Choosing The Right L.A.B. Golf Putter Shaft

We get this question a lot: “Which shaft should I get in my L.A.B.?” Sam Hahn is here with real answers.

In this video, Sam breaks down every shaft in the L.A.B. lineup — from stock steel to high-performance carbon. He covers feel, sound, stiffness, and how each shaft affects your putting experience.

If you’ve ever wondered whether a premium shaft is worth the upgrade… this one’s for you.

What’s Covered in This Video

– The differences between Steel, Accra, Gears, and TPT shafts
– Why shaft frequency matters in putting
– How sound influences feel
– What type of golfer benefits from each option
– How to upgrade your shaft after purchase

Key Moments

00:00 – Do Putter Shafts Matter?
00:22 – Why Shaft Feel Is Real
01:03 – How Shaft Frequency Affects Performance
01:55 – Steel Shaft Overview
02:00 – Steel Shaft Demo
02:58 – How Ball Type Affects Feedback
03:05 – Accra Shaft Overview
03:44 – Accra Shaft Demo
04:45 – Gears Shaft Overview
05:48 – Gears Shaft Demo
06:23 – TPT Shaft Overview
07:10 – TPT Shaft Demo
08:09 – Are Premium Shafts Worth It?
08:26 – Can I Upgrade My Shaft Later?
08:45 – Ask Us Your Shaft Questions

