In this 105th episode of the Pull Hook Golf podcast, host Matt Cook sits down with Sam Hahn, CEO of L.A.B. Golf, to dive deep into the origins and technology behind the company’s unique approach to putters. The episode opens with Matt expressing his excitement about the technology that L.A.B. Golf brings to the table and its impact on the golfing community.
Sam Hahn shares his unexpected journey into the golf industry, starting from his days as a theater and music enthusiast to becoming a devout student and later an innovator in the sport. The narrative unfolds the intriguing story of how he discovered L.A.B. Golf’s putter, fell in love with its performance, and decided to take a leap into the industry to enhance and expand its reach.
About the Guest(s):
Sam Hahn is the CEO of L.A.B. Golf, a company that has been revolutionizing the golfing industry with its innovative technology in putters. Coming from a background where theater and music were his mainstays, Sam’s foray into golf began as a pastime with his dog at a local golf course, which quickly turned into a passion for the sport. In a few short years, he ascended from a novice golfer to a scratch player. His obsession with every facet of golf, especially equipment tinkering, led him to encounter the groundbreaking lie angle balance technology by inventor Bill Presse. Sam’s profound experience with the Lab Golf putter motivated him to partner with the inventor and rebrand the company, committing to change golfers’ experiences on the greens through L.A.B. Golf’s offerings.
Key Takeaways:
– Sam Hahn’s transition from a scratch golfer to golf industry innovator was spurred by his quest for a consistently performing putter.
– The unique lie angle balance technology and the challenges of balancing putters in manufacturing.
– The influence of notable tour professionals like Adam Scott and Vaughn Taylor in popularizing the L.A.B. Golf putters.
– L.A.B. Golf’s struggles and triumphs in gaining traction in the competitive market of golf equipment.
– Insights into Sam’s views on Live Golf and how the industry is evolving with this new entrant.
Resources:
L.A.B. Golf Website: labgolf.com
Swannies Golf 25% Off using PullHookGolf25 at Checkout (https://swannies.co)
Tune into the full episode to delve into the world of innovative golf technology with Sam Hahn and explore how L.A.B. Golf is making strides in the industry. For more engaging conversations and insights into the game, stay subscribed to Pull Hook Golf.
Welcome back everybody to pull hook golf the podcast I’m your host Matt Cook and tonight we’ve got an awesome guest that I am pumped about getting into his background his story the company and so forth the technology because tonight we’ve got the CEO of lab golf Sam Hanan
With us and uh before we get into really the interview itself I’d just like to give a quick little shout out to swanes which by the way this Camden hoodie this thing is unbelievable folks make sure to utilize promo code P hook golf 25 at checkout to get 25% off your entire
Order I saw these out there at the waste management open today and uh they got the white ones with the WM on there I’m like oh man swanes you got to hook this up for me so looking forward to uh getting that Ally if you’re listening uh
Make sure to give me the white one in a large absolutely love it thank you uh but yeah folks make sure to take advantage of that promo code once again it is po hook golf 25 and welcome to the show Sam how are you man I’m bitching
How are you ah I’m absolutely feeling great I’ve been looking forward to this because as soon as I posted that initial um talking about how we’re going to have you on the show tonight and everything all of a sudden I got a flood of DMS of
People going hey this is awesome I’m so pumped that you got Sam on want to know about this technology been looking at a lab putter for so long this is so cool so folks for all of those listening whether you’re on uh millions. Co which
We are live on as well as Twitter or X I always kind of mix those two up now I don’t know what the hell to call it because if you say x do people actually know what the hell you’re talking about I don’t know but that being said we’re
Also on YouTube live so make sure to put in the comments any questions you have for us for the end and I will save that at the end with Sam but Sam let’s get into your journey man because I want to get to know Sam Han I want to get to
Know you you’re the Golf Nut um I saw that on the website I’m like man I’ve been following you guys from day one when I saw this crazy putter come out but I want to know about you and your journey when did it start into
Golf um so I I played when I was when I was young my dad taught me how to play um played a little bit when I was like young young and then uh uh my dad joined a club when I was I think like a freshman in high school
Sophomore in high school something like that played a little more but I never really I didn’t like get into it into it I certainly I wasn’t competitive at all or anything like that um I I played uh I think one month on my junior varsity high school team my sophomore year but I
Was a lot more into theater and music and stuff like that and uh it was actually music that brought me out west I grew up in Chicago um and then uh landed in Eugene uh Eugene Oregon and uh and my girlfriend at the time and I got a dog and uh right next
To our house there was a dog friendly golf course so I um had my folks send out my my clubs and I just started playing as an excuse to to walk him around and uh and then um few weeks into doing that I met like uh sort of I don’t know like-minded
Hippie Stoner golfer type that was like really good um so somebody I could play with and learn from um and uh and then so at the time I was uh I had a hard time breaking 90 um would break 90 every once in a while and then just went like
Full Tilt um and I was a scratch player two years later um holy cow you did go Full Tilt yeah yeah I went uh I I I worked at night so you know I had nothing nothing but time during the day I was playing 18 36 sometimes more every
Single day I watched every single golf broadcast Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday um read books took lessons did everything I I really um became a devout student of the game um and uh yeah then um you know Eugene or or or Orin golf’s pretty pretty relaxed there’s not not a
Whole bunch of golfers and um scen in generals you know affordable um and uh relaxed and um courses are generally pretty quiet and so I really got into it um L where I played in Eugene’s a a n hole course um that uh there there is
Not a flat lie on the entire Golf Course um teeny tiny little greens and crazy Hills and big trees and um so it’s a you know in retrospect I didn’t really know the difference um but in retrospect it was you know a huge piece of of you know
Kind of my style of play and um uh and and really learning how to play a particular brand of golf and um yeah I just kept getting better and better and even though I was a scratch player a couple years later I wasn’t like a real scratch player I couldn’t travel you
Know and and and you know show up as a zero and and and win any money so I you know kept kept trying to get better and better and better and um I was into every single facet of the game um including equipment I really really enjoyed equipment um always tinkering
Always around with stuff um particularly with the putters um I was I was super nutty with the putters what’s the strongest part of your game uh probably I mean uh I’m I’m you know as one would hope uh really good butter um I’m I’m an exceptional putter
But uh that wasn’t the case pre pre-lab um I would say shop making um you know on account of the the crazy courses that you know play around here 150 foot tall fur trees everywhere and um kind of tight Fairways you got to you got to recover um so yeah pretty good ball
