LAB Golf’s new heel shafted OZ.1i HS putter review

This week on Club Junkie, we dive into the latest innovation from LAB Golf — the OZ.1i HS putter! From its unique head shape to the new heel-shafted design, we break down how this putter performs on the green and whether it lives up to the hype.

👉 Find out:
What makes the OZ.1i HS different from other LAB putters
Feel, sound, forgiveness, and alignment breakdown
Who this putter is best suited for

Whether you’re a longtime LAB fan or curious about trying something new in your short game, this episode gives you the full scoop.

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Hey, welcome back to the Club Junkie podcast. Hopefully you’ve been a great week. It is another Thursday morning and uh yeah, it’s a wild one. We got uh Ryder Cup announcements that just happened. We got some new products hitting and I think we got new products next week which will be awesome as well. So uh anyway, before we get into today’s episode, just want to let you know this episode is brought to you by Titleist, the new T-Series irons. Are your irons helping you or are they holding you back? Eliminating gaps in performance is the key to shooting lower scores. And the new Titleless T- Series irons are designed to help all golfers hit higher, further, and closer. Whether you prefer tour precision, maximum speed, and forgiveness, or somewhere in between, T-Series provides irons suited for every level of golfer, all with that signature titleless quality and feel. They’re everything you love about titleless irons with added performance and a new seamless design that’s absolutely stunning across all models, including a clean, modern look for the new T250. To find the T-ser irons that fit your game or build your perfect blended set, visit titles.com to reserve T-Series fitting near you. So yeah, welcome back to the show. Uh yeah, another Thursday here and it is uh yeah, getting close. I have my last uh week of golf league this week. week. I’m going to miss it, unfortunately. Uh I’m going uh to spend Labor Day uh down with the fam. So, I’m going to miss my last week. Week 20 come and gone. It is insane. We play 20 week league. We start in April and it’s already over. Uh I mean, I know it seems like it’s long. It’s all summer, whatever, but it uh it flew by. And unfortunately, your bu your boy here, Miley didn’t win. I I came in eighth place out of 24 guys. I was in the lead for a while. I was top three for a long time. And then that kind of like I think it was like Juneish uh area I missed just a bunch of weeks due to travel and uh between work and vacation all that. I just missed a bunch of weeks and that was a bummer. So unfortunately not going to hoist the trophy. I actually hoisted the trophy in that league one time. Uh I think it was my second year uh that I played. I think I hoisted the trophy, I won the league. And it’s a pretty crappy old like bowling trophy that somebody modified with a little golfer on top. So, it’s not like you win anything too fancy, but it’s still kind of cool to do. So, uh I didn’t actually go double check. I didn’t go in and check and see who actually won it. But, it was not me. I came in eighth place, so it’s a bummer. But, you know, all good. I still had a whole lot of fun. Uh I’m going to still continue to try to play golf. I still got clubs I want to hit, all that stuff. And heck, I just want to keep playing golf. So, I’m going to keep doing that as long as possible. But, yeah, officially over. So, my what’s in the bag for the last week, uh which is actually a scramble. We do kind of the end of the year. We do one in the middle, one at the end of the year. We do kind of a scramble. Everybody throws a few bucks in and uh the winning top two or three teams, depending on what the scores come out to be, uh win some money. So, that’s usually pretty fun, but I’m going to miss it and go uh down and play Bella Vista with my brother uh at least one of my brothers, possibly both, and my dad uh and then go have some fun doing that. So, not going to play in the last week league, which is a bummer. Um but no, today we’re going to talk about something that I think a lot of people are super interested in. Uh that is a new lab. Uh, I’m going to call it the Oz, the Oz.1ihs. So, Lab’s new putter. Uh, and what they did was, uh, they’re creating a Lab putter with a heel shaft. And they just took the Oz shape and, uh, and added a heel, uh, they call it a riser. Uh, some of us call it a huzzle. Either way, uh, it is brand new for them. I don’t have it in my hands here because mine, uh, they built this one. I went up to the media event a couple weeks ago and I’ve got my old uh standard Oz here as just kind of like a somewhat visual aid, but uh the one I have there that’s pretty cool. They’re going to try to laser etch some cool stuff on the sole with uh with with the Club Junkie logo. So hopefully mine uh will come back with uh something cool on the sole, I think. Uh you know, laser etched. I said like, you know, do whatever you want, go as crazy as you want. I’m like, if you want to have it like dancing, whatever, like I’m all for it. Uh so we’ll see. We’ll see what they do. and uh it’ll be done and shipped out to me. It was pretty cool. Anyway, they they did kind of a a little bit of a fitting us thing there and then built our putters while we ate lunch. So, they were ready to go when we went out on the course and we went and played. So, we had to visit their headquarters and uh and all that. And it was actually it was pretty pretty cool, pretty interesting. Uh I had not uh