MEMBER REVIEWS: L.A.B. Golf OZ.1 and OZ.1i Putter Member Testing | See What Members Are Saying

[jongalt55]

Update:

 

Played four rounds over the weekend.  Two were in our club's 2-man best ball tournament.  Our club has a really annoying habit of speeding the greens up substantially for tournament play.  One was at another course I don't normally play.  Still gaming the OZ.1 exclusively.

 

I'm still sold on the OZ.1.  It's very solid on short putts--feels very point and shoot.  The heft of the putter makes it feel almost like it swings itself.  Of course I've had a few three putts and I've missed a couple of putts I felt like I should have made.  But I've also been all over the edges of the hole and my lag putting has generally been fairly good.  I do feel like the OZ is an improvement in consistency of line and speed over my prior putters.  And several of the guys I play with have gone out and gotten one as well.

 

Also very impressed with the finish durability.  I got green and it still looks good as new.

 

I think I read somewhere that LAB is third in new putter sales market share right now (behind only Odyssey and Scotty).  If that's true, I can see why...

 

 

[StoutKing]

Mine still feels pretty heavy.  Going to stick with it and not carrying 3 putters in my bag this weekend.  ;)

[Young Money]

Another quick update! I decided to swap the superstroke pistol GT tour for a superstroke tour 1.0 as they're only 2 grams different in weight. My hypothesis was that moving from the pistol shape to the more round, non pistol tour 1.0 would help me keep my hands out of the stroke. Initially results on the practice green are encouraging! I am pulling putts way less and the first two putting sessions I feel much more comfortable starting putts on the line that I'm looking at. 

[jongalt55]

13 hours ago, StoutKing said:

Mine still feels pretty heavy.  Going to stick with it and not carrying 3 putters in my bag this weekend.  😉

Mine is heavy!  But I think that is a good thing...  I was hoping for exactly that when I chose the heavier head, TPT shaft and 128g grip...

 

Did you order the heavier head?  On other LAB models, I've thought the head weight trends a little light.  I think these trend heavier, more so if you go with the heavy head option.

[StoutKing]

7 minutes ago, jongalt55 said:

Mine is heavy!  But I think that is a good thing...  I was hoping for exactly that when I chose the heavier head, TPT shaft and 128g grip...

 

Did you order the heavier head?  On other LAB models, I've thought the head weight trends a little light.  I think these trend heavier, more so if you go with the heavy head option.

Mine is standard weight.  It's 589 with TPT and black rubber grip.  I may put on a lighter grip which would shave off about 25g and increase swing weight.  Curious if anyone has done that.  

[hwwong]

Timely post!

 

 

[Rbsiedsc]

15 minutes ago, hwwong said:

Timely post!

 

 

thanks. i was gonna watch this later but for got. Got me realizing I am using the mirror wrong.

[DKgolfAZ]

Couple more evening 9 hole rounds in.

 

my speed control with this putter is day by day. The set up and changes I’m making only work for so long, and it really doesn’t feel natural to me.

 

While I understand keeping the hands out of putting, I also feel like releasing the putter head and toe flow helps me with speed. Previously I had a slightly longer backswing to follow through and modeled my grip after Cameron Smith… actually tried to model my entire putting stroke after him for well over a year, as it felt natural from the start… so it was mostly tempo and mirror work. My distance control was pretty spot on but I’d occasionally push or pull a putt I shouldn’t have.. now I feel like my follow through is longer with the lab and if I shorten it up it’s just not going where I want or at the speed I want. 

 

3-5’ putts felt so much easier with toe flow.

 

a 4’ breaking downhill out is my worst enemy with the lab. I’ll have a 5’ come back putt or pull the putt if I try to have light touch. These are the putts I’ve been practicing the most over the last month, 4-5’ sliders. I see the putts dying into the hole, but I just can’t do that with this putter. Definitely have to take out break and bang her home. Problem is it mentally messes with me because of the multiple harder  come back putts it’s caused me.

 

I played one of the 9’s with my Toulon Austin after a not so great putting performance … and the lag putting and short 2nd putts are just more natural. My start lines weren’t as good, but the pace was. I think I lost a stroke or so in the 6-10’ range, but all but 1 lag putt was a easy tap in 2 putt… the other was just a really hard 60’ downhill putt and it would have been a likely 3 putt regardless…. Bean shaped green par 3 and I was wrong side of a front tucked pin as I pushed the ball and it didn’t draw.

 

I am not giving up on it yet, but man I’ve lost feel I used to have. Going to take a small break and re-assess.