Striker pretty good shot maker very poor driver of the golf ball longish um shorter and shorter every year as I get older and um sucks but uh yeah that’s how that goes but yeah I I I could hit some pretty cool shots and um and pretty pretty reliable on the greens I was
Going to say you come across to me as a guy that hit some crafty shots out there I don’t know why maybe it’s the hair I don’t know but you look like you you HD some crafty stuff and when you said my brand of golf I’m like okay that that’s
A statement right there like you can put a period after that and just go yep I know what you’re talking about I don’t know why but I can feel your golf game coming through right now a good thing yeah no it’s it’s an awesome thing
Because I I play with some guys and it’s funny enough at a par three course out here in Scottdale called uh Mountain Shadows or the short course at Mountain shadows and I play with some guys that and one of them in particular very crafty player he plays he plays the
Undulations in the slopes he doesn’t hit just pure golf shots it’s like little bit off the off the hle little bit off the uh bottom Groove but he gets it around and somehow he ends up shooting a round even part and I’m just like dude
You are crafty and so I don’t know why everybody’s so intense on just using the middle of it you know it’s so true like we become as just in the middle of it when you could and he’ll he’ll choke down he’ll hit it off the toe on purpose
Uh weird stuff but uh that being said now what got you into actually the golf industry side of things I it was you know incredibly random um I uh so yeah I I played a ton and I was always available during the day so after you know 15 years of playing golf
Virtually everybody and like County i’ played with pretty much every golfer around here um at some point or another and made a lot of good friendships and um certainly tight with the the instruction Community around here all the different golf instructors and the pros and such and one of them is a
Fellow named Bob Duncan and Bob um uh had met okay so so so lab was in the the technology was invented by a guy named Bill pressy um Bill’s father was involved in the company early on and bill was father was uh William was an Australian guy um Bob had been in
Australia just hanging out with friends um taking a a fun golf trip and and found the putter um and then he just he became a rep for the company um so I was at Emerald Valley uh which is where I play now where the factory is um and he
Uh uh showed me this Putter and at the time I was using a like a a little Napa deal like little heel shafted chabby and was so streaky on the greens and I was um you know as I told a lot of people I I was I was truly this is not an
Exaggeration I was that that month I was intentionally switching Putters every single round of golf that I played um even if I puted okay the round before just to ride a honeymoon because that was the only thing that ever seemed to work there was never a putter that
Seemed to to function more than you know for for 12 holes at a time so um showed up that day I had a little nap I was ping with he pulls out this you know Branding Iron and um and I had a profound experience with it I mean crazy crazy crazy experience with
It and and that was that’s the one that like got people’s attention right was that the big like it looked like a UFO almost correct yes it was like a whole with I have a list of about 30 different nicknames when I got it um I nicknamed
It Dark Helmet you know from start SP balls yeah solid so I went Dark Helmet on mine and um and it was such a crazy you know like my my my results with it that first round were just so nuts that I you know like an idiot was went around telling
Everybody I’d found the answer and this is the Putter and this is going to change my life and da da and you know I spent 400 bucks on it it looked like crap at the time so you know people were making fun of me for spending that kind
Of money on this you know what looked like a cheap infomercial product at the time and um so I was kind of dug in and stubborn about it so I I ended up working through you know sort of this hangover period that I had after my
Little honeymoon with it and you know in that experience because of the stubbornness of not wanting to prove everybody right and wanting to prove everybody wrong um I um I really unlocked the the power of this technology um so I was super Allin uh and then the head fell off the putter um
Uh that’s not good no it’s not what you’re looking for out of a $400 butter you hate to see it it actually didn’t fall off right away it had this like click that like in the shaft like when I cuz like it kind of just like go like
That with the grip and um i’ hear this little tick tick tick tick tick knew you were in trouble and I knew I was in trouble I played with it like that for another couple weeks and I actually kind of liked like it was almost like a little like satisfying little fidget
Hearing it like click back and forth like that but eventually fell off and um sent it back Bill gave me a call to to apologize and he and I just like hit it off instantly um totally Kindred golf spirits and and he um the the company
Was in trouble I mean they were just having you know Bill’s Bill’s side of things was awesome the technology was amazing the putter was amazing but to you know get a company going takes you know a lot more than just the product and and it’s not like I had any
Particular knoow um but it all seemed really obvious to me you know like how to promote it how to talk about it um how to get it in folks hands um how to tell the story all the stuff and so um I was frankly really lucky to have
Been as naive as I was um if I had have known now if I had known then what I know now about how crazy difficult this business is um I’m not sure I would have done it um and so the ignorance was definitely Bliss
Um and uh me my brother and my dad um all pulled together and um and bought out Bill’s existing partners and then partnered with bill um and wow you were such a Believer I love that because going from putter to putter to Putter and everybody knows somebody that is
That guy like I’m that guy like I’m the one that will switch buttter to but if I miss a three-footer going to a new buttter and literally like everybody knows somebody who’s like that and all of a sudden you put this thing in the bag I can’t get over this part of the
Story that you’re just like getting just I can imagine the stuff guys were saying to you out there oh God what are you potting with what is that thing what is wrong with you like all these different I can just imagine the razin that you went through and then you just you’re
Like no this is it I am sticking to this thing I believe in it next thing you know you’re on the phone because the putter head fell off you you end up getting a literally part of the company because you believe in it’s so much and
I mean you talk about the fact that you’re like ignorance is bliss I probably wouldn’t do it again if I knew what I was getting into what’s been the toughest thing for you in this golf industry especially the club side I’m curious just on the club side yeah I
Would say not necessarily the full industry because we could go down some rabbit holes there oh hell yeah but in regards to just equipment and manufactur and whatever that leads you in terms of kind of that thought yeah on the physical Club itself um interestingly my lack of experience
Served us really really well because um there are there nobody makes Putters the way that we do um oh no I just I just took Bob Parson’s line tonight um but uh I thought you were going to give me a kapow or something period uh but uh but it’s really true I mean
