LAB Golf LINK1 Putter Review
Golfers have heard about the importance of matching the face balance of their putter to their preferred putting stroke for years. The LAB Golf LINK1 putter takes this a step further by perfectly balancing the face to the club’s lie angle, promoting a stroke that remains square to the target at all times.
Accomplishing this design is no small task, culminating in a putter that not only looks unique but behaves in a way no others can boast.
LAB Golf LINK1 putter profile.
LAB Golf LINK1 Putter Design
One thing is true when it comes to golfers and their putters: appearance matters. If you don’t like how a putter looks at address, chances are you’ll have zero confidence using it.
The entire catalogue of LAB Golf putters — including the LINK1 — features putter shapes and designs that look really close to the Anser, Newport, or mallet builds we all love, but with enough nuance to be something else entirely. The presence of multiple weighted screws throughout their design may cause a few raised eyebrows, to say the least.
These screws, which cannot be removed lest you void your warranty on the putter, are part of the “secret sauce” to the true magic of a LAB Golf putter. More on that in a bit.
During the ordering process, golfers have full customization of many design characteristics like preferred neck, alignment aid markings, and more. This is true for any putter available at LAB Golf, essentially increasing the number of possible design combinations many times over.
LAB Golf LINK1 putter face.
What’s With All the Weights?
As mentioned, LAB Golf’s bread and butter is what they call “lie angle balance” technology (hence “LAB”). This design keeps the putter head square to the target no matter your putting stroke arc, which is accomplished primarily by all the weights strategically positioned around the head.
To help illustrate how this tech works, LAB Golf offers multiple explainer videos on the brand’s website. I also made one, which can be viewed on our TikTok channel below:
As you can (hopefully) see from the video above, all putters want to twist or rotate to some degree during a putting stroke. LAB Golf’s design fights or eliminates this rotation to keep your putts rolling straighter and on your intended target line.
Feel and Performance
Admittedly, the look of the putter is not my favorite. I’m a sucker for a clean-looking Anser-style blade with minimal markings of visual distractions. The LAB Golf LINK1 is anything but.
In addition, the feel at impact from the LINK1 is slightly on the “sharp” side, exuding a hardness in both sensation and sound. This is a far cry from my otherwise preferred feel of a muted, dead sound with other putters.
However, and I cannot overstate this — the LAB Golf LINK1 performs exactly as advertised. Almost to a shocking degree.
The LINK1 feels absolutely perfect throughout the stroke, counterbalanced exactly how you need it to be throughout the head, shaft and grip. Nobody likes the cliche’ “this thing swings itself” descriptor, but I struggle to find another phrase to adequately describe how good this putter feels.
In terms of performance, you can immediately reap the benefits of the anti-torque lie angle balancing. I noticed a considerable difference in how putts stayed online with the LINK1 when compared to any others in my collection. I literally had to try and rotate my hands before impact for this putter to not remain square. It’s absolutely wild.
The result, of course, was more made putts. There’s no other way to put this: the LAB Golf LINK1 putter excels at what it says it should do. Period.
LAB Golf LINK1 putter.
Overall Impression
I test a lot of golf equipment. I own a lot of putters. I have my preferences and biases when it comes to putters. You probably do, too.
Regardless, I can say with 100% sincerity that the LAB Golf LINK1 putter is one of the best performing I’ve ever tried. It delivers on its promises, more of my putts have a better chance at being made, and that’s that.
I also don’t love the look of the putter. The number of weights seems visually excessive. The dancing logos wrapping around the blade does, too. The satin finish makes it look too industrial to my eye. But none of that matters.
The LAB Golf LINK1 is designed to help you make more putts as soon as it goes into your golf bag, and for me, it definitely delivers. While definitely pricey at $559.00, this putter will likely not fall within most players’ budgets. But if you’re going to splurge anywhere on your game, it should be on the club you use on every hole.
Look at this putter first. You won’t be disappointed.