Edited May 22 by DKgolfAZ

[Rbsiedsc]

Bringing the Oz into a tournament Saturday. Fingers crossed it holds up well

[DKgolfAZ]

1 minute ago, Rbsiedsc said:

Bringing the Oz into a tournament Saturday. Fingers crossed it holds up well

Good luck!

[Rbsiedsc]

Update from the tournament. SG putting wasn’t great but much better than prior rounds. I had a lot more one putts from mid range. Didn’t pull any putts. Had some silly three putts still, some because of the condition of the greens (soft like carpet, couldn’t feel the break some some holes were not getting clean rolls at all, lots of bouncing) and struggling to get a gauge on the speed on a couple (the other guys on my foursome had similar struggles). For the most part, my lag putting with it was really good. Overall very impressed. I used this from some thicker rough around the green where a wedge is be worried about blading it and where the df2.1 would not have been possible to use. 

[CanFred]

Just now, Rbsiedsc said:

Update from the tournament. SG putting wasn’t great but much better than prior rounds. I had a lot more one putts from mid range. Didn’t pull any putts. Had some silly three putts still, some because of the condition of the greens (soft like carpet, couldn’t feel the break some some holes were not getting clean rolls at all, lots of bouncing) and struggling to get a gauge on the speed on a couple (the other guys on my foursome had similar struggles). For the most part, my lag putting with it was really good. Overall very impressed. I used this from some thicker rough around the green where a wedge is be worried about blading it and where the df2.1 would not have been possible to use. 

Thanks for the update - was curious how the Oz performs on shots off the green. Sounds like it’s going a bit better than the 2.1, which makes sense given the shape / footprint. 

[Rbsiedsc]

7 minutes ago, ChrisATL said:

Thanks for the update - was curious how the Oz performs on shots off the green. Sounds like it’s going a bit better than the 2.1, which makes sense given the shape / footprint. 

Most definitely. I feel 100% more comfortable putting off the green now through a few feet of rough. It has helped my short game a lot. 

[CanFred]

Heard - I’ve done the same with my DF3 but have messed up a couple shots bc of the footprint getting held up in the rough. 

[Rbsiedsc]

5 minutes ago, ChrisATL said:

Heard - I’ve done the same with my DF3 but have messed up a couple shots bc of the footprint getting held up in the rough. 

Yup exactly. As well the foot print of the Oz works great on side slopes whether on the green or not. I found issues with the DF on those kinds of shots too. 

[Rory4Pres]

Well, I'm still on my Lab Oz.1i hiatus.  Haven't touched it in a couple weeks and I've noticed my gamer (lajosi blade) has started performing well again.  I think tinkering between the two messed up my game.  Yesterday I made all of my shorter putts and had great speed control.  

 

While I haven't touched my Oz.1i in a couple weeks, I did get to roll a couple putts with a buddy's oz.1i with the steel shaft and I was very impressed.  It felt substantially better than my GEARS shaft does.  I may need a few more rolls with it but am considering buying a new steel shaft and installing that in replacement of the GEARS.  I'm kind of on the border on that idea since I've been hemorrhaging money on countless other club projects.  Could be fun.  I'll ponder the idea in the coming months.

[jjthomp2]

My Oz.1i was delivered this week and took out last night for 9 holes. Man, I love it! Super happy with my purchase

[Rbsiedsc]

An 18 hole round again back on some faster greens with more break. My SG was poor but that was because I missed a couple short putts i under read. Otherwise today was a good day by eye. Made a few within the 6-10' range and I am hitting start lines well. I tracked my putting a little closer and the majority of my misses were due to misreads (mostly under reading) and some just because i didn't hit the put hard enough, which is on me. Safe to say this putter is likely going to stay in the bag. Now the question is should I offload my DF2.1?

[wagz2423]

On 4/11/2025 at 10:01 PM, dam276 said:

Finally back home after a ridiculous week. As it pertains to the putter, all I can say is I’m impressed.

 

As others alluded to, there are definitely some changes required. A few things I’ve noticed after a week with my new LAB:

 

1. Let the putter do the work

I know we’ve all heard the adage, but the reality is as a left-brained golfer I really never could. I’ve always worked on path, alignment, setup, etc, religiously in an effort to perfect my stroke. With the OZ I have complete confidence the only thing that could possibly go wrong is on my read, provided I don’t try and manipulate my stroke. 
 

2. Counterbalanced putters are a different animal

I did not appreciate how much a fitting would change my outlook here. I’ve posted some charts below from my out of the box 5-7 footer testing, but after spending some time, adjusting for ball position was key. The initial reaction to moving the ball forward was to create little to no forward spin, but after a few practice sessions I’m at a point where I’m consistently starting with forward roll and hitting my line.