It’s it’s a crazy process to balance to lie angle balance a putter um and I didn’t know any different so um when we started digging in on you know like every kind of six months there’s been this little level up you know where we’ve had to figure out how to make more
Faster better um and uh yeah it’s really hard I mean if you people when people come to our Factory they’re like absolutely Blown Away um at the process I mean it’s a it’s a crazy crazy process to make these things so when we first got going the factory was in Reno um
Business started to increase you know after we kind of rebranded and and all of that and um yeah I mean at every turn we’ve had to to make our own path there was no handbook for how to do this and and and in fact like some of the industry folks that I
Consulted with you know I made a few friends along the way and you know would call for advice here and there um and most of the time the advice was like well just you you need to ultimately roll back the tolerances on what is a balanced putter if you’re
Going to be able to mass-produce these things which to me was a nonstarter that’s it was an unacceptable um outcome so uh yeah that it’s been a real challenge to figure out how you know we’ve we’ve wrote our own book on how to do this stuff and we do it a completely
Different way there’s you know the club we we do ultimately are better off with people who have worked in Precision assembly of any kind not clubmakers um clubmakers have come along and we we definitely have a few experienced Club makers that work you know that work at lab um but the the
Process is a lot more like you know making a watch or or um Cabinetry and things like that where you know those are the type of Minds that we need working on these things so um yeah that’s been a been an interesting challenge throughout the
Whole the whole side of it in the clubs that is mindboggling right there like because I know Club makers right and I as soon as you’re talking we need Precision watch makers like that’s the level that we’re going to because otherwise there’s oh this is okay oh
That’s all right like it’s close enough we’re good eyeball it perfect yeah there’s there’s no close enough and there’s you know and then specifically like within the production of our stuff like we had challenges that other companies don’t have like um like the first like the first big thing that we
Couldn’t that we that we needed to figure out was consistency so if if the the one thing that we know we have to do is have the putter be perfectly balanced well we do that with weight and if um and moving weight around and if the shaft location is a
5000 in this direction or that direction it’s going to take different weights in different parts of the putter in order to make it Balan so of often times you could have you know two 35in 69 degree Putters sitting right next to each other and they were separated by 50 grams um
Which early on our customers kind of didn’t care because the whole thing the the balance part of it was was so useful that even if it was a little heavier than they want or a little lighter than they wanted or whatever they would tolerate it but I mean if we were going
To really you know break into the mainstream here um getting them consistent was you know a big deal and so um got some kick-ass Engineers that have worked for us that weren’t golf people that were just engineering people and um you know solve that problem and
Then on and on and on there’s just all these little things that are different for us that that don’t apply to other companies like shafts is a crazy one like you you could not believe how not straight and round the vast majority of all shafts in the world are um and if we
Have a crooked shaft we can’t balance it and you don’t really know that it’s crooked until you start you know because these These tolerances are so tight on the shafts and it’s not like you can see it NE neily unless you put it on a little device or whatever so you know
Things like that were just you know Big Time challenges I mean you’ve reinvented the wheel it’s pretty cool to hear because you can’t really go down that industry path like you said you had to get some kickass Engineers from outside of golf bring them in you’re like all
Right let’s go we’re building a rocket here they’re like wait a second I thought i’ just joined a putter company right you’re like no you sure didn’t we are Reinventing this thing and now I’m I’m starting to get it like I’m starting to understand why because and we’ll get
To this in a little bit but why you have such a cult following on tour because those guys and being around some of them like they they’ve become like salesmen they want you to own a lab golf Potter because they know what it can do for you
I have not made the switch yet but my God am I going to and I can’t wait to start to really get the understand but I’m not I’m not there yet in terms of understanding how this all works so take me through lie angle balance as the technology obviously that’s the name of
The company lab Li angle balance but take me through kind of how does this technology work so uh the the best thing to do for your listeners um right on the homepage of our website I’ve got a video where I use a device called the revealer that explains it very easily and anden
Calling out the fact that lab does not exist without that revealer um there’s just it it’s very very difficult technology to explain our attention span with equipment is pretty minimal and so to have a device that just kind of shows you what’s up in 30 seconds um is why we
Are where we are I I don’t even know that I would have had interest in the company without the revealer it’s the most powerful marketing tool I’ve ever seen um and but but effectively what the revealer shows you um when we put other Putters in it um is
That other Putters don’t do what we’ve been told that they do um you know we’ve been told that a tow hang putter has toe flow there’s no such thing as toe flow the toe does not flow a tow hang putter um from a torque perspective the second
You pull it back is actually trying to shut and then um if you’re able to keep it Square in the backstroke you start down it’s actually trying to open so it’s doing the exact opposite of what you know at least in my mind I was told
You know was good for this you know gating AR stroke um and then face balance Putters are open to open to open I don’t really understand what the application of those are at all is but um but ours are are designed so that um in the playing position the the putter is physically
Seeking Square it wants to be pointed where you set it down so um and and look it’s not like it’s a you know gyroscope or some like that it’s not it’s not like you know a heat seeking missile but um but you will feel instantly when you pull it back the the
Sort of fight that we feel to steady the Putter and steady the face um just disappears um it just goes back all on its own you know without any kind of fight and any kind of micromanipulations in the fingers and thumbs um and then wants to swing through that that same
Way um so um yeah I mean I say this lightly um because again I’m not trying to you know suggest that the that the that the Putter’s going to you know reroute in defiance of gravity and and acceleration um you know to to find its way back to
Square um but it is quite literally a self- squaring putter it’s trying to to find its way back to square well I was listening to um the fire pit Collective right and they had a bunch of guys like Adam Scott Lucas Glover a couple others
And I forget which one it was but he was talking about the fact that he’s like I got to the point to where I couldn’t make a three-footer like and all of a sudden I put this putter in my hand I couldn’t miss a three-footer and that’s