I’ve seen some photos of labs headquarters, but uh did not know much about it other than uh you know, before I got there. And it was pretty cool. Uh, got to, you know, hang out with Sam, the CEO, Sam Han. Got to meet some of the other people, uh, in in in R&D and all that. Uh, like Brian, who’s one of the, I think he’s like the VP of engineering or something like that. Super awesome guy. Um, it was really fun to to get to see everything cuz it is while it is what you think, it’s not what you think, uh, they are very different uh, from other manufacturers of golf clubs uh, in terms of some of the stuff they do, but they’re very similar in other ways. uh like we get a walk through their R&D department and some of the stuff like we can’t you know talk about it but some of the stuff that they do uh in terms of equipment and testing and all these other stuff is similar to what I’ve seen other places. Uh so it was kind of cool that they’re doing sim you know stuff similar. They’re doing it kind of their own way. Uh but they’re doing some stuff very similar. Uh we get to see the assembly area and kind of how they do things. Some of the CNC machines, the laser etching, I mean all the stuff that they do. Uh we get to go around and it’s a pretty unique place. They’re uh they’re in Eugene, Oregon. So, they’re not in Carl’s bad like everybody else. They’re in Eugene, Oregon. And it’s at a course called uh what’s it called? Emerald. Uh oh, geez, why did I forget the name now? I can’t believe uh their thing, but they’re on an actual golf course. And uh it was it was pretty cool because they uh now I can’t think of the name of the uh um the place. Oh, well, jeez. It’s Emerald Something. God, I can’t remember the name. Oh, but their headquarters there. So anyway, it was supposed to be a like golf resort and spa and all this stuff. And I guess that part of it, the resort, spa, all that part like didn’t work out. So it’s kind of a cool little course. Uh really kind of uh riskreward off the tea. Uh it’s not crazy so demanding where if you don’t hit uh like one specific spot, you’re just blocked out. But if you hit a good T-shot, you’re kind of rewarded for it. Uh and if you don’t, you’re you’re probably going to be a little bit blocked out, whatever. So it was a cool course. Not crazy long. We played it from one of the more up Tes. Uh, so it was wasn’t too bad. The greens were pretty nice. Uh, they weren’t crazy fast. Uh, they some of them had some undulation, but it’s cool because you walk in and you you kind of go into the parking lot, you walk in through the gate, and on the right is like the building with like the pro shop and stuff, pro shop, little restaurant, all that. Uh, for the golf course, and on the left is the big putting green, practice green. So, you walk down this aisle there. And as you walk down the aisle, there’s a big door and sign that says Lab Golf on this separate building that’s just beyond. And that building is Lab’s headquarters. Well, that headquarters used to be the resort and spa. So, when you walk into it, it it’s pretty interesting that like you walk in there and the layout is still very kind of old school part of that. There’s like an old restaurant that’s still there that’s not being used. It’s totally dark. It’ll probably be converted into something that lab will use later on uh as they kind of go through this uh you know, kind of expansion and all that. Uh, but like we walked into the R&D room where they do a lot of engineering and R&D and testing and all that stuff and they were explaining like this was the old I think this was the old spa room. Uh, was that and then we walked into another room uh that was kind of like holding a lot of like stuff. I think it was like components and shafts and all this stuff. It was kind of like a storage type room. It was really big. Like this was the women’s locker room uh back in the day. And there was like a hallway that went down to some offices, some engineering people and all. and it was like this was like showers and all this stuff. It was like pretty funny and pretty cool to hear, you know, this building that was something totally different and now it is labs headquarters. But, uh, on the the first floor is a lot of that stuff. And then you go you kind of walk up this ramp to the second floor and they’ve kind of kind I’ll call it their lobby, but it’s a huge massive indoor putting green uh with every lab putter you can imagine up against the walls. Like you walk in and they see the p put p put p put p put p put p put p put p put p put p put ping green against the wall. There had to be 200 lab putters uh up there. I mean links DF3s oz I mean everything from broomsticks to short every length you can imagine. Every lie angle, different alignments. I mean different colors. I mean you name it. Every different shaft. I mean they just had a million putters built and along that wall which is pretty cool. So, we got to go in there uh and that’s what they kind of presented us with the brand new uh Oz.1i HS. And as you can guess, the HS stands for heel shafted. So, it is a heelshafted Oz. So, this again, I don’t have mine in person. If you’re watching this on YouTube, there’s my my regular Oz that I have. Uh the shape is a little bit different. Uh when you look at the uh the new one, uh it seems just a hair softer uh from a dress, but it’s not. I I mentioned to to you know Brian the the the engineer. I was like yeah it kind of looks like it’s a little bigger and he goes it’s not. It’s the actually the exact same I think the exact same uh size and everything in shape as the