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CRESWELL, Ore. - Making more putts—it's the dream of every golfer.
The dream of Sam Hahn is to make more putters, which should, in turn, help golfers roll the rock better.
Hahn is the founder and co-CEO of L.A.B. Golf, the putter company that has taken the golf equipment industry by storm. Since 2018, L.A.B. Golf's Lie. Angle. Balance. principles have required the putter shaft to be inserted into the center of the putter head. This look and feel has changed the way many golfers putt, but has also been too jarring for some to accept.
L.A.B. heard these concerns and went back to the drawing board. The result is another potential game-changing twist in the brand's ongoing evolution: L.A.B. Golf's first heel-shafted putter - the OZ.1i HS.
“Lie Angle Balance is so much more than where the shaft goes into the head, and golfers are going to feel that when they try OZ.1i HS,” Hahn said. “It looks a lot like a traditional putter, but it performs like a L.A.B. This is a huge step toward our mission of helping every golfer putt better.”
The technology behind the OZ.1i HS putter
First things first: you cannot accuse L.A.B. of turning its back on its own proprietary technology. The concept of creating a putter with zero/low torque that forces golfers to stroke it back and straight through with the proper lie, angle and balance still exists, just with a new, clever trick of engineering.
The shaft of the OZ.1i HS is now connected to the head by a straight aluminum riser. This riser comes in ten different configurations, ranging from 65 to 74 degrees, allowing the OZ.1i HS to be customized to each golfer’s preferred lie angle. The length of the riser determines the lie angle at which golfers set up over the ball. The angle of the diagonal shaft still points toward the middle of the putter face, but the straight riser implanted into the heel of the putter face gives golfers the traditional look they seek.
Brian Parks, the vice president of engineering at L.A.B. Golf, said he built 16 different prototypes over the past several years before perfecting the concept. The riser couldn't be too heavy or too light, too long or too short. USGA rules require it to be less than four inches long or the putter would be non-conforming. Which riser fits you makes the concept of custom fitting more important than ever for a L.A.B. putter. The stock model is available for $499, with custom versions starting at $599. Custom fittings can be done by submitting a video of your stroke through the company's website.
I'm the perfect example of a golfer who needed this change. I tested the original OZ.1 putter - developed in collaboration with and inspired by former Masters champion Adam Scott - earlier this year with mixed results. I just couldn't get used to the look of the center shaft standing over the ball, so the putter stayed out of the bag and in the garage.
But I immediately took to the OZ.1i HS (the HS stands for heel shafted) during a custom fitting at L.A.B. Golf's new headquarters at Emerald Valley Golf Club on the outskirts of Eugene. I tested into a putter length (34 inches) similar to my Odyssey gamer at home with a 65-degree riser. The thicker Press Pistol grip, which included L.A.B.'s signature forward press, was new to me but easy to embrace. Picking the color of the grip and head took some thought, but the hardest decision was how many lines to include on the putter head. The number of choices is mind-boggling. I went with a simplistic three-line look, so I could center up the ball between the outer lines with the middle line pointing down my intended line.
Within half an hour, I was playing Emerald Valley with my new putter. I felt comfortable right from the get-go, two-putting from the fringe for par on the first hole. I had two more two-putt pars from the fringes of holes 4 and 5. Unfortunately, they were offset by a handful of three-putts, which could just as easily be attributed to the course's fast, sloping greens. By the end of the round, I was sold. I'm a "die it in the cup" putter, so I really embraced the harder steel plate that adds weight to the front of the putter face and extra ball speed at impact. Every other L.A.B. putter to date has used a softer aluminum face.
I plan to give the OZ.1i HS an extended run over the next year to see where it takes me. It could be a game-changer, not only for me but the legions of golfers who haven't bought a L.A.B. yet.
Behind the scenes at L.A.B. Golf's new headquarters
L.A.B. Golf has never been shy about doing things differently. With the explosive growth of the past four years, finding a more permanent headquarters was paramount. L.A.B.'s 230+ employees are making 15,000 putters a day, Hahn said, and still can't keep up with demand.
The call of Carlsbad, Calif. - the "Silicon Valley" of golf equipment, with many manufacturers calling SoCal home - was compelling. But ultimately, Hahn and his team choose to sign a five-year lease in a large building overlooking Emerald Valley's ninth green. A major renovation has transformed a building once home to a failing health club and several other small businesses into a state-of-the-art research and development facility. Everyday golfers can wander into the top floor to marvel at the massive indoor putting green where custom fittings occur.
Hahn recalls the early days when L.A.B. was just trying to gain market share. "Boy was it a rag tag group of folks," he said. "There were maybe 10 or 12 of us in a factory in Eugene that was a little smaller than this room. It became very clear that if we were going to make it, we were going to have to professionalize."
That day has come. Downstairs, the R&D happens where a swimming pool and saunas were repurposed into open space for testing new design concepts and office space. Touring the back of the house was an eye-opener into just how much work goes into making every putter. All L.A.B. putters, including the OZ.1i HS, are hand-balanced and assembled, passing through up to 10 different stages of craftsmanship before reaching the end of the production process.
"Our stock putters are really custom putters," Hahn said, noting how many people touch every one.
While the launch of the OZ.1i HS - the seventh putter in company history - is big news, all anybody wants to talk about with Hahn these days is the bigger news that L.A.B. Golf was bought by the private equity firm of L Catterton for the hefty sum of a reported $200 million. Hahn said the money was necessary for L.A.B. to take the next step and won't alter the company's core values.
Much of the influx of cash will be reinvested into R&D, so Hahn's team can continue to change the way people think about putting. He acknowledges that some golfers believe L.A.B.'s putters are still too bulky, ugly or expensive. Maybe some day those purported weaknesses can be addressed in new models, just like the center-shafted issue has been solved with the new OZ.1i HS.
"We've done a really good job of making the game easier for a lot of people but not everyone yet," Hahn said.
What are your thoughts about L.A.B. Golf's putters? Let us know in the comments below.
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