Where to me when you’re going through this talking about the face KN because I always feel it in my hands when I pull back on a short pot it’s never really the longer kind of TW 15 20 Footers that’s where I excel but you get me
Within like that three to 4 foot area and all of a sudden it feels like I am fighting the putter head so as you’re explaining and I’ve seen the revealer um clip that you have on the website and everything and folks go check that out labg golf.com um and it is it’s very
Telling because when all of a sudden you start to swing back in normal Potter that thing starts flipping around like it wants to be in a damn tornado however you’ve got the uh lab golf potters and it’s just stays perfectly Square now yeah it does make me wonder though so if
Somebody is putting on an arc and so forth like is there a putting style that fits the best or does it work for everything yeah and I really appreciate that question we we we get that a lot where there’s there’s an assumption sort of based on this narrative that
Everybody’s bought into that our putter is good for a what people call a straight back straight through stroke um the the pter is designed to stay Square to an arc whatever Arc that is in a in an Ideal World the depth of that Arc is
Going to be dictated by the lie angle so if you have a really flat Li angle like in the 65 range in theory the depth to the arc and I’ll do it vertically this way it’s going to be a little bit deeper then if you have like a broomstick 79.5
The depth of the art could be really shallow um and the Putter’s design to stay Square to that Arc now what people think well I’m going to direct you to another video there’s a there’s a video that I did with a device called The Putting board uh
On YouTube I think I’ve seen that one it’s awesome and and having nothing to do with our Putters just sort of explaining the reality of what people think Arc means and gate means and straight back straight through means it like settles a lot of um a lot of that
Confusion um but the the the short answer is the putter is good for any type of stroke and the most interesting thing that we see is people who have um sort of egregious depths to their Arc and um excessive face rotation in relation to that that
Arc simply by using the putter for a prolonged period of time a few weeks later have less depth to their Arc and less face rotation the putter physically leads people to a better stroke um there’s all kinds of reasons why I believe that people end up with sort of
These idiosyncratic ways of moving the Putter and twisting the face and moving the shaft mostly our reactions to managing torque um and when you take that away um things just kind of straighten themselves out and and it’s not a that’s not a whatever it’s real I mean I see it
Every single day um our customers see it every single day they write us about it um it’s crazy I mean it literally leads you to a better stroke why do I think this is going to be a game Cher for me I mean I have I’m I’m sold right now the
The pros had me especially out on the practice putting green like some of these guys are just like you got not to get this in your hands and I’m like let me try yours talk to anybody today was using out I I so I
Did not I wish I did out at the Shriners I did um back in Vegas I was inside the ropes with uh shk and um just seeing a bunch of guys around I was like all of a sudden you ask them one question and they’re like they’re full on Pitch mode
At that point they’re like oh no like this thing stays Square this thing does this this thing does that you got it you got to get one for yourselves it’s going to change game and I’m just like like At first I was like whoa hang on a second
There’s probably something to this but then you see a guy like Kam Vias he ends up coming back and one of the things that I absolutely loved about his comeback was the fact that his potting had struggled for so long he puts one of
The mes ones in his bag and all of a sudden he can’t miss you’ve got uh Grayson Murray he has just a tremendous story himself but one of the things that he I mean you saw that putt that he made on the 18th hole in order to win I mean
It’s those types of things that are just like holy cow there is something here and I did notice a lot of the live guys have uh the lab Putters as well um so we’ll get into that as well towards the end here but uh tell me I mean how did
You guys get the putter into guys hands on tour especially you know back at the beginning of all this cuz you guys didn’t have the MZ one that is aesthetically pleasing in my opinion versus you know the standard um blade putter but you had the uh what you call
It again the Dark Helmet yes the Dark Helmet you had that one to start out with how do you get this into some of the guys hands so we caught a really really really good break um so my intent like part of my business plan when we
Did all this was I wanted to give away a thousand Putters um you know between PGA professionals Club professionals um high-profile amateurs where anybody I could anybody that had any potential um to kind of move the needle um just to get the word out there I mean it was
Such it was such a stretch at the thought of getting people to spend 400 bucks on these things you know sight unseen without knowing anything about them without any tour validation without anything um so I just wanted people to see for themselves the way that did you
Know my assumption was is that if I was if we were handing them out handful of them were going to have the same experience that I did um I didn’t give away a thousand we gave away quite a few but then you know the other part of the
Strategy and my assumption at the time was oh so no problem just walk out to a PGA Tour event everybody will wonder what this crazy thing is they’ll try it they’ll have the same experience as me and you know we’ll be um Off to the Races and um didn’t Quai work out like
That but I called the um called the tour um and they have a a specific you know um part of the the the tour that deals with equipment reps and everything and and I called him I’m like so how do we you know get get out there how am I how
Do I you know how I see all the pictures on WRX the guys with you know bags Putters sitting around the green how do I get to be one of those people and they’re like well you either have to have a putter in plate or you have to
Have a specific invite from a tour pro um and I was like well how can I get a putter in Play If I can’t get out there and they’re like good luck figuring that out uh like well um and it was a woman who she actually just retired this year um
Jody I forget her name she she ran I forget her last name but she ran the um manufacturers uh Department whatever um and we were just talking and uh and I’d said you know the company’s called lab golf um and and then we were just talking and she asked she’s like is
There any other name that the company would have been under and the company was originally named directed Force so I was like oh yeah directed Force what’s that I didn’t know that yeah originally called directed Force the the big Branding Iron putter was called the Reno
2.1 then we rebranded as lab and then called that putter the directed Force um because there was a tiny bit of name recognition we did mon Le was just yet so um so jod searched uh her database and it turned out um that a guy named Tim Wilkinson was a left-handed player
From New Zealand um found one in a pro shop in New Zealand a left-handed version of this putter in New Zealand um fell in love with it all on his own and used it for a dozen events on the corn fairy tour in the at the time the
Nationwide tour um which counts towards you know having enough events to get a play so we got a credential on day one um just because of this guy Tim so uh you know really unbelievably lucky break I mean I know so so so many manufacturers and of so many people in