as this Oz uh they’ve just done some modifications some changes to it uh in order to you know work with the h you know the the heel shaft uh and some stuff. So it was pretty cool to hear that it’s the same. It is different like the the back here where the center shaft in is there’s more material in the center where the shaft goes into it on the standard Oz. Well, they were able to kind of change that a little bit on the standard on the HS model. Fin it out. So, the top line looks a little bit more traditional. It’s a little more thinner and then it’s kind of stepped in the back cavity with some nice machine work out of it. And then the other big thing you’ll notice is in the back on the standard Oz, you’ll see the screws to hold uh the the steel face in place. Those on the new one have been moved to the sole. And it’s all just a a little bit of a just a different design, a little different shaping. Personally, I like the HS a little bit better in terms of looks. I kind of like the stylized back cavity and all that. Uh with the kind of the step in it, the machine work looks really nice. And to my eye, it just looks a little bit softer uh to my eye, which was kind of nice. And then of course with the heel shaft, uh you know, you see more of the putter head and more of the alignment system and all that. So So I’m a big fan of the HS. I like it a lot. I got to putt with it. Uh I got to play 18 holes with it as well as kind of do my fitting and all that. And I’m really excited to to get it uh when it shows up. So hopefully it’ll be here soon. But it’s kind of cool. So the the big thing they had was, you know, Sam kind of explained that, you know, with the all the success they’ve had, a lot of the feedback from both amateurs and on tour is that some people just do not like looking at a center shafted putter. Just not their thing. They don’t like looking at it. Uh it’s not something that line up well, all that jazz. So, they went about figuring out, all right, how do we get to those golfers and heel shafted was uh the choice. So, we saw them out on tour. I think at the Rocket Mortgage was the first place they showed up. Uh but they ran into some problems with making a heel shafted putter that’s also lie angle balanced. And the first one was how do you get, you know, we can get it lie angle balanced? They were like, that’s not hard, but then what if someone needs a different loft, lie, length, anything like that? Do they want forward press? Do they not want forward press? Do they want a more vertical shaft? All that. And that’s where kind of a lot of the problem solving and the engineering side of it came into it because if you basically take a putter and just you know a lab you know this this Oz one eye HS and you just bend it more upright it’s going to affect how the line angle balances. So it’ll change how it it sits. And what they did was was pretty unique. I mean thinking about it now it seems so simple but at the time it’s not as simple as you think. So they basically make as they call them risers. So in the heel there’s different length hoszles. So taller and shorter. So the standard one uh is a certain length and if you go flatter that riser or hoszle gets shorter and if you go more upright that hoszle gets longer. So they have 10 different sizes of hoszles in there to accommodate all the lie angles. Uh and that what that does is that keeps the shaft uh virtually going into the dead center. So even though when you look down on it, you see more of the head, virtually that heel shafted putter is the the shaft insert point if it were to extend all the way down into the head would go through the dead center. Uh and that’s kind of how it stays lie angle balanced uh with having this heel shaft. And uh you know, it’s definitely still a unique look. It’s not a pure true mallet look uh heel shift and mallet like you’d expect from say a Spider or an Odyssey or whatever you want to compare it to. it it definitely still has a little bit of that uh center shaft look to it. And of course the face is in front of the the shaft which you know for some people is still a unique look but I think it’s kind of a cool idea. Now the riser also the hoszle they made out of like lightweight aluminum and they said they they you know as you’re taking this weight and shoving it into the heel and making it tall and all that. How do you make sure that not only you know does this balance right and you know all that they had to make it light. So, it’s made out of aluminum, but then they were like, “Well, we could make it super light, but you also have to have durability cuz you think about it when you’re standing on a green sometimes you’re waiting for, you know, your partners to putt out or whatever.” And you lean on your putter, like you kind of lean on it and stuff like that. Like, it had to be strong enough to support those type of, you know, normal putter movements while also being light enough to not affect the B or affect the balance as little as possible. So, it was pretty cool to see. Uh, also, the face has been slightly redesigned. Uh, there’s also some potential there. Sam hinted at uh the fact that you’re probably going to see, you know, different face materials, different face millings, things like that. Uh we saw a couple different ones that were in development uh that they had down in their R&D area, but uh the face itself, completely different design. And and talking to Brian uh as well, he was kind of saying how much work went into making that face fit a certain way without having to just load it up with a bunch of double-sided