Hey everyone, Sam with Lab Golf here. Um, today we’re going to talk about shafts. Um, we’ve been offering a whole boatload of shafts for a long time and we get a lot of questions about what what the differences are. It can be a lot to sort through. There are technical realities to each of these shafts that separate one from another. Um, and then I’m going to talk about a lot of the more subjective stuff with each of these shafts. Um, we’re going to start with our stock offering. Um, this is a True Temper X100. This is a really, really basic shaft. Um, the only thing that we do different than, um, if you were to just buy an X100 and put it in your putter is that we tip it quite a bit. Meaning, we chop some some extra material off the tip of the shaft, um, which helps sort of, uh, reduce some of the flex. The reason that aftermarket putter shafts have gotten really popular is is that even though it’s subtle, we did start to realize that even in a putting stroke, shafts do flex and they do recover and they do have an effect on performance. So, um, we’ve we’ve we’ve gotten to a place where we’re realizing that, uh, uh, that stiffer is better, but there’s a balance between, you know, going super hyper stiff and then losing some feel. So, um, as far as, uh, feel is concerned, the only the the metric that you’re looking at, the scientific metric is going to be frequency, meaning how quickly um, what happened um, at impact travels to your hands. when you have a high frequency shaft, typically that’s also paired with um uh a little bit more flex. And so finding that right balance can be can be tricky. So anyway, we’ll start with the steel shaft and I’m going to talk a little bit more about mostly some of the subjective stuff here. So um similarly to taste, um you know, you may have heard that your taste is actually 70% smell. Mostly what you’re tasting is actually what you’re smelling. Similarly, with feel on a putter shaft, a lot of what you’re feeling is actually what you’re hearing. Um, I I I wouldn’t be able to tell you the actual percentages of which is which. Um, but they each influence the other. So, let’s see what the steel feels like. It sounds like I would say of all of our offerings, this is this is the loudest click. Um, I definitely feel what’s going on at impact. I can feel really clearly whether it was kind of heel or toe. Let’s hit one more. But yeah, it’s got a pretty good click to it. The ball we’re using now is um a hardish ball. And by the way, that’s going to have a big impact on the the audio and tactile feedback that you get. Um so when you’re, you know, selecting a shaft bear, you know, keep in mind what ball you might be using. If you’re if you’re using a really hard ball, you’re going to all of these kind of click factor and audio factor is going to be a little bit higher. or if you’re using a soft one, it’s going to be a little quieter. Let’s move on to the Acra. So, we worked with uh the folks over at Acra um to develop this shaft. Gosh, would have been about three or four years ago now. Um at the time, we had a couple other carbon shafts in our lineup, but they were really expensive. And so we wanted to to see if there was a way that we could make a shaft um that was super stable um still had you know plenty of feel but also was was was uh priced reasonably. So um we we worked together for gosh it took about 8 months or so and we came up uh with the Acra. I’ve described the Acura in the past as a bit more lively. Um, and I wish I could find a better word than that that’s that’s more descriptive, but feels like there’s action at the bottom. Um, even though from a technical standpoint, this is stiffer um than our our steel shaft. Um, it somehow doesn’t feel that way. Um, and that’s going to have a little bit to do with where the weight is. All of these shafts within a few grams weigh about the same. Um, but where the weight is placed throughout the shaft is going to have um a pretty big influence. This one is a little bit lighter in the tip. Um, and I think that’s what contributes to that sort of lively feeling. It’s also got a click, but a little bit more high-pitched. Um, the feedback I get on this one isn’t quite as clear um as uh as the as the steel shaft. Um, but it’s still super clear whether or not I’ve healed it or I’ve towed it. um but just a little bit more muted on that front. Next, we’ve got the gears shaft. Um this is a new offering for us. Um for those of you who don’t know Gears, um if you’ve ever been on Instagram and seen somebody covered in little white balls all over their body um to do 3D motion capture, that’s Gears. Um the technology that they have has actually enabled them to learn more about what shafts do than any other shaft company really ever. um they are really into the nitty-gritty on what shafts do, how they work. Um and we worked together to develop um the Gears by Lab seamless shaft. Um the idea here was to try and get the same frequency um as a steel shaft, but still having all the stiffness um of a carbon shaft. And uh I must say they nailed it. Um, this shaft, um, you’ll see on the tech she on the spec sheet there, um, does have a very high frequency, is incredibly low torque, low twist, um, and sounds and feels pretty good. Yeah, this one has a bit more of a low pitched. I’m going to move on from click and go to knock. This one has a bit more of a knock sound to it. A little lower. And because of the way they’ve constructed this shaft, I’m getting plenty of feedback on this one. I’m really I can feel every aspect of the face. Um I know where I’ve struck it. I know what went on in it. Um and it still feels incredibly stable. Very, very good shaft. And last, but certainly not least, um the TPT. Uh we worked on this uh for a really long time. Um, TPT has some really impressive technology in the way that they make shafts. I’d encourage you to check out their website to learn more about it, but it’s really profound and like the um the offering from Gears. Um, this shaft as well as that one are made without a seam. So, um, the seamlessness um enables this as much for us as uh as anything. It’s just a lot easier to build them because these shafts are so consistent one to the next are just absolutely perfectly matched. Um, I’ve been using this TPT most of the time in most of the putters I use. Um, I prefer it. Let’s see. Yeah, I would describe this one as more of a more of a thud. Um, it’s got a very premium feel to it. Yeah, quite a bit quieter. Um, and I’m still getting plenty of feedback, though. Um, when we first came out with these, I I I enjoyed the way that we were um tagging it. We were calling it static free feedback, and that’s um that still rings true. That’s that’s how I feel about this um about this shaft. Um this one is the stiffest of all of our offerings. Um and the intent when we designed it was actually for long putters. We wanted, we had found that, you know, with the really heavy heads and the extra length, we were we were having trouble getting, um, some of the flex out of there, no matter how much we tipped it. So, um, this one is super duper duper hyper stiff from a performance standpoint on paper, um, is is is going to have some really good specs on it. Um, all of these shafts, um, they’re all great. Um, and what I’ve always said since the beginning, are these shafts lifechanging? I don’t know. Um, if they’re 1% 2% better, that means it’s better. And I’m personally looking for every advantage I can get. If money’s not an issue, have at it. Try these out. Um, if it is an issue, get the steel shaft. You’re going to have no problem with it. It’s still going to be the best putter you’ve ever used. Um, if you’ve already got a lab putter, we can swap out shafts. That’s the service that we offer. You would send it to us. You’d get the shaft. We’d rebalance it, re-swing weight it, do everything that we need to do in order to get it performing perfectly. Um, and uh, if you guys have any more questions about shafts, please drop the comments below. We love talking about this stuff. We know a bunch about it. Um, and that’s all I have to say about that. Hope you guys enjoyed it.