The equipment business have reached out just because they’ve seen that we were kind of nobody from nowhere and then they’re all of a sudden they’re doing they’re like how’d you do it how’d you get out there and how do you get a JW credential and Tim from New Zealand
Lefty butter Tim from New Zealand um so yeah that was how we got out there um and then uh had a little bit of success um got a couple in play in the corn furry but they didn’t really stay in the bag and um first time we ever saw it on TV was
Actually Jeff sluman um very the second event I ever worked was uh the senior players in Chicago in 2018 June of 2018 and um he put it in the bag and then um was actually leading the the senior British for a couple days with a big
Blue one um and uh uh and then after that uh the next kind of Lucky break we got was Von Taylor Von was who you would have who you were referring to in that fire pit Collective you know thing where he was really struggling V was a was a
Crazy good putter he had that Seymour putter forever um and uh but then he hit that stretch to where yeah he couldn’t make a short putt he started almost having like The Yips yeah he wasn’t yipping it he was just struggling he just need needed something fresh but
That was a cool night man I mean I I all the other reps take off at 5 you know it’s or 4:30 or 5 it’s their job and they show up at 8 n whatever and they go home when it’s closing time and like you
Know this is my life so um for a few years there I was always the first one on the green and always the last one to leave and for the most part that was when it was the only time I ever really got lucky it was like either really
Early in the morning or really late at night they’re no different than anybody else they didn’t want to be seen with that damn thing so it wasn’t until you know there was nobody around and none of their friends to make fun of him that
They would even give it a shot and um it was just me and V on that green I’ll remember that night forever he such a nice guy and you know he was struggling he was you know sitting there just grinding on on three Footers with the
With the Seymour Putter and um went up and talked to him and he gave it a try and they just started going in would you say that was the big break or like was were there other bigname golfers that you’re like oh wow we’re we’re gaining some real traction here uh
That event was a big one because V happened to be staying at a house with like a half a dozen other guys like uh Bill hos was there and uh kizner and um I can’t remember who else there was a few other and and and it’s really
Interesting too like the guys that are needle movers for the public are very different than guys that are needle Movers On Tour so um at the time you know Von was a rider copper but I mean he was 10 15 years removed from you know
The the prime of his career um but he was still a damn good Putter and very very well respected as a putter on tour so when Von Tera goes back to a house full of a half a dozen guys saying guys I just saw something that blew my mind
Um it was a big deal to them so they all came over the bag the next morning um and uh and I think that that week was one of our biggest weeks um I think we had four or five in play that week um but then they come out of the bag and
You know because you know that that was the hard part about that that particular model was like unless you’re F calling the world with it you know like nobody wanted to be carrying it around so you miss a couple short putts that thing’s going under the stairs real quick and you know
We weren’t we don’t pay guys and so it was just it was hard to keep them in the bag um so yeah that was that was pretty good it got us out there and it got us enough plays that we were able to keep a credential for the following year which
Was a big deal um so then we you know still got to um to stay with it then the the following year um so the bar that was the Barracuda and Reno okay and then that might have been the last event we attended that year and then
Um earlier I’d been in touch with Kelly Slater the surfer um had made a post about the putter on Instagram like just all like we didn’t have any idea was using it or anything and we saw the post I like wow so we reached out and um we
Got friendly and um he ended up playing in the AT&T with Adam Scott uh and then and out puted him and everybody in that group I mean he was filling it up that week um which one does Slater head oh he’s still uses the big one okay yeah very
Very he is a function over form guy period um he is one of the most intelligent golfers I’ve ever met uh he gets a lot out of he’s really really good like he’s not just celebrity good like he is really really good very very efficient player the surfer exceptional
Butter what’s that the surfer can play the surfer can play and and you would you know like I had my thoughts of what a you know world champion Surfer was like you know that he would be all like laidback and you know chill or whatever like dude’s all business um he likes
Kicking everybody’s ass and um so yeah so he played with Adam and then Adam hit me up uh the following week at Riviera um I fit him there he didn’t use it that week but he he put it in play the next week at the Honda and used it um from
The Honda um all the way through Augusta he actually was leading the Masters for um for a couple couple days um with it and he was using The Branding Iron as well in a conventional form it wasn’t a broom um and that was sort of we’re here like that was when all of
A sudden we were able to sell Putters to PGA toour Superstore and um you know some of the other big retailers so that was you know the huge huge turning point for us but um it it it it wasn’t over you know and like the the when he stopped using it um
Couple I think two events later um it sucked then we didn’t have anybody that was using it on tour and you know it was starting to get real scary and at that time that was when we kind of made a a a very deliberate you know intention
Around not just putting all of our eggs in the tour basket because it’s like the tour guys they’re different animals I mean they’re they’re just so good and they’re so brilliant at manipulating to any manipulating anything you know they can putt with anything um and the rest
Of us are not tour players and that’s not who I’m selling Putters to I’m selling Putters to you and um so we you know kind of R strategized how we were talking about the product in order to make it more you know just to make it
About you um you know you and your listeners and helping them put a little better um and then if the tour stuff happened great but we weren’t going to just sit around and wait for somebody to win a tournament with our putter um and then the mes one comes along yep because
I feel like that’s the one that really has changed the especially from the pro side cuz like you said a lot of these guys they were getting harassed by their bodies they they’re like what are you doing putton with that thing and sure enough if you guys come out with the mes
And this a good looking I mean it’s got a good aesthetic to it it’s a cool looking putter so I was at the PGA show in 2019 um and I ran into a guy named John berquist uh and he had a his company was called flux um and he was making some
Really weird looking Putters but they were super cool um and grabbed his card and we just kept in touch and then when it was time to design a putter I asked him um uh to design it for us and we knew we kind of wanted to go down that that sort of
Um Odyssey number seven shape it had just been you know so popular at the time but we also wanted it to be you know weird enough to be a lab um and John was the right guy for the job so he uh he and I worked together on that
