where I’m supposed to click.
Thankfully, the L.A.B. Golf system is very easy to navigate. You need only navigate a stack of nested menu items along the right-hand side of the design page to sequentially walk through your build options. With the DF3 customizer program, you will be able to select head color, shaft, alignment feature, grip and the physical characteristics of your putter like lie and loft.
As with any L.A.B. Golf putter, if you are not sure about your putter build specs, you can submit a quick video to L.A.B. Golf and they will tell you what length and what lie angle your putter should be built to.
For me, L.A.B. Golf fitted me into the exact same lie angle through the remote fitting that I have been fitted for at in-person putter fitting events.
Once you know your putter’s physical characteristics, you just need to make your aesthetic choices.
One of the options that can be a little bit overwhelming is the selection of the alignment aid. There are so many to choose from. I think sometimes we overlook the influence of a putter’s alignment scheme. It matters. Some golfers don’t realize how the lines on our putter can influence the way we aim it.
This aspect of the L.A.B. Golf customizer is amazing because it gives us lots of options. However, it’s also problematic because it also gives us lots of options. How will you know for sure that you have picked the right alignment aid?
It may seem like you’ll need to make a bit of a guess mixed with a bit of a gamble to pick the right scheme. That said, most of us know what we like to see behind the ball.
For my DF3, I went with dual sight lines instead of the triple-line scheme I went with on my DF 2.1. I like the triple scheme on the DF 2.1 but sometimes I think it is distracting. Therefore I went with something simpler this time around.
All in all, if you know what you want, building your putter with the DF3 custom interface should take you only a couple of minutes. If you can click your mouse, you can build your putter.
Your L.A.B. Golf DF3 Custom From All Angles
The second big question that I want to answered when I’m using an online putter-building tool is an important one.
How will the putter that is shown on the computer compare to the one that shows up at the house?
For a long time, what you would see on the computer would be static images of the putter. Ideally, the various angles of the putter would update when you made build selections.
In the past couple of years, though, we’ve seen the static images replaced with a dynamic image that can be rotated in any direction.
L.A.B. Golf’s image preview system nails this aspect. With an updating-with-choice, 360 degree-rotating image, you can easily look at your putter from any angle. Now, when you make a change in the design, you can see the change from all angles. When you change the look at address, you can see how the change influences the profile as well.
Why you’re looking at your putter in profile, I don’t know. However, if that’s what you want, L.A.B. Golf’s image system allows you to look at it from the side.
The Finished Product
I don’t know how many custom putters I’ve built through online interfaces, but I do know that every time I open one of their boxes at my house I feel a surge of excitement.
Sometimes that excitement might be mixed with a tinge of apprehension but usually I’m more excited to see what’s in there than worried about what I will see.
With the DF3, I had a lot of uncertainty in terms of what I was going to see under the headcover. Not because of the computer system, but because of the new putter shape. I’d seen a picture of the DF3 on a computer screen, and read the description of how the putter had evolved from the DF 2.1, but still did not really know what to expect when I had it in hand.
The only design element I was curious about was the green color since that was a new finish option.
As expected, I initially spent most of my time exploring the new DF3 head shape. Somehow, L.A.B. Golf had indeed created a smaller version of their Directed Force 2.1 putter. The DF3 is still larger than many of the other mallets out there but the DF3 has a significantly more palatable profile compared to the DF2.1.
As far as comparing the in-hand putter to the computer build, I think the actual putter was pretty close to what I saw on the screen. The dual alignment lines and the white shaft looked exactly how they did on the computer.
The only place where there was a bit of deviation was with the color. I think I expected the green finish to be a little bit more reflective, a little shinier. I actually think that the matte green looks better in person than it did on the computer. It was just a little different from what I expected.
Overall, the finish reminds me a bit of when NIKE produced green putters about a decade ago. The green body blends into the green turf, causing the alignment lines to really stand out. Had I thought about this, I would have considered some other, bolder alignment options.
As far as building the putter with the computer, L.A.B. Golf has done a great job with the DF3 interface. This is to be expected since the other custom interfaces for building the Mezz.1, Mezz.1 MAX, and DF 2.1 putters are also solid.
Comparing the L.A.B. Golf DF3 to the DF2.1
Many of you are not concerned about how the computer build interface worked. You may have even skipped over all of that. I get it. I would probably do the same thing because the big question here is not how did the build interface work but rather how does the Directed Force 2.1 compare to this new directed Force 3?
The DF3 is significantly smaller than the DF2.1. If you look at the photos side by side you can see the DF3 is far more compact. I wouldn’t call it a small mallet by any stretch but, compared to the dinner-plate-sized DF2.1, the DF3 is merely a salad plate.
The DF3 is smaller in all dimensions, which allows it to have a much smaller headcover as well. This may not seem like a big deal but the bulk of the DF2.1’s headcover is probably what kept it out of my golf bag.