tape. And, you know, calling it a day. like we really wanted this thing to fit so it sounded right, felt right, and it was durable and everything. So, uh, behind that face, while it looks still just like a, you know, nice L face in a sense, uh, he’s like, there was a lot of engineering that went into that. And the other part of that face is that it’s part of the waiting of the head as well. So, the head’s still aluminum, the inserts, uh, steel, but they needed that weight as well to get the head weight and stuff like that up. So, not only is it used for the sound and feel, but it also is used for the weighting of the putter, which I thought was pretty interesting. Uh, so very cool design there. Uh, and then also now having the ability for, you know, like the standard Oz, uh, you have the ability to have, uh, a shaft with with forward press like this one does. It’s got like the two degrees of forward uh, shaftling in it. You can have them, uh, vertical as well. So, you get both options with the heel shaft model, which is which is pretty cool. Uh, so you have a ton of options on and then the top uh, in terms of sight lines and all that, it’s all laser etched in, which is pretty sweet. and they do it like right there and it just boom, they just knock it out and they’ve got a ton of options on there. So mine at first when I saw it uh because we were kind of so we did a little fitting uh thing there. So they split up the group it was a bunch of media, a couple influencers and stuff. Half of us went uh on the tour and got to see kind of how everything worked and where everything was, R&D, all that stuff. Uh and then the other half, you know, was kind of, you know, did a fitting and we went through. through. So when it was my turn to come up and get fit, you know, we started going through, you know, I’ve had lab putters, so kind of went off what I had uh and then, you know, kind of went from there. And as we were fitting lie angle and all that, I was looking cuz he was handing me different putters at different lengths and line angles and we were kind of going through and seeing the tops and the one that he handed me at first, I can’t remember what color it was, but had this like crazy long lines and all that and I was like, it’s kind of busy. But as I was putting and you know, going through this, I was like, man, I was making everything with that putter. that putter was just like I was lining it up perfect. Uh so I ended up going with this kind of wilder crazy uh design on the top that features a lot of long lines across it, but even on the course it it seemed to work really well. But um yeah, did the fitting there. Uh went through. So I am I believe too flat. I’m either 68 or 69°. So I’m like too flat uh on there. So my hoszle slightly shorter. Uh I was there kind of with uh with Jake from Made from the Range. He was on the thing. We were kind of comparing our putters out on the course cuz we played together. Uh, and he was, I believe, just like one one up or two up. Uh, so it was funny looking at our our putter side by side, his huzzle, you know, a little bit longer and all that. It was kind of cool to see the differences there. But, um, yes, we went and got fit. And the other interesting thing is not only did he fit for angle and all that, uh, but the shaft fitting was totally different. It isn’t, you know, it’s not like a traditional shaft fitting. When you’re getting shaft fitting, you’re like, oh, it’s, you know, it’s like like drivers. So, you’re finding something to kind of control launch and spin and do things differently in time. Um, with these, it’s it’s really more about sound and feel. Uh, yes, there’s a stability aspect into some of the higherend stuff like the TPT and the gears and the new Diamana shaft and all that. Uh, there’s a bunch of those, but also a lot of it is sound and feel. And it was amazing hitting the same putter with different shafts in it side by side, just like kind of like going back and forth. the differences between the soft and the firmness and how it made those things feel. And uh I finally got to hit the TPT shaft. Uh mine I actually got the TBT shaft in it because I actually liked it. It was uh it was a really hard choice. I was going between the Diamontana 12K uh and the TPT and those were the two I was kind of uh looking at and that 12K and the TPT were both kind of the firmst. TPT was a touch more firm. Uh so you felt and sound or you could feel and hear a little bit more of that impact. uh you got a little more click off the face and you could feel that firmness. Uh and then as you went down like the Acro was definitely a little bit softer, like a more muted. It kind of absorbed some of that. Uh so it was very interesting. Uh gears kind of fell right in the middle as well. But um and then the steel shaft was kind of actually like one of the softest. It was really interesting uh of how those things all changed into it. And they were like, “Yeah, it’s it’s one of those things when you’re, you know, actually fitting hitting them and seeing which one do you actually like the best.” So uh I was really tough. I almost wanted the demonic. It was kind of a coin flip. I ended up going TPT. Uh so I’ve got the TPT one coming in there. But I really did like that like firmer, crisper feel off the face. So we got my thing dialed in. Uh you also had the ability, like I said, do shaffle or not. I actually ended up going with shaffling. A lot of people didn’t. Uh I I was really debating and again it was one of those things putting sidebyside between a shaft and the zero degree shaft and twoderee