 

3. Lighter grip pressure is key

one of the things Sam talked about in my chat with him was the “thumbs off” drill. Allowing the putter to just do its thing for me has lead to a much lighter grip pressure than I’m used to. 
 

Here’s a quick look at the out of the box results for my custom OZ (37”, 71*, TPT) compared to my gamer Scotty 5.5 (34”,70*), a stock Link.1 (steel) and a stock OZ CB (Accra):

 

 

After some setup work, I was able to get the custom OZ rolling immediately and consistently:

 

Looking forward to more reps at lag pitting and a few more rounds on the course.

So no offense here because it could be someone else’s  but did WRX really give away an OZ to someone who already has one? Pretty sure game is rigged but just curious 

[DKgolfAZ]

After a couple rounds of rolling a blade again, I can say a few things…

 

I believe in the LAB tech for putting a ball on line.

 

I don’t think it’s for everyone. I do think it’s for most, however.

 

I couldn’t get my distance control down. It presented mostly on putts 3-5’ and 15-25’.. the 6-12 feet range was REALLY good. But I just didn’t have the same “feel” for distance compared to something with toe flow.

 

One of the factors was grip size. I had to change my grip, and it presented a few problems in conjunction with the weight of the putter head. Either my follow through was longer than my backstroke, or I’d grip the club really hard and have zero touch for short putts.

 

I don’t naturally see the fast pace line, so I’d put a 5’ on the high side for a 4-5’ putt come back pretty regularly. Kinda created its own version of the yips for me, and I’d start to pull a putt to the low side. It only presented itself in makable short putts.

 

I’ve noticed I have a great deal more finesse with toe flow and a paddle style grip. A blade I tried with a short slant (cam style) neck might have been the most natural feeling putter I’ve ever rolled and I will be trying that next.

 

If I were to do it over, I’d get a counterbalance OZ1i to try out. I just couldn’t get that mechanical with my stroke.

 

The OZ1i with TPT was, by far, the best feeling mallet I’ve used. The sound and feel off the face is incredible. I may go back to it in the future, but for now, it’s out of the bag.

[dam276]

16 hours ago, wagz2423 said:

So no offense here because it could be someone else’s  but did WRX really give away an OZ to someone who already has one? Pretty sure game is rigged but just curious 

2 comments:

 

1. This is the first time I’ve been selected for any giveaway having been on the site for almost 20 years. If it’s rigged then I’m doing it wrong.

 

2. No, I went out and bought it myself when I found out I’d won. My thought was to provide some contrast for a fitted versus stock version.
 

To bring it full circle, I sold the stock version on the BST for 1/2 of full retail (which is what I gladly paid). Your comment is what I get for trying to spread some of the wealth I guess..

[Rory4Pres]

1 hour ago, dam276 said:

2 comments:

 

1. This is the first time I’ve been selected for any giveaway having been on the site for almost 20 years. If it’s rigged then I’m doing it wrong.

 

2. No, I went out and bought it myself when I found out I’d won. My thought was to provide some contrast for a fitted versus stock version.
 

To bring it full circle, I sold the stock version on the BST for 1/2 of full retail (which is what I gladly paid). Your comment is what I get for trying to spread some of the wealth I guess..

 

 

Respect!

Edited May 30 by Rory4Pres

[GolfWRX_Official]

On 5/29/2025 at 7:51 PM, wagz2423 said:

So no offense here because it could be someone else’s  but did WRX really give away an OZ to someone who already has one? Pretty sure game is rigged but just curious 

Thanks for being concerned about this and glad it got cleared up. With that being said, I think you all would be surprised with how much work goes into picking the testers for every initiative. 

[gator022]

Another update from me as an official tester....

 

I've stayed the course and it's been worth it.  I still don't have a ton of time to practice and play.  Most of my play is with my wife and then 5 & & YO kids.  But, my putting is improved with my @labgolf Oz CB putter.  I don't have super detailed stats like some of the other testers, but my HC is hovering around 10.2 index right now.  Far from the 7.5 last fall.  My putting wasn't great and I was regularly over 36 putts per round.  The last two weeks I'm 33-35 putts per round over 5 rounds of golf.  I don't know the last time I missed a 4-6 foot putt.  Even in the 7-8 foot range I am making more than I'm missing.  Once you get the ball position (big key - watch the Lab videos) and speed down it's the easiest putter to putt with I've owned.  Coming from the Odyssey Jailbird Cruiser to this is just great.  I loved the Jailbird, but now I love this putter.  My wife even wants a @labgolf putter now too!  She doesn't like the heavier weight of mine due to the CB and upgraded shaft, but I can see her getting fit sometime soon and ordering a one.  If you have questions, ask away.  Get fit more than anything!