Design um he kind of came up with the aesthetic and then our engineer at the time uh still our engineer at Kevin Martin um took the basic aesthetic and then figured out how to actually make it balance um which is hard um it was a lot
Of hard work to get that thing going and then yeah that changed everything for us and then there was Um yeah we we got attention on tour um and then just on a whim honestly we we blew it up and put a bunch of screws in the bottom to get it big and heavy enough to be a a BRI room and sent one to Adam Adam Scott and
Um and honestly like kind of half forgot that I’d even sent it to him um and then I got a text from him two months later that just simply said this is the best performing poter I’ve ever used in my life um it was a Proto like it was a
Nasty raw Proto like it was just raw aluminum it was all scratched up it had no Graphics it had no you know nothing um and he put it in play um that would have been uh that would have been December 2020 he put it in play in the in Dubai
Um and putted really really well um and then you know it’s stayed in the bag ever since he’s had you know a handful of different versions of the same putter but um but resurrected his career man I mean Adam Scott has never been a great Potter and
He’s used the broomstick for a long time and everything and this is the one Potter that all of a sudden I mean it really resurrected his competitiveness too which is really cool to see for sure he he he takes more for being uh not a good putter than anyone in the
World and it and it’s just completely wrong like it is now well that’s for sure he and even the year before he actually put it pretty damn well I think he finished in the top 40 um with his Cameron um but yeah since he switched to
The Mez he’s been in the top 20 every I think top 20 every year that he’s been using it um and uh he’s very deliberate about his equipment and um uh similarly to vau you’d be surprised at how many guys notice what Adam Scott’s playing um and you know
What he’s into and uh and so yeah he started you know spreading the word for us and getting guys you know interested in it we started getting some more calls and some more interest here and there and yeah and then yeah slowly but surely it’s just it’s just uh the more mainst
Stream it’s become the easier it is I mean what what’s so funny like we get these comments All the Time online well if it’s so good then how come the pros aren’t using it and like for a long time it was just Adam and the assumption is that the pros you
Know are have their own home labs and and simply just test what is positively the best you know putter for them at any time it’s like they’re absolutely no different than you and me like they have issues around looks and they’re neurotic and they you know ditch Putters on bad
Days and they you know just I’ll tell you right now tour Pros are the absolute worst when it comes to equipment they’re willing to swap out everything and fast if all a sudden something stops working and not necessarily based on reality no you know like just you know like I mean we’ve had
A couple of guys um uh Windam Clark for instance like he uh he used a DF last year for um two different tournaments um finished in the top third of the field both times was positive in Strokes game putting when the couple events prior um he hadn’t been but you know
Missed a couple of putts that he wanted to make and you know had it in his head that he didn’t putt well so got rid of the Putter and um few other guys the same same kind of thing where um you know it’s just they’re not looking at
The stats they’re they’re reacting to the one or two putts that they’re really pissed about that they you know they missed and so um but you know the more normalized it becomes and the more people that people see that you know success is being had um the more
Interested they are um so yeah we’ve had a we’ve had a great year so far we’ve had I think the the least amount of Putters we’ve had in play was just this last week at Pebble we only had four but that was a half you know half a field
And exactly um I think will have eight or 10 in play this week at uh at the waste management which is crazy I mean it used to be one or two you know for for for three years there and now um we got you know tons of interest and and
More than anything I mean the guys even if they’re not using it they all respect it as a viable option um and and it’s so cool to be able to work with them and really get proper feedback and it helps us make better products like the you
Know df3 that just came out um as a result of a lot of feedback we got from the tour um and what things needed to change and um so we’re excited about it and um but yeah it keeps getting better and better and then you know the money
Thing too is like there’s there’s a lot of things that were the perfect storm for us like um right when we came on the scene equipment deals were much harder to come by at least in the in the high dollars that um you know that some of these
Companies had been um paying for 14 Club deals and stuff like that so went up at the same time that equipment contracts were going down and so there was a lot more where there used to be 15 guys in a given field that even could look at our
Putter um all of a sudden there was 30 or 40 um so that was incredibly lucky for us um and then um and then Liv’s been great you know like even though the public has you know whatever their issues are with with the product or whatever like for as much as the the
Media would have you believe that you know these guys are you know dogs and cats you know fighting with each other like they’re all still friends like they all still know know each other whatever and so on the Liv tour in particular all the equipment deals were gone they all had so much
Money they didn’t give a about you know making the extra 50 gr using a putter um and so they really gave us a good hard look and yeah we got a ton in play I think we’re going to have nine in play this week in Vegas um you know out
Of a 50 person field I mean it’s a significant number of Putters um so you know and the guys in the PGA Tour seeing those guys you know having some success with the just schwarzel won the first live event Chucky three sticks won a couple or one I think he’s won one and
Um bunch of high finishes with him and um so yeah the the the the tour thing is is awesome it’s a lot of fun now um we’re not the dorks in the corner anymore and um that’s for sure you guys are kind of the cool kids now wouldn’t go that far but we’re
They’re letting us come to the party without without having to sneak in the back door that’s fair now I’m going to I’m going to switch gears for a second we’re going to talk a little swanie style we got a swan style segment which you’ve got the swan’s hat so you got the
Lab golf Swan’s hat I love that that rope hat you got the the brim flipped up just a little bit you’re styling man so you obviously know style now that being said you have some Unique Designs which design is your favorite I’m feeling like you might be a little partial to the
OG uh the df3 that we just came out with is the first putter that we’ve made even amongst prototypes that we’ve never released um that’s ever had a legitimate chance to to get the OG out of my bag um yeah I use the the the DF um and
Probably still today if you ask me if I had to go play a tournament right now I’m using the DF and I’m using it with h the original oval rubber grip that we don’t even make anymore um uh but uh the df3 is awesome I just played um nine
Holes after work today um I had 11 putts it’s awesome it’s really really really really good um how about that actually you are a good Potter if you’re only droing 11 pots missed a few bre but uh um yeah it’s uh it’s awesome um and I’m I’m going to be sticking with