shaft. I just felt more comfortable with the two degree. And I think the same thing with the oz when when I got the the original. This the Ozone one I this one here. I had a vertical and a standard. And while the vertical one I love the fact I can put like a super superstroke pistol 1.0 on it. I just felt more comfortable with the forward shaft for whatever reason. And I you know I don’t know if it’s just cuz my mezz is built that way. My DF3 is built that way. Uh all my other labs are built that way. This just felt better. So, I ended up going two degrees of shaft lane uh on mine with uh the the press pistol 20 uh the standard kind of uh pistol grip that Lab has. And uh yeah, so 33 in 68 or 69° lie angle, so just a little bit flat. And then uh I went with kind of a little bit wilder uh top on it. And of course, I went with the cappuccino uh color because that’s my favorite. It is a little more diff It is a little different with this new one. the color is a little bit more like metallicy copper where my like mez is kind of like a tan. Uh this one here is definitely a little bit more of like a coppery type color. Uh which I kind of like. It was it was very interesting looking. So uh the fitting process was there kind of working one-on-one uh with somebody and you kind of went through uh and you did a little bit of soularching on yourself in terms of what do you like the sound and feel and all that. Uh but did get dialed in. Uh the other cool thing I know I’m a little bit scattered here is the other thing before I get into actually playing with it. The other thing that was really interesting was going through and uh while they wouldn’t show us I think they they mentioned like in the area where they weight balance all these things they they do the the waiting and the balancing they have some special tool I think some special tools special things they use uh that I believe were removed out of the room. We weren’t able to see it. Uh, but basically every putter that they make, whether it goes to a big box store like a Golf Galaxy or wherever and they’re stock sitting on the shelf there or you custom order your, you know, higherend custom spec, whatever, it all goes through this room. So, every single putter is touched by hand by someone there to either balance it and weight it or ensure it is done correctly because they said they were they did some putters for some of the big box stores that were done not in their facility in that facility there. It was done outside. They said those putters are shipped directly to Eugene to their headquarters. They check them all and then they ship them off to wherever they go, whatever store, whatever location gets them. So, every single lab putter, regardless of where you get it, whatever, was touched by someone in this, I’m going to call it extremely small room uh that they actually did all the waiting and balancing. So, it was pretty cool. Uh talking to Brian, I kind of, you know, talked about we talked about like tolerances uh and the shaft roundness and they kind of explained how that shaft the the straightness and roundness of the shaft uh affects the balance. Uh and and they were showing they put some shafts on this little machine. they had to show uh kind of the variances in roundness and like one of them like the tip section was totally like off. Um and then also so so I mentioned kind of like well you know the weights are you know different. I’m like I’ve I’ve weighed weights in other putters and drivers and other clubs and a 5 gram weight could weigh 4.9, it could weigh 5.6, it could weigh whatever like that. It can fluctuate a lot. and he said that their weights they actually pay more uh to ensure that their their weights are within a much tighter tolerance. So as crazy as you think like yes lab putters are not cheap. Uh the tolerance and stuff that they build to are pretty much unlike everything anything I’ve ever really seen. I mean I’ve seen some pretty tight tolerance stuff and some of the iron and driver and all that builds when it comes to swing weights and things like that. Uh but these go even a step beyond that. and the tolerances that they’re describing and showing uh were really really crazy. And it just goes to show that yes, it’s expensive, but for that money, like they are I mean it’s hand touched everyone. Like these things are all handone. Like this thing doesn’t just come out of a machine thrown in a bag in a box and it’s at your doorstep. Like it takes some time to make every one of these. And uh it it is really really pretty interesting. It was pretty cool. It was very eye opening. Uh I didn’t think, you know, I I knew they were a smaller operation than some of the big OEMs that I’ve walked through and all that and I was right. Uh but some of the stuff they do is definitely unique uh in that aspect and uh the stuff the lengths they go to to build something is is kind of beyond uh what I’ve seen uh really anywhere else. So it was really cool uh to get to talk to people, meet people who are doing this stuff and then see again I always tell you guys the passion that these people have. Like they are not out there just trying to yank 600 bucks out of your wallet. uh they’re literally trying to make the best putters they possibly can and whether that’s from an engineering standpoint, a build quality standpoint, I mean, whatever it is, uh it is done, it’s pretty cool. So, um so yeah, we got to go through all that and uh and see everything and then yes, so I got my putter built uh while I was eating lunch and then uh I was, you know, the social butterfly talking, hanging