L.A.B. Golf introduces two blades, Link.2.1, Link.2.2: What you need to know
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: L.A.B. Golf has made its name as the leader in what’s been called (but it doesn’t call) “zero-torque” mallets, but it’s now again exploring the look of a classic heel-shafted blade that still employs the stroke-easing technology of its lie-angle balanced weighting.
PRICE: $500 (custom models at $600). Available April 23.
3 Cool Things
1. Heeling power. L.A.B. Golf has been down the road of blade-looking models before with the Link.1 from late 2022, but like most putters the company has introduced, its hosel (while inventive) was still largely center-shafted. Sam Hahn, company founder and chief evangelist, knows that look still was an impediment to a sizable portion of the golf universe. That’s why when the company’s R&D team hit upon the idea of a hosel riser design for its heel-shafted Oz.1i HS last August, he knew it could have applications on the modern classic of blade shapes. Enter the Link.2.1 and Link.2.2, the heel-shafted cavity back blade shape that is the L.A.B. take on the iconic Ping Anser and Scotty Cameron Newport forms.
“Putters are such a personal thing,” Hahn says. “Everyone prioritizes different aspects of a putter design differently. While our technology was in its adolescence, our designs were constrained by certain realities around size and shaft location, but our R&D team has been adamant that we need to have something in our lineup for everyone.
“After years of development, we are so excited to be able to offer our technology in more traditional styles. It’s the most pure combination of tradition and technology we’ve ever produced, and we are stoked!”
The key to maintaining the relationship between the head’s center of gravity and the hosel axis (known by the company as "lie-angle balancing") is the weight, length and angle of the riser hosel. It’s also positioned slightly more toward the center of the head, but that’s hidden at address by the angle of the hosel riser. Making the hosel from lightweight aluminum also keeps the head’s overall balance from tipping too far toward the hosel side, moving it more in line with the center of the head. This relationship is designed to allow for the face angle to more easily align with the target. Like all L.A.B. putters, the Link.2 aims to minimize the amount of hand action required to square the face in the stroke.
To accommodate different lie angles on a heel-shafted design, custom versions of the Link.2.1. and Link.2.2 use a hosel that gets progressively taller as the lie angle gets more upright (hence the term “riser”). Ten different hosel configurations accommodate lie angles from 65 to 74 degrees, which according to Hahn accounts for about 98 percent of the custom fits the company has logged in its system.
2. Weight for it. Unlike L.A.B. Golf’s mallets, both models feature a CNC milled 303 stainless steel head. But to get the right balance of CG and heel-shafted orientation with heavier steel, these heads also need to incorporate a meaty dose of heel and toe weights on the sole. While the previous Link.1 had six sole weights, there are eight on these new blades, four each on the heel and toe sides. The precise weighting of each of those screws is part of the manufacturing process for every L.A.B. putter, where each one is hand-balanced before reaching the end of the production process. In the custom versions, golfers choose their preferred lie angle, shaft length, head weight, alignment marking, shaft and grip.
3. Two for (not) flinching. These two blade models look to accommodate players searching to stabilize their strokes but also who are blade purists while looking for a comfortable middle ground between blade and mallet. Link.2.1 is a narrow body blade with a slimmer overall footprint more in line with traditional blades. Link.2.2 takes on more of the square, wide-body shape with a slightly larger overall footprint. Both versions are offered with a black PVD finish. The face features a swirled milling pattern designed for a consistently soft feel and repeatable initial roll.