L.A.B. Golf Putters: Tour Turbo-Charged

The folks at L.A.B. Golf Putters have something to tell you. It may or may not come as a surprise but, since you’re reading a #datacratic website, the numbers tell an undeniable story:

If your putter has success on the PGA TOUR, it doesn’t matter what it looks like.   

And for that, you can thank Lucas Glover and his trusty L.A.B. Mezz with the broomstick shaft.

“It’s been nuts,” says L.A.B. Putters owner and CEO Sam Hahn. “Anybody who kind of half-heard about us now all of a sudden is really paying attention.”

The post-Glover glow is shaking things up at L.A.B. Golf. Orders are pouring in and the company is growing. In other words, this six-year-old (more or less) company finally has become an “overnight sensation.”

But whether this little company that makes funny-bordering-on-ridiculous-looking putters is here to stay or whether it’s just another fad remains an open and fascinating question.

L.A.B. Golf Putters: How Did We Get Here?

We’ve detailed L.A.B.’s back story before, so we won’t belabor the details. The short version is that it all started with Bill Presse’s original Directed Force putter, aka The Putter Formerly Known as Prince. As a product, the Directed Force wasn’t just outside the box. It had never even been formally introduced to the box. It was different, huge and, to most golfers, hideous.

But for anyone who gave it a chance, the technology was undeniable.

“We’re not the first company in history to have done something like this,” says Hahn. “The OG putter innovator Karsten Solheim had virtually the exact same experience. When the Anser first came out, people laughed at him.”

We all know how that turned out.

But Glover’s remarkable run, plus seeing L.A.B. Golf putters in the hands of Adam Scott, Michael Kim and Grayson Murray is bringing L.A.B. – dare I say it – into the putting mainstream.

“The validation is really nice. I can’t lie,” says Hahn. “The number of times in a given week I’d have to answer social media comments saying, ‘If it’s so good, how come nobody on Tour is using it?’ It’s nice that I don’t have to answer that question anymore.”

Why Tour Validation Matters

Golfers tend to fall loosely into two categories. There are those who will admit that Tour usage matters to them and those who won’t. That doesn’t mean golfers will only buy Tour-validated equipment. But the fact that companies that dominate Tour play also dominate equipment sales suggests it can’t hurt.

And that’s why Glover’s run led to some Holy S**t! moments at L.A.B.

“We were as prepared as we could have been,” Hahn says. “Obviously, you can’t hire enough staff to accommodate 20,000 orders while you’ve only been doing 5,000. You just have to grab hold and do your best.”

History has plenty of cautionary tales of overnight success. Payne Stewart’s 1999 U.S. Open win was simultaneously the best and worst thing that ever happened to Seemore Putters. The company couldn’t keep up with new demand and wound up with an avalanche of canceled orders. Go further back to 1986 and the phenomenon of Nicklaus winning the Masters with his MacGregor ZT-Response. Nearly the entire MacGregor factory shifted into full-time putter-making mode.

“We knew this was going to happen eventually,” Hahn says. “Because golfers are, while relatively closed-minded, stubborn and unchanging, as soon as they see something happen on TV, they want the next best thing.”

One thing that kept circumstances reasonably under control for L.A.B. was that Glover was using a broomstick model rather than a conventional one. If it had been a conventional length Mezz or Directed Force, things would have gotten completely out of hand.

“It also helped that it happened in August and not in June,” Hahn adds. “The season was kind of winding down and there was some relief.”

The Evolution of “What’s Acceptable”

Even Hahn will admit the Directed Force 2.1 is a goofy-looking putter. The Mezz and Link putters are considerably more conventional-looking but they are, uhhh, distinct. Is L.A.B. Golf Putters’ sudden leap into the mainstream a sign that golfers are starting to broaden their horizons as to what’s acceptable looking?

Hahn, surprisingly, doesn’t think so.

“The psychology remains the same but the scenario is different,” he says. “It used to be if I got that putter in front of 10 people, two would give it a shot. The other eight are going to prioritize vanity or familiarity.

“Now it’s 2,000 out of 10,000 or 20,000 out of 100,000. And now your buddy is seeing you make putts and, all of a sudden, it’s not so different. Picking up a Directed Force now isn’t an act of open-mindedness. It’s a calculated decision based on what you’re seeing with your own eyes.”

More people means more anecdotal data. If you’re old enough, you probably remember the shampoo commercial about one user with clean, shiny hair telling two people who then tell two more people who then tell two more people. It’s the compound interest of word of mouth.

“We knew it was going to be like this,” says Hahn. “We knew we had an uphill battle and we knew we needed to catch a couple of lucky breaks.

There’s Mold Breaking and Then There’s L.A.B. Golf Putters Mold Breaking

Golfers have been looking for the magic putter ever since Scottish shepherds started rolling rocks into rabbit holes. We’ve evolved from the 8802 to the Anser to the 2-Ball to the Spider. And in each evolution, all it took was holing a couple of 30-footers to go from “I’ll never put that ugly-ass putter in my bag” to “You’ll have to pry this out of my cold, dead hands.”

We golfers are an interesting bunch.

“It’s very difficult for a golfer to recognize progress on the greens,” says Hahn. “The Anser, the 2-Ball, those universally produced good enough results that they were noticeable. And everybody and their mother went out and bought one.”

We golfers are very good at rationalizing anything. The very same golfers who ask, “If something is so good, why isn’t anyone on Tour using it?” will, in the very next breath, insist that it’s the archer, not the arrow.

“The results are different enough that you can notice it,” Hahn explains. “You’re noticing that ‘Holy shit, I made two 30-footers today’ or ‘I didn’t miss inside six feet.’ Those are quantifiable.”

Facts, as John Adams once said, are stubborn things.

L.A.B. Golf Putters: Preparing for the Next Big Wave

A little over a year ago, L.A.B. Golf Putters was a cozy little 26-person company. With the recent growth, the company expects to have more than 80 employees by the end of the year as Hahn prepares for L.A.B.’s next big leap.

“There are still a ton of people who have absolutely no idea who we are,” Hahn says. “Out of every 100 golfers, you might see a Directed Force or Mezz here or there but you’ll see an Odyssey everywhere.

“We’re still a secret to the golfing civilian, if you will.”

Anyone in business will tell you that sudden success is both coveted and feared. You love the orders but you’re terrified of fill rates. And you can’t just snap your fingers and have 40,000 putters on the shelf. It just doesn’t work that way.

Which is why you have to be prepared.

“One of the things that helps us is people know we custom build everything by hand,” says Hahn. “Even when demand is low, it’s a three- to four-week lead time. Customers tend to be a little more patient with us than they’d be with a major OEM.”

As the old saying goes, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. L.A.B. has seen other putter companies learn the hard way and is taking steps not to repeat the same mistakes. For example, Hahn says the company is building redundancy into its manufacturing processes and has multiple sources for all of its components.

“We’re planning for the inevitability of more Tour wins and more validation,” he says. “There will be more validation and there will be more demand. As much as anybody can be ready, we’re ready.”