out, whatever with people and I was the first tea time. So, I literally ran out to the first tea with like one shoe on. when I was tying my shoes on the cart while the the other three guys were teeing off. Uh we went and played uh uh maybe it’s called Emerald Valley. I think it’s called Emerald Valley. Now I’m like uh Emerald Valley. Yeah. Uh no, Emerald Valley in Emerald Valley Golf. Yeah. So Emerald Valley Golf Course uh golf club uh is where it is. So very cool place. Uh very different than what I expected. I’d never played golf in Oregon other than Bandon, so it was very different. But uh a very cool course and you know Sam Han the CEO was was you know a big fan of the course and all that but um yeah so we got to do uh go and play. So I had my uh mine built again like I said 33 in one or two flat uh cappuccino. I went heavy head uh as well and uh they built it right there. I literally took the tag with my name off it on threw it away and I was out playing with it uh right away. So, um, interesting thing I will say about it, uh, is that like the standard Oz, uh, Oz onei like this one I have in my hand, uh, this is probably my least favorite. I’ve never puted with a link. I did putt with a link on their putting green, just a few, uh, uh, putts with it as I was kind of messing around with some putters. Uh, but out of them, uh, I do have to say this is kind of my least favorite only because it feels to me the least stable. Uh, it doesn’t feel like it wants to stay. It doesn’t to me it doesn’t feel like my feeling to me is that the face is pulling it through impact. Uh, and the Oz to me feels the least out of all of them. I think the DF3 has the biggest feel of that. Uh, that it feels like the face is just pulling through impact and staying on a straight line. I think the MEZ is very close to that. Uh, DF2.1 is is is pretty darn good. Uh, but the Oz was never my favorite. So, I was very interested to to putt with this thing. And I will say that it’s not DF3 uh stable in terms of that feeling, but it is definitely different than uh Oz Oz one Oz.1i. Uh, very different. And it was funny cuz I was talking to somebody there who was like, “I absolutely love my Oz.” And I was like, “That’s funny cuz I don’t love it.” And we were talking and he’s like, “Yeah.” He’s like, “I got a bunch of arc in my stroke and it’s just like it feels really natural.” And I was like, “That makes so much sense cuz I try to be a little bit more straight back straight through.” Uh, especially with with these these, you know, angle balance putters. Uh, so we had a very interesting conversation about that. It made a whole lot of sense. But the HS I feel like is a little bit closer to it’s kind of more mess-ike in terms of that feeling. It feels very stable or feels much more stable than the Oz. I feel like it slots in kind of right there. Very similar to Mez1 Max. Maybe just a hair uh less than that, but very very good. Uh and so anyway, we got out the first hole. I kind of walked out. Zero warm-ups. I mean, nothing. Uh hit a ball, caught a tree, uh limb, so I kind of had to hit this low shot. It hit the green and ran just off, so just on the fringe in the back. Um so had a little downhill that broke to the left. and first putt out of the gate. Didn’t put on the practice green, nothing. I knew no idea how fast they were. Uh, one of the guys in the group said, “Yeah, they’re they’re fairly quick. Uh, and hit a nice little putt, came off the fringe, rolled down to like 4 in, and off I went.” So, it was kind of nice. Uh, the first swing felt really good. Uh, like I said, the the setup I had, I really liked. Uh, but as we went through the course, the one thing that I can say which I’ve struggled with, I struggled with the DF3, I’ve struggled with the Oz, uh, is alignment. Uh, I’ve always felt like the the lab putters are super consistent, but alignment for me was always a struggle. And that’s why I think I love my MEZ 1 Max so much was that the sharp long lines on it, the more angled thing, it it just allowed me to line it up better. And the HS I think really allows me to do that better because I can see more of the top of the head when I look down on it. Again, I got kind of a a little wilder uh sight line on there. It’s kind of triple. So, it’s got like a kind of a a middle one that’s thick or it’s like a dual in the middle and then I’ve got outside ones as well. There’s kind of a decent amount going on there. But, I felt like that day I was starting ball. I I was I was be able to line up that putter to my intended target far better than my other lab putters other than my mezz, which I didn’t have with me. I didn’t like they basically said like, “Don’t even bring a putter. We’re gonna have a putter for you.” Um, so the alignment portion I thought for me was absolutely massive. Um, even putts that I was a little bit tricked on the read and things like that, I started the ball exactly where I wanted to start it uh, pretty much every time. I mean, yes, I’m I’m not that great. So, every once in a while I would close the face or something like that. Uh, and I missed a putt here and there. I think on one of the par threes, uh, I should have made a birdie putt. Uh, or one of the holes I should have had a birdie putt that was like 2 feet and I just left the face wide open on it. I just didn’t commit to hitting it hard enough up the hill. And uh so that stuff is still possible, but my alignment on that was absolutely massive. And you know, I didn’t always use a line uh when I line up. I I do a lot when I’m playing, you know, normally, but when I’m playing with