It for a minute for sure um but I use them all I mean the um one one of the big changes that we’ve experienced this last 18 months is that we can prototype in house now we used to have to send away for our prototypes and
So you know we make a putter just design a poter send away to have it prototyped wait three weeks for it to come in i’ play a couple rounds with it give the feedback send it off wait another three to six weeks and in the in between times
I would go back and use my putter okay you know what one of my fs and um and then now that we can screw around 24 hours a day um it has not been good for my putting like the last month I’m getting back on track and just sticking
With you know the the df3 that I’ve you know been using um but prior for the last nine months um you know every round I played I was going out with three different Putters just in the name of of needing to test and work on them and we
Don’t prototype in my spec I have a weird bit of a weird setup set up pretty flat generally but can putt with anything which you do it for long enough you know and go against what you’re naturally wanting to do and starts to get ugly so um it’s been a rough
Rough but fun nine months of of prototyping this putter um and it’s super cool too our Factory is physically on the golf course that that all of us are members at it’s a oh come on now how do I Jo lab golf come on dude it’s so
Cool and so like I’m I’m literally like making the turn the guys in the R&D room see me on the ninth green they come out and hand me two new Putters to take over on the back nine and um it’s incredible what are you only making only making
That’s why you’re making 11 pots in nine holes I mean you’re just you’re out there all the time love that we would put a lot yep well you got to test out the new prototypes question that ties into clothing for this swanie style segment so if all of your Putters were a
Clothing brand which brand would it be Swan honestly isn’t even a bad call um because they’re like sharp and sporty but still kind of chill somehow yeah um that’s a great answer a couple of there’s a couple of like uh it’s a weird Korean brand called an new A&W um it
Makes some pretty sharp lines and you know interesting looking stuff that uh that perhaps that would be it it wouldn’t be wouldn’t be uh wouldn’t be Ralph Lauren I would love for it to be G4 because I love all that stuff so much um but we’re
Just simply not that cool yet our stuff is still a little uh little sciency a little nerdy um but uh yeah I think uh I think I’ll go Swan for you love that absolutely love it fits right into the sponsorship fantastic it’s SW style segment and uh really kind of last thing
Here before we kind of open it up to the audience if the audience has any questions which I know I’ve gotten a couple things that the audience has tossed our way uh but what’s your stance on live you kind of went over it already and you guys are having some success
There uh like have they been good to you guys are they solid or what’s going on there because I’m a big proponent of live I I don’t have I I take the politics out of gulf and I’m like this this is a great product it’s actually what they’re doing with the broadcast
And everything is fantastic the golf is really good I actually I’ve been watching watching from day one because if I’m going to cover it I need to actually watch all the events and day one live golf uh you know the teams it it takes a little while to get used to
Those but I’m in year three now with it or the third season and absolutely love the team aspect to it as well so I’m curious what what’s your stance I mean of the macro politics out of it you know as far as you know the Saudi Arabia and
You know what its implications are with the PGA Tour and all that stuff just just strictly in a vacuum live golf as a product um I really like it and first starting from my side of it they’ve been phenomenal to us um we we were the first
And only for a long time the only equipment manufacturer out there um really yeah there was nobody there still very few people go to those events very few equipment manufacturers go to those events um and they’ve been nothing but kind to us um it’s been very interesting
Watching them figure this stuff out and it’s and it’s surprising to me kind of how naive um a lot of people are to what it takes to put on a golf event um it’s a massive massive undertaking um from an infrastructure standpoint before you even get to the broadcast um and all that
And um and I think they’re doing pretty good uh yeah there’s a few things that are a bit of a show and you know kind of a free-for-all out there um but they’re figuring it out and like you know the expectation that everybody’s like Oh see it’s not as good as the you
Know PJ tour broadcast like the PJ tour has been around for like ever 60 years 80 year whatever it’s been 60 years I think the PGA Tour has been around like they they they’ve they’ve they know figured their stuff out over the course of a very long time with a lot more
Money or cumulatively more money over over time and you know with the broadcast and all that stuff so I think they’re doing just fine I think that another they’re still a startup too you know they’re totally still a startup and it’s going to be a startup for another
Five years and like a lot of people you know like we now don’t remember what the PGA Tour was like then like there like in in 1954 the Bing Cosby or whatever pick picking a red or Greensboro like it didn’t have a history you know like the
The sure there was Heroes and you had your hog and you had your sne and whatever and but like what makes the tour of the tours is that we get to go to Tory Pines and look at a highlight reel of 40 Years of you know golf shots
Hit there and all that stuff there’s no way to do that without time um and so the the you know Liv tour will start to get some momentum people will have some memories there’ll be some great moments um and uh you can’t force that stuff so
It’s on its way um I think that uh I I think another good analogy for kind of it’s not the best analog so so when the FedEx Cup first came out on the PGA tour um people hated it like they absolutely despised it and 100% yeah
They and and and and it was a mess like the point system was Dumb and the roll just hard but there’s no way to figure that crap out without just doing it you know for an extended period of time now 18 years later or whatever it’s been
It’s a really good product and I totally watch the Tour Championship now and I’m interested where people are landing on the FedEx Cup it’s the same thing with lip it’s just going to take a minute for people to get used to it um what I hope
Happens is like the the the the butter Battle of just the propaganda that that each tour is throwing at I and I don’t that as far as which one one of them is Lamer about that aspect of this conflict like they’re both it’s brutal I mean they’re both just being absolute
Babies about the whole thing um and it’s have you been on Twitter lately because that is just that is just a Cess pool of like haters on both sides they’re the exact same but they just go at each other exact same and it’s just it’s so dumb that they can’t see that and
Acknowledge it and realize how transparent that is to anybody who’s really paying attention exactly they just need to stop um I think I think it’s coming up I think we’re I think I think people are just exhausted at this point um and literally two conversations today one was yeah I watched live golf
It was awesome and then I saw some comments on social media and I absolutely lost interest in watching another event because of how crazy their fans are and I’m like wow like that’s a strong take and then I I’ve got another guy who’s like listen I got into golf
