LA Golf Putter Review - An Evolution in Putter Design and Performance

The new LA Golf putter could mark a new era in putter design and performance.  It's the first putter ever made with an all carbon head, and claims of a larger sweet spot deliver as advertised.

In fact the LA Golf putter delivers on so many performance benefits it might re-invent your game on the greens.  It's the kind of putter you can trust and even completely fall in love with.

By now you probably already know the LA Golf putter costs $1,500.  And if you're going to spend $1,500 on a putter it damn well better be something special.  And this one is.

It starts with the construction.  More than 400 layers of carbon composite (the same material used in graphite shafts) are milled into the final head shape.  And this carbon material allows the head to be extremely lightweight compared to other traditional steels and materials used in designing putters.

This light weight allows LA Golf to make the size of the putter big.  Really big actually.  Two tungsten weights are then positioned low and in the toe and heel areas (you can choose two 70 gran or two 90 gram weights). And together the larger size and extreme perimeter weighting creates a very large sweet spot and very significant stability.

Think of taking an athletic stance maybe in football preparing to make a tackle.  Legs are wide, shoulders squared, and weight is low and centered.  This is the kind of stability the LA Golf putter gives you.  On putts hit off-center toe and heel balls rolled straight on my intended line with nearly identical distance as perfectly struck putts.  It's damn impressive.

And going back to the size again, this LA Golf putter reminds me a lot of the size of the putter Jack used to win the 1986 Masters.  I usually prefer a smaller shaped putter, but after just a few putts something about the larger size actually became extremely pleasing, even confidence inspiring.  Standing over the ball with this LA Golf putter makes me believe my ball will go in the hole rather than just hope it goes in. 

When you pick up the LA Golf putter for the first time it feels light.  In addition to having an all carbon head, the LA Golf shaft is a wide diameter, lightweight graphite shaft and honestly at first I thought the putter was going to be too light.

But a really interesting thing about this is when I set it down and putted with it the very first time, it felt solid and very weighted.  So much so I grabbed a few other of my putters to compare, and the LA Golf putter feels almost identical in terms of swing weight to my SIK Golf DW2 and Scotty Cameron Squareback 2 putters.

 

What I love maybe most about the LA Golf putter however is the sensation it creates between my hands and the putter head.  Yes you can feel the lighter overall weight, but something about the grip, shaft, and head all feel proportionate, almost as if it's an extension of my hands.

With the LA Golf putter I feel a strong sense of my hands not only controlling the head and movement of the stroke, but also a feeling like my hands are actually connected to the head.  Maybe that's the putter stability, maybe this is just a subjective feel.  But this heightened sense of connection makes controlling the putter as easy and precise as writing with a pencil or simply throwing a ball with my hand.  It's extremely satisfying.

Being an all carbon putter the feel at impact is different than a putter made of solid steel, but not in the way I would have expected.  I was honestly expecting the carbon head to feel something like plastic, but that's not the case at all.  The LA Golf putter has a solid and deep feeling very much like steel, but it's a lighter, less dense feeling than steel.  On shorter putts the LA Golf putter feel is almost indistinguishable from solid steel putters.  On longer putts the LA Golf putter feels more muted with more click than steel.

The face uses SIK Golf's DLT (descending loft technology).  And I've talked a lot about this in previous SIK Golf putter reviews.  DLT is legit and arguably the best face technology on the market today creating exceptional distance control.

Using descending lofts from 4 degrees at the top of the face to 1 degree at the bottom, you get a consistent roll on the ball no matter where you hit it on the face.  So for example if you come into the ball with a forward press (which can smother the ball into the turf), DLT has more loft on the top still to roll the ball instead of driving it into the ground.  Conversely if you come into the ball with an upward angle, DLT has less loft at the bottom to prevent a bouncy roll and instead keep it smooth like a square delivery.

Opinions will vary on the LA Golf putter finish.  For some I'm sure it will be too much.  For me the swirls remind me of Damascus steel and even creates a calming affect.  Being an all carbon head I'm not sure about the durability of the finish.  But I've had mine now a few months and as you can see from the photos looks as good as new.  I do wipe mine down after each round with a little baby oil.

And there you have it.  Obviously I love my LA Golf putter.  The stability is exceptional, distance control second to none, and the sensation of connection between putter head and hands makes me as confident as I can be standing over any putt.  Yes I still have to read lines and judge speeds of greens, but when I do that well the LA Golf putter is incredibly forgiving and accurate.

The first thing almost everyone is going to think of with the LA Golf putter is price.  Some might say the price is justified because it's a premium head like a Scotty or Piretti and it comes with a premium shaft.  I think the best justification for the LA Golf putter is after you hit it the first time you're not thinking about the price.  The only thing you're thinking about is the absolutely incredible performance you get putt after putt after putt.