Rolling balls with the two putters side by side, the differences are not quite as significant. The DF3 and the DF2.1 feel and roll very similar. This is a big deal. What this means is that L.A.B. Golf was able to deliver the performance of the DF2.1 in the smaller package of the DF3. You lose the hugeness but you keep the performance.
The most significant difference I noticed between the DF2.1 and the DF3 is the sound. The DF2.1 produces a ringing tone when you strike the ball. The DF3 does not, with impact sounding much more traditional and solid. You can only make the DF3 ring if you hit a ball with the back side of the putter.
Like the other putters in the L.A.B. Golf family, the DF3 has a whole bunch of weights on the bottom that allow it to be Lie Angle Balanced. What this means is that the DF3, along with the other L.A.B. Golf putters, are torque-free during the putting stroke. They just don’t twist at all when you swing them.
For the golfer, a putter that doesn’t twist equates to a putter that is easier to bring back square to the ball. If you let the putter do its thing, the face will come back square. That’s the beauty of a L.A.B. Golf putter. If you just let it swing, and not try to manipulate it with your hands, it does the work all on its own.
The Gimmie Getter
When purchasing a putter, performance is important, but it’s rarely the only factor influencing said purchase. Golfers like putters that look cool and putters with extra features that separate them from others.
Case in point: the DF3’s Gimmie Getter.
For whatever reason, we enjoy using our putters to scoop up the ball from the green. Maybe this is more of a practice green thing, since scooping a ball during a round means that we missed the putt. But it could also mean that we didn’t miss by much and that our playing partners are giving us the gimmie.
You could scoop up balls with the DF 2.1, but it was not easy. Often I would just end up pushing the ball across the green with the back of the putter instead. With the DF3, this is not an issue. Just line up the hole in the back of the putter with your ball, press down gently and the putter will grab the ball.
The Gimmie Getter doesn’t influence the performance of the putter but it does make putting with it more fun.
Here’s another fun fact about the bottom of the DF3. Did you notice the L.A.B. Golf logos get smaller as they move from the face to the Gimme Getter hole? This graphic was intended to depict how the ball gets smaller as it rolls away from you, finally falling into the hole. L.A.B. Golf hid some art on the bottom of the putter.
Final Thoughts on the L.A.B. Golf DF3 Custom Designer
Overall, the L.A.B. Golf Directed Force 3 Custom putter design program is a good one. Golfers can choose between conservative and bold color choices and a nearly overwhelming number of alignment options.
Once you input your build data from a video fitting session, your DF3 should be exactly what you want (and arguably need). I find the DF3 way easier on the eyes than the DF2.1. Sure, it is still an unusual looking putter, but not quite as unusual as its predecessor. The smaller profile means the DF3 will get to the course.
I have one other build tidbit to share before we part company. This time around, I went with the new 2° pistol grip. The tapered design of this new grip is very comfortable. As one who usually plays pistol-type putter grips, this new grip felt more familiar than the non-tapered grips on my DF2.1 and Mezz.1 putters.
The built-in shaft lean in the grip does mean you will probably need to move the ball a bit more forward at address when you use the DF3 or other L.A.B. Golf putter. I forgot about this when I was first rolling the DF3 and was leaving most putts a touch short. Once I moved the ball forward a bit and let the putter do its thing, distance control improved dramatically.
Although we are still in the honeymoon period, I believe the Directed Force 3 may be the best putter L.A.B. Golf has produced so far.
For a company that produces excellent putters, that is high praise indeed.
Build you own custom DF3 putter at: labgolf.com
FAQ: L.A.B. Golf Custom Directed Force 3 Putter Designer
Why has L.A.B. Golf become so popular?
Because putting is hard! And not just for the amateurs. Elite ball strikers like Hogan and Scheffler have struggled with their putting. The Lie Angle Balance design takes the need to open and close the putter out of the equation. That means you have one less thing to worry about when you putt with a L.A.B Golf putter or at least one less variable to control. If you minimize variation, then you should improve consistency.
Do any pros use L.A.B. Golf putters?
More and more every week. Every time I watch a PGA Tour or LIV event, I spot L.A.B. Golf putters. Not only are they entering more bags on Thursdays but many of those L.A.B. Golf putters are still there on Sunday television broadcasts.
Will your putting improve immediately if you switch to a L.A.B. Golf putter?
Don’t be surprised if there is a bit of a learning curve when you first use one of these putters. We are so used to manipulating the traditional putter head that it feels odd to just let the putter swing. The best drill you can do to become comfortable with a L.A.B. putter is the thumbs-off drill. Grip the putter and then lift your thumbs off the grip and make a putting stroke. You will quickly feel how the putter wants to move (or not move) and then you just place your thumbs back on the grip and practice.
If you are a terrible putter, switching to a L.A.B. Golf putter will likely improve your putting. As you practice and become more familiar with the feel, you may find that you never want to return to a traditional putter.
Does the putter come with a weight kit?
No. The weights on the bottom of the putter are not for adjusting. The Lie Angle Balanced nature of the putter is created by the weight placement. L.A.B. can probably build you something heavier or lighter but the weights are not intended to be changed at the consumer level.
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