LAB Golf DF3 Putter Review

Let me start off by saying I’m legit shocked how much I like the LAB Golf DF3 putter.

Not because I didn’t expect to. In fact it was a top-3 putter for me at a recent Club Champion putter fitting.  At my fitting however I couldn’t get past the unconventional looks and went with a traditional blade.

But after just 18 holes with DF3 today I actually find myself liking the looks A LOT.  And this (completely) has to do with what it did on the course.  The looks are inseparable now from how it performed and felt.

 

So you might already know LAB stands for Lie Angle Balance and I’m telling you the balance (or call it stability if you want) is ridiculously good.  So good in fact that as I was hitting putts I was thinking Lie Angle Booyah in my head.

There’s a lot more going on with DF3 than merely being a center-shafted putter.  And I’m not a fan of those putter shafts in general.  You’re usually getting a face-balanced putter with center shaft and that’s not ideal for my arced swing (and fittings that have shown me I hit putters better that have toe hang).

All that went out the window with DF3.  I hit putts with my normal arc, I hit putts with more exaggerated arc, and I hit putts straight back and straight through and the face consistently (and effortlessly) kept squaring up to the ball and my line.  I haven’t read about LAB technology yet to be honest so don’t know exactly why this happens but it’s straight up wild.

Absolutely and massively consistent delivery to the ball.  And there’s a very prominent sensation and feel between my hands and not just the putter, but the putter face itself.  This putter just squares up and keeps squaring up to the ball and line almost like it has a mind of its own.

There’s a momentum to my stroke with this putter that seems to just happen all by itself.  I’m not trying any harder to have steady hands than I do with any other putter.  DF3 just feels like the head is on rails going back and coming through.

And this feel and delivery is so profound and consistent that I’d say it’s unlike any putter I’ve ever used. I tried to think of examples to describe this sensation and performance and one I thought of was swinging on a swing. We’ve all done that.  You just get your momentum started and the swing takes care of itself.

 

It’s also similar to the sensation of dropping a hammer on a nail. Once you’ve got that downward momentum going with your hammer it’s staying on the path you started it on.  And the DF3 feels similar in that it’s almost impossible to waggle or sway off line going back and coming through. 

The looks? Like I said, unconventional.  It reminds me of some variation of a horseshoe.  It also reminds me of a lightbulb or fraternity Greek alphabet letter.  None of these shapes are what you’d call classic putter shapes.

My wife said it looks like it has training wheels on it, and after laughing about that I found it ironic because yeah the DF3 balance without a doubt helps square your stroke at impact. And as I mentioned earlier because the feel and delivery are so good the shape has now become appealing to me.  For some crazy reason I’m just associating the looks now with the feel and balance and it’s almost addicting.

The DF3 feel is soft (almost insert soft) but still with a solid metal sensation at impact.  And taking feel even further,  it’s not massively heavy for such a big shape, and at the same time it’s not light feeling either.

 

The thing is (again strange to me), I’m not feeling the weight of the putter heavy or light.  I’m feeling the momentum of the putter and the entire stroke just moves and squares up like it’s the only movement it can possibly make.

With all that said (and I know it was a lot), this putter won’t be for everyone. No club in our bags is going to be for everyone. But I’m absolutely certain the LAB Golf DF3 will become an immediate favorite putter for many golfers who just spend 30 or so minutes with it.  It’s something special.