Five years ago and I just I’ve like went into the PGA Tour so hard I just can’t get over some of the gimmicks to live golf like the putting line that’s on there and like watching Walkin nean and that whole thing to where the putt didn’t break to what the line said it
Would and it’s distracting so like there’s some opinions there from people but they don’t like the negativity they need to work on a bunch of that stuff like they’re like they’re party hole and they like I know there’s more from my music business experience than I do from
Golf you cannot try to be cool like it’s just an exercise and futility to try and be cool um and they are just a little bit too on the nose with their attempts at you know making the game younger and and more appealing to a to a wider audience and all that
Stuff and um authenticity is the word that comes to mind you got to be authentic correct and um you know and they have the talent on the tour to do that like just let the players be the players I mean I’m happy that I’m happy that you know Tai
Hatton’s out there now and um you know where they they’ll be able to kind of let these guys have their own personalities you know kind of do the thing rather than you know just forcing it the way that they have been but they’ll figure all that stuff out I’m
Not agreed I’m not worried about any of it I enjoy the team as of it the idea I one of the things that drives me just absolutely Bonkers about the PGA Tour um is like you know watching Pat Klay walk down the Fairway for 45 seconds like just just un don’t get me
Sam don’t get me started on PG tour broadcast don’t get me started don’t get me I do not need to see him for literally where I could be watching five or six other guys in the time that it takes him to walk down the Fairway it’s just that that’s what Liv has correct
But they smart condensing the broadcast is really smart and making it so that the dude in last place actually matters I mean for me like I enjoy not so much anymore since they’ve really been going hard on featured groups but on the PGA tour you know uh pre pre featured group era Thursday
Friday broadcast was amazing because you get to watch guys suck like and not that I’m like rooting for anybody to suck but like I learn more when I’m watching a dude you know struggle from five feet all day or or spraying the driver all over the place like that’s a more
Interesting round of golf for a true golf fan to watch I understand not everybody wants to see that um and that’s why what’s nice about a 48 person field where you’re seeing the whole range of golf and it all matters you know it totally matters for you know
These dudes that are struggling just to try to make a few extra putts coming in for their team now there isn’t enough Legacy yet there isn’t enough whatever the team thing is a little bit phoned in you know to date um but as soon as as soon as there’s you know one great
Rivalry or one close um you know match it’ll start to get some legs you know that’s the stuff that they just can’t force they just have to be patient and let it happen but I think it’s pretty cool it’s only going to happen with time
I’m with you 100% on that now let’s get to the audience questions you’ve been gracious with your time so little Q&A here with the audience and this is from Paula Minnesota he wants to know hey I’ve been thinking about getting a lab putter for a long time
Where can I go get fitted so I I know you guys got the Online deal um take me through for Paul what uh what we’re looking at there in order to kind of get fitted for one of the lab Putters um first of all um same button
On the website so you’re going to go to the website you’re going to click on the button for fitting at the top of the home page there you will either see instruction or you’ll see instructions for the remote fitting which I’ll talk about in a second um or you’ll have the
Locator so you can plug in your ZIP code Paul and you’ll see what’s near you um we are in every um PJ TOUR Superstore soon to be every single Golf Galaxy so if you got one of those in the area um you can do it from a fitting standpoint um they’re not necessarily
Going to be the best um that’s a great place to kind of and feel the stock versions some of them have fitting um capabilities some of them don’t um if you want to get fit in person um there’s probably a club champion near you um those guys have a bit more experience
And a bit more training um in fitting them and then we also have you know plenty of independent um green grass facilities or you know small mom and pop brick brick brick and mortar stores and you’ll see all of them listed right there on the website um that said if
You’re in and you know you’re GNA buy one of these Putters you know you want to get one um do the remote fitting it’s awesome um it is so easy it is so simple and it’s extremely accurate in a lot of ways not always but in a lot of ways um
The remote fitting can even be more accurate because when you jump on our fitting putter some people have a tendency to start chasing you know it’s this totally adjustable putter where it can go as long or as short as you want as flat or as upright as you want you’re
Like well maybe I should be more upright or maybe I should you know and you just start you know going down a rabbit hole and chasing you know what could be um the remote fitting has you with your putter in your home and your pajamas you know in a comfy mode
Just um making a few Strokes um 95% of our tour Pros are fit remotely um it is an extremely extremely accurate process a lot of people are skeptical of the idea of just sending in a simple cell phone video but it really really does work nice and then Chris in La this
Will be our last audience question question here so Christen La wants to know you were talking about the mes one earlier what is the blade putter just as difficult to do the lie angle balance on or tougher uh more difficult um the blade Putters are some some some people may remember
We had a a putter called the B2 um was basically a block of steel on a stick um it’s out of production because they were impossible to balance like we were we were you know scrapping you know one head out of every five that you know made it through and it just wasn’t
Wasn’t feasible so if you can picture it that the the closer that the weights are to the shaft axis the the the less room you have to work with so like if it’s really far away from the shaft you know putting a a weight out in the corner um if it’s
Three or four inches away from the shaft axis versus you know half an inch away from the sh has more impact on the balance and getting it to um to Teeter properly so the um yeah the blades are a big big pain in the butt um our link is
By far um takes the longest to balance of any a our offerings awesome well thanks again Sam hang on for me after we log off here live but I also want to thank swanes so swanes folks go to swan. P Hook golf2 is your promo code 25% off
Your entire order got the Camden hoodie if you do if you buy one thing from swany their hats are phenomenal but this Camden hoodie I’m obsessed with sometimes I wear it to bed Sam I’m not going to lie I got one that’s like like a little turtleneck I can’t remember the
Name yes oh God you I have one in the closet right now as well I’m trying to think of what the hell it is it is awesome those are great as well just so anybody out there knows I I am not paid to play Swan to to talk about swanes um
It is a badass company that very few people know about that is making some of the coolest in golf so um definitely go check them out and then obviously thank you Sam for bringing lab golf to us here at the P hook golf podcast a lot of people were pumped up
About this hopefully we got all the information that they were looking for and uh folks we are signing Off