[huskertj]

Love my LAB putter.  

[Rbsiedsc]

28 minutes ago, gator022 said:

Another update from me as an official tester....

 

I've stayed the course and it's been worth it.  I still don't have a ton of time to practice and play.  Most of my play is with my wife and then 5 & & YO kids.  But, my putting is improved with my @labgolf Oz CB putter.  I don't have super detailed stats like some of the other testers, but my HC is hovering around 10.2 index right now.  Far from the 7.5 last fall.  My putting wasn't great and I was regularly over 36 putts per round.  The last two weeks I'm 33-35 putts per round over 5 rounds of golf.  I don't know the last time I missed a 4-6 foot putt.  Even in the 7-8 foot range I am making more than I'm missing.  Once you get the ball position (big key - watch the Lab videos) and speed down it's the easiest putter to putt with I've owned.  Coming from the Odyssey Jailbird Cruiser to this is just great.  I loved the Jailbird, but now I love this putter.  My wife even wants a @labgolf putter now too!  She doesn't like the heavier weight of mine due to the CB and upgraded shaft, but I can see her getting fit sometime soon and ordering a one.  If you have questions, ask away.  Get fit more than anything!

I agree with this sentiment even though my SG don't reflect it. I was messing around on the short course. Not taking it too seriously as I had my kiddo with. I didn't even hit the putting green before hand and nearly holed out some long putts (30' and about 25' downhill that lipped out).

[DTorres]

On 5/29/2025 at 4:51 PM, wagz2423 said:

So no offense here because it could be someone else’s  but did WRX really give away an OZ to someone who already has one? Pretty sure game is rigged but just curious 

  Definitely not rigged, I was selected for my first test when I was a newish member(less than a couple months) with minimal posts and reputation. Most of my post prior to being selected were fairly technical and I asked a lot of questions and was very helpful to others asking questions, I am also an ex engineer, machinist and WLD competitor. I also put a lot of effort into my Apply Now post and I believe for those reasons I was selected. When you are selected, @GolfWRX_Officialnotes that if you put effort into the review it will help towards your chances at further reviews. I did a massive initial impressions post, hit every detail you possibly could, Always respond to questions and requests, even bought extra shafts for the driver and have regularly updated with videos, pictures and Trackman data. I believe for that reason I was selected for a second review. I’m a gear junkie so doing reviews is one of my favorite things so I really put effort into the nitty gritty, I even tracked down the forging company for the last set of irons I tested. I’m roughly 7-8 months into my GolfWRX tenure, reviewed two products and have added to 3 other products I wasn’t selected for because I’m a gear junkie and I bought them anyway. At this point I have over 700 post and 1k rep. So there will always be a good reason why you see people regularly testing equipment, like @jongalt55 he has reviewed a few products himself and even though I don’t always agree with every opinion he has the man is detailed and I love his input. You would probably be surprised at how many people get selected and their involvement with the review slowly trickles off, which is why I suspect they will likely not be selected again.
 I like and appreciate @dam276 approach by spending some extra money to comparing apples to apples to see which is his flavor and add extra context for people that don’t have the option to invest to test. Thorough testing/reviewing is an expensive passion play unless you are paid to do it.

 

[gator022]

45 minutes ago, Rbsiedsc said:

I agree with this sentiment even though my SG don't reflect it. I was messing around on the short course. Not taking it too seriously as I had my kiddo with. I didn't even hit the putting green before hand and nearly holed out some long putts (30' and about 25' downhill that lipped out).

 

Good to hear.  It's not earth shattering improvement for me either.  But, if in 5 out of 10 rounds I can pickup 2-3 putts per round that's a benefit.

[Rbsiedsc]

9 minutes ago, gator022 said:

 

Good to hear.  It's not earth shattering improvement for me either.  But, if in 5 out of 10 rounds I can pickup 2-3 putts per round that's a benefit.

agreed. the really nice benefit is when i miss the green and get it close, I have a lot more confidence of it going in. Take into account the lag putting as well and its a win-win.

[dam276]

8 hours ago, Rbsiedsc said:

agreed. the really nice benefit is when i miss the green and get it close, I have a lot more confidence of it going in. Take into account the lag putting as well and its a win-win.

Exactly this. I’ve kept a stroke or so off my index since I switched, but the confidence is way up. I just don’t dread the green the way I have for 20 years.
 

Also need a referral code for @labgolf - I’ve had 4 new converts in buddies who have watched me putt like a chimp on meth for the last couple decades 😆

Edited June 3 by dam276