February 2025 - Highland Park Man Boosts Hot New Putter

Sam Hahn's insight and good fortune propel L.A.B.
Photographs by Charles Cherney
This article appeared in the February 2025 edition of Chicago District Golfer.
To read more Chicago District Golfer stories, head to our article archive.

The Oz putter is the newest design from L.A.B. Golf headed by CEO and Highland Park native Sam Hahn.

Sam Hahn uses the word “serendipitous.” How else to describe all the random dots that have connected in his unlikely golf journey? The 44-year-old Highland Park native went from being a musician and bar owner in Eugene, Oregon who didn’t play the game seriously until he was in his 20s, to being the founder of L.A.B. Golf, a company that is producing a line of putters that has revolutionized what you use on the greens.

“When you think about it, it really has been a series of extraordinary, serendipitous moments,” Hahn said.

Serendipity – or, as the Thesaurus says, “dumb luck,” “lucky break,” “happenstance” – led to 15 players using L.A.B putters at the Butterfield Bermuda Classic last fall, more than industry-leaders Ping and TaylorMade. The most notable big-name devotees, major champions Adam Scott and Lucas Glover, credit a switch to L.A.B. putters in helping them overcome long-time putting woes that had been holding back their careers.

The big picture, though, goes beyond the pros. L.A.B. Golf is quickly gaining a loyal following among recreational players as “a hot putter” and is receiving high praise from equipment reviewers and some of the top instructors in golf.

North Shore resident Hank Haney, Tiger Woods’ former swing coach, doesn’t hold back: “L.A.B. putters are the best I’ve ever seen.”

The technology seems complex, but the logic is simple, Hahn says. L.A.B. stands for “Lie Angle Balance.” The design allows golfers to deliver a square putter face at impact because, unlike other putters, it keeps the face square to the arc throughout the stroke. Hahn, with his distinctive curly hair, demonstrates how it works via numerous videos on the L.A.B. website and YouTube.

Hahn compares it to driving a car where the tires are not aligned.

“If you have terrible alignment and the car pulls to the left, you still can drive it, but it is much easier to drive when everything aligns properly.”

Former Masters champion Adam Scott at the 2024 U.S. Open holding the MEZZ MAX model.

Hahn continues, “The traditional putters all twist and require some manipulation of the hands to steady the head. [L.A.B. putters] are balanced in the playing position. As long as you keep the shaft on plane with an L.A.B. putter, the face isn’t going to fight you.”

The first serendipitous moment occurred when a golf pro in Oregon, Bob Duncan, showed Hahn an early version of the putter. Because he was a musician who also ran a bar/live music venue and had his days free, Hahn became an avid golfer, quickly dropping to a scratch handicap.

“Try this,” said Duncan, handing Hahn a center-shafted putter with a clunky-looking head resembling a waffle iron. “This is the best putter you’ll ever use.”

Hahn was skeptical. He hit a few putts and tossed it aside.

“The putter was just so absurd looking,” Hahn said. “It wasn't really anything I would actually consider. Bob insisted that I give it nine holes.”

Hahn said he promptly one-putted seven of the nine greens, making putts that totaled 150 feet. He became a believer and ordered the putter, which was then called Directed Force. When the putter head came loose, he sent it back to the inventor, Bill Presse of Reno, Nevada, for repair.

That produced another serendipitous turning point. Presse called Hahn to apologize for the broken putter, which sparked further conversations, as Hahn wanted to learn more about the putter. When Presse said he did not have the means to continue operating the company, Hahn decided to partner with Presse. The new company, rebranded as L.A.B. Golf, launched in 2018.

“If the putter never breaks, I never connect with Bill, and never get involved with the company,” Hahn said. “I became intrigued with the technology. Maybe there was a better way to build a better mousetrap.”

Initially, L.A.B. Golf relied on Facebook and word of mouth to get the word out. They also got the funky-looking putter placed into some golf stores.

Business, though, was slow, but serendipity stepped in again. Surfing legend and devoted golfer Kelly Slater – who frequently plays in televised celebrity events – found the putter in a pro shop and had it in his bag while playing in a pro-am with Scott. The former Masters champion from Australia has one of the purest swings in the game, but has struggled on the greens throughout his career. He saw Slater’s putter and asked to try it.

After noting Adam Scott's success, Lucas Glover ordered an exact replica of Scott's L.A.B. putter and went on to win consecutive tournaments in August 2023.

Scott saw the results at the 2019 Masters. Sporting a L.A.B. model with a big red putter head, he had a share of the lead after the second round. Scott didn’t win that week, but he did help put L.A.B. in the golf spotlight.

“It got us on the radar,” Hahn said. “It validated what we were doing.”

Scott was impressed with the technology behind the L.A.B. putter.

“You could tell straight away when you start hitting putts, that this putter performs,” Scott said. “There’s really something in the L.A.B. technology…I’m not perfect. I really would like something to help me perform better.”

L.A.B. got another big bump when Glover, a former U.S. Open champion who also has had his troubles on the greens, ordered Scott’s exact L.A.B. putter and won in consecutive weeks in August 2023, thereby putting himself into the conversation on whether he should be a Ryder Cup pick. Neither Scott nor Glover was paid to play the club.

While Hahn is happy with pros who use the putters, he is thrilled with what he is seeing on the consumer side. L.A.B., based in Eugene, with 150 employees, is producing new designs (including a scaled-down model of the original putter Hahn used) to keep up with growing demand. Presse, the original inventor, is no longer with the company.

L.A.B. putters can be purchased at major golf outlets like PGA Tour Superstore and Golf Galaxy. The chunky-head mallet DF3 retails for $449.99 and the MEZZ mid-mallet goes for $559. Hahn says 40% of their sales come online, with L.A.B. using an innovative system to fit putters remotely.

The bulk of L.A.B’s promotion is still done on the internet with Hahn being ever-present on YouTube and other sites. Hahn, though, says the best marketing continues to be basic word-of-mouth, where one golfer says to another, “You’ve got to try this.”

“If you play golf with your group every weekend and then all of a sudden, some dude gets this crazy-looking putter and starts making putts, you’re going to notice,” Hahn said. “People are checking it out that way. Rather than this default setting of skepticism we had early on, we're finally starting to experience people giving us the benefit of the doubt and wanting to try the putter. It’s awesome, because now we got a lot of people out there using the putter and putting better. And that is what it is all about.”

A former Chicago Tribune golf writer, Ed Sherman is a frequent contributor to Chicago District Golfer.