LAB Golf DF3 Putter
It’s no secret that the LAB Golf Directed Force 2.1 is by far one of the weirdest looking putters that the game has ever seen. So much so, LAB Golf doesn’t even try to runaway from it. They wear it with pride! The thing is, that branding iron, bottle opener shape of a goofy putter is one of the most forgiving and easiest swingin’ putters that the game has ever seen as well. Say what you will about how it looks, but it sure as hell works. So much so that many players were demanding a version of this putter form LAB Golf that looks “a little less weird”. The delivered product is the LAB Golf DF3 putter – a smaller and sleeker profile that maintains all of the benefits of the original as well as honoring its unique shape.
The Looks
As you can see in the picture above, the LAB Golf DF3 is considerably smaller than the original DF 2.1. The lines are, as LAB puts it, a bit more chiseled. I would say the lines are more squared off and not as soft as the 2.1. You can see the hole in the rear of the putter is a circle rather than the curved “parenthesis” shape found in the DF 2.1. There’s no question that it’s still an extremely unique look that really stands out, but I do find it to be much less daunting when I’m standing over the DF3. The DF3 just looks much more user friendly before you even begin to take the putter back.
LAB Golf is offering a wide range of custom options in the DF3 putter. First and foremost is the finish color. Something about this green and white combo really screamed out at me, but there are seven other colors to choose from including a basic black if you’re not looking to make such a bold statement. You can also choose between THIRTY-THREE alignment marker options! If you can’t find something you like…I don’t know what to tell you. You’ll even have some color options depending on which of 5 shaft options you choose from.
How Does it Feel?
As one should come to expect from LAB Golf at this point, the DF3 putter was incredibly well balanced and very natural to swing. I will point out that it does take some slight adjustment to get used to some of the putter’s unique “eccentricities”, such as where the shaft meets the club head and the “natural forward press” angle of the shaft into the grip. Once you get through that adjustment, the putter feels so smooth and almost like it’ll just do all the work for you. I did struggle to get a feel for longer distance putts, but that eventually came over time. There’s a little bit of pop off of the face so the ball has no problem getting going on its way. I’m not saying the ball flies off of the face necessarily, but getting the ball to the hole won’t be a problem.
Feedback from the DF3’s face is very precise and ultra clean. Not only is the putter forgiving from a “lack of torque” perspective so the putter doesn’t want to twist during the stroke, but the sweet spot is one of the most generous I’ve seen in a putter. Even significant mishits won’t suffer much distance loss, if any at all. It’s genuinely very impressive how forgiving it is.
Keep in mind that shaft and grip choice will impact the DF3’s feel quite a bit. I’ve used the Accra for LAB Golf shaft on my last few LAB putters and I’ve really enjoyed it. I takes a lot of vibration out of impact without sacrificing awareness. For grip, I went with a textured Press pistol grip and I’m really liking how it feels in my hands. Just feels like a great accompaniment to this putter.
How Does it Sound?
Soft and muted. If you closed your eyes and just listened to the LAB Golf DF3, you’d have no idea one of the wackiest looking putters in golf just struck a ball. A well struck putt makes a clean, muted “tick” at impact. Should you REALLY hit the ball at the very ends of the face, it can get a little tuning fork-ish. The good news with the DF3, it’s genuinely difficult to not find the generous sweet spot as long as you don’t swing the club like a crazy person. Even in that case, you still have a pretty good chance you’ll still find the sweet spot.
On-Course Performance
I think my very first putt with the LAB Golf DF3 putter was on the first hole of a round with starting temperatures of 36ºF. I hit an ok tee shot that surprised me, a bad second shot, and a chip that left me somewhere around 25 feet. With low expectations for my first putt with this alien putter, I stepped up with very little more than quickly picking a target. Sure enough, I made the putt and everyone cordially acknowledged the situation.
On the second hole, a similar circumstance was taking place, except this time the putt was about 14 feet. Once again, I made the putt and more cordial group acknowledgement of doing it twice in a row. This would happen a few more times throughout the day in addition to a handful of near makes at long ranges. There was certainly something to be said for what I was seeing out of a putter I’ve never used before.
I found if I just kept my eye on the ball and trusted the putter to do the work, it really would just do the work. No fighting it to keep it on line. No fighting it to keep it from twisting around too much. Just line up correctly and commit to the putt. The DF3 seemed to have no trouble handling the rest.
One last performance note about the DF3 that I absolutely fell in love with is the “ball pick up”. The hole in the back of the head just so happens to fit a golf ball and you can see there’s a taper in that circle. You can just pop it over your golf ball and pick it up! Not the first time a putter has done that, but I still love it so much.
Final Thoughts – LAB Golf DF3 Putter
When I look at what LAB Golf set out to do with the DF3 putter, I have to give them credit for delivering. I think the original DF 2.1 really is a revolutionary putter in terms of design, balance, and forgiveness, but it was just too difficult to adjust to on so many levels. It was like swinging a comically oversized spaceship putter head at the end of a stick. Even if you tried to just focus on the ball the whole time, you just couldn’t take your eyes off of it.
Honestly, it was just too much to overcome no matter how much time I gave it to win me over. So much so, my expectations for the DF3 were certainly influenced by that experience with the DF 2.1. I expected this to be a review of jokes about a wacky putter that had performance merits, but just wasn’t for me. But that’s not what happened…
I really enjoyed my experience with the LAB Golf DF3 putter. Honestly, I like it more than any of their other putters I’ve tested. The new smaller profile isn’t distracting every single second of the stroke and you can concentrate on just hitting a good putt. My feel and control were almost as good as my gamer which I’ve been 100% confident in for the past year. And that was with less than 30 putts of experience. The DF3 really is a great putter. So much so, now that I’m a mallet player, the DF3 will absolutely be on deck for when I need to change things up a bit.