a group like that, we’re just kind of playing and talking and all that, but uh the more I would line up uh the putt, it was really easy to use the line of the ball, uh especially the the aim alignment on the titleless ball to where my target was and hit those shots or hit those putts really, really easy. And I thought that was one of the biggest things I walked away from as this is a bigger improvement over any other lab to me. Uh was was just visually, you know, looking at that and being able to line it up. So that I’m a big fan of. Um I think the sound and feel is great. Uh it’s it’s like an Oswan eye. Uh if you put it with that with the steel face insert, uh it’s got just a hair of click to it. It’s very solid feeling. Uh it takes most of that aluminum feel out of it. Uh it may be a touch softer due to that aluminum body, but for the most part, the sound and feel is really good. It’s really solid. Uh playing a Prov 1X, you get that just a little bit of click from the firmness of the ball, and it’s very pleasant. I I really like it. I uh I I like I told uh you know, Brian there, I keep mentioning his name. Him and I talked a lot. I mentioned to him, I was like, “Man, I would love a Mez One Max with a steel insert.” And he was like, “Yeah.” He’s like, “They’ve prototyped some stuff and they’ve tested around whatever. like they just haven’t got it to where uh I think he said something with the the amount of weight it shoves. It just it it may not ever work, but right now it’s it’s not there, but they they’ve messed with it. Um and uh I was saying I just really like the sound and feel. I think that was a huge change was moving to that. And I think the maybe future ability to have other millings, other inserts, things like that into these uh into these putters, I think is going to be huge cuz sound of feel I think is super solid. Uh much like the Oz, I think it’s the best feeling ones. Uh I I like that little bit of firmness over the softness of the DS3 and the Mez1 uh by far. Like I’m I’m more of a fan of it. So sound and feel is really good. I didn’t really notice a big difference between the new face design and the Oz uh that I have, you know, here. Uh pretty much very similar in terms of that solid feel and that click. Uh but very very good uh in terms of the sound of feel. And then the roll of the ball was was was great. Uh never had a ball that I thought had any type of skidding or hopping, anything like that. Uh, now they will never say that the face milling is, you know, promoting any type of roll or doing a whole lot there. Uh, you know, but, you know, that part of it, I thought it rolled very well. Ball came off. It definitely isn’t too hot. Um, they mentioned with that steel face, they said the, uh, steel face to aluminum, uh, the distance control was different. I think they say the steel face is like 4 to 6% uh, hotter than the aluminum. I guess the aluminum would come off a little softer. Uh but the ball speed number they noticed uh in terms of testing conditions was like four to 6% um you know faster with the steel which was was pretty interesting. I thought it would actually be a little bit slower but uh that is not how it is. So distances just a hair longer but I thought it was super consistent. Uh it was super easy to to hit. I never had a putt uh I mean there was one that you know I I I never played the course so there was one that the the pin was up on like a little crest and it rolled away. That one I hit a little long and it rolled by the hole but that was just because undulation. I never had a putt that uh that I hit that went by uh that either came up short or went by too much or too long that I was shocked at. Uh everything was really consistent in terms of the roll there. Uh and then stability seemed uh seemed actually really good. Uh I know that line angle balance or zero torque, whatever you want to call it. Uh some people say they’re not as stable just because that shaft in the center, the face can rotate on that axis. If you hit on the toe or the heel a little bit, uh you know, the the face can rotate a little bit more. I felt like this was fairly stable. Uh again, I think DF3 is probably the most stable. uh in the lab lineup, but I thought the HS was pretty good. It felt a little bit better than the standard Oz to me. Uh my miss lately has been uh a little bit off the toe. I think I kind of bring it back and I get out outside and come down on it. Uh so I get out on the toe a little bit and those shots there went pretty darn straight. I mean, I I never had anything that I felt felt was that far offline or anything like that. Uh it was pretty uh pretty solid. Overall, I like the feel of the TPT when I got it outdoors. you know, when you get outside, the sound changes a little bit because you don’t have like kind of the confined space uh of an indoor uh putting green. But out there, I thought the the sound and feel was good. It was still kind of crisp. It had just a little less audible click to it uh out there than I felt like it had uh you know, indoors, but overall, I was really pleased with it. I thought that shaft was extremely stiff. Uh you knew where that head was throughout the whole stroke. There was just no flex, no movement to it. Uh and this thing really uh it performed really well. So, it’s going to be interesting. Do I like the HS more than I like the MEZ? Uh, that will be interesting because I’m going to have to go out and actually play with it on kind of like my courses that I play and all that. Uh, but it is a really solid putter. I think they did a nice job. I like the fact that they’re still keeping a ton of customization. I’m excited to see where that part of it goes cuz I know people when you’re spending this kind of money, you want something that’s, you know, kind of what you want. And I think them having the ability to kind of make a lot of changes in terms of colors and uh sight lines and things like that, different shaft, different grips, all that makes it a little bit more palatable when you start looking at uh how that uh you know that you can make that putter your own. Um and then the other interesting thing too is I guess you know with that hoszle you can uh or they call it riser they can change it. There’s a bolt to it. It actually fits in. It’s bolted in place. Uh, and I guess like if you ever changed up your putting stroke, did something different, they could technically change that huzzle. I don’t think they’re going to ever like sell hoszles. Uh, they said they kind of don’t know about that, but you could change it out if you for some reason needed to change out the huzzle uh for a different line angle change if you know your putting stroke changed or something like that. So, kind of cool as well uh that all that worked. But really just a a solid putter. I’m I’m overall really happy with it. Uh, so far I I think it would be it’s hard to say will it be my favorite lab. Uh, I don’t know cuz it’s got to go against the Mez One um the Mez 1 Max. So, we’ll see when I get it here if I’m able to if it’s able to knock that out. Uh, I don’t I don’t know. It’s always interesting because I always say like yes, they will. Uh, cuz I like when Oz first came out, I was super excited. I was like, “All right, MEZ is done.” And it wasn’t. Uh, when DF3 came out, I kind of thought Mezz might be done. It wasn’t. Uh, so I I don’t know yet. We’re going to see kind of how that plays out uh when I get it. But overall, the first round I putted really well. I would say in the front nine um I don’t remember what I shot, but I mean the front nine I putted extremely well. I made a couple long putts. Uh I didn’t miss any short putts. And then on the back nine, I think the 103°ree heat started to kind of get to all of us. We all kind of uh you know fell apart a little bit on the back n was you know three putting things or anything like that. I mean, I was leaving everything close to the point where uh you know, people would just be like, “That’s good.” Or, you know, you had like a a one foot putt or whatever. I mean, it was all stuff really close. So, out of that whole day, uh I I puted you know, better than anything. So, that was a really big day. I chipped really well, too. But, um I puted really well. So, uh yeah, the BL brand new Lab uh OziHS uh I think it’s pretty cool. I I think it’s a nice thing. I think if you’re someone who Yeah. visually doesn’t like the center shaft, I think this is definitely a legitimate option. Does it solve all of the look issues uh with a langle balance putter? No, I don’t think so. But I think this is definitely a step in the right direction. And I think it definitely gives uh you some options when you start looking at that compared to the other lab putters because it is it is different. Uh you know, some of it’s the same, some of it you just can’t change uh what it looks like. Uh but from a dress, it definitely does change uh the look a little bit. And I think some people are going to like that. And I think it’s going to bring some players in who have not really liked lab putters because of that visual of the center shaft and it’s going to give them the ability to try it and not have looks be the determining factor of not playing it. So very cool. If you go to labgolf.com, you can go check it out. Their stuff is up on the site. I know I was messing with the uh the build your own one uh early in the morning on Wednesday uh and it was not functioning 100% correctly. like the changes you made, all that weren’t showing up on the site. Uh I don’t know if they fixed that yet. I’m hoping that they have uh if they haven’t, but uh I I was messing with it just to see some of the different uh sight lines and things like that. And uh it it wasn’t quite working. So, I’m going to go in and mess with it again, see if it’s working. Hopefully, it is cuz there’s a lot of really cool options and all that. So, hopefully I’ll have mine here soon. I’m excited to get on the course. I’ll report back when I do and uh I’m going to take it out and put it right against the mezz and we’ll see what happens between those two. But maybe I’ll do the end of the year then uh you know lie angle balanced or zero torque kind of putter ranking because I know I did my first one. Uh maybe we’ll see if this one uh if anything changes. So that’ll be uh be pretty cool, pretty exciting. So yeah, that is uh the Oz IHS. I’m a big fan. I like what they’ve done and I’m excited to see what else uh Lab’s going to come out with. So I know that they had that funding. So there there’s definitely some ideas kicking around over there and it’ll be cool to see what is next on uh on on their plate. So uh yeah, like I said, go to lab.golf.com, check out uh everything there and uh yeah, see what how would you build your custom uh you know, Oswan HS putters. So that’s all I’ve got today. Uh hopefully you guys have a good one and uh yeah, follow me on social, club Junkie Pod. Uh wherever you’re listening to the podcast, please like, subscribe, all that jazz. Uh it would be really helpful and uh yeah, that’s all I’ve got. So, have a good weekend. Play some golf. Have a good long weekend. And, uh, we’ll jump back into it next week.