Introduction

In September, LAB sent me a duplicate of my (then) Accra gamer with a TPT shaft as part of an MGS TPT test. Since then, its been my gamer and I absolutely love it. My handicap has come down from 8.3 to 4.8 since the start of the test in September 2024 (only competition scores count in Australia so it’s not a vanity handicap), thanks in part to my LAB TPT DF3 Armlock, and a new set of Cobra 3D Printed irons.

Since then, the Oz.1i has been released. I’ve been waiting patiently for the Armlock version. Like most golfers on this forum, I get jealous of newer shinier toys. The email announcement from LAB arrived overnight (Australia time), and the order went in about 10 nanoseconds after reading it. I blame my wife for being overseas and not being in a position to emotionally support me in my moment of weakness.

I expect the question you’ll ask is why I got the Oz.1i, if I legitimately like the DF3. Honestly, for multiple reasons that I can’t say because I know anyone with half a brain would call them out as bullshit, but the most legitimate sounding one I could think of is that I’d like to test the Oz.1i to understand if the inserts would be better for our slow greens. The irony of this is that 4 weeks after ordering, our course changed the greens keepers and they finally started rolling faster

Ordering process

The LAB website is pretty mature and intuitive, so the biggest issue you’re going to encounter is the wide selection of alignment choices and colours.

I ordered mine in blue. I decided to go from black to blue for the TPT test and I really like it. For those who are interested, the Oz.1i uses the same spec as the DF3, so if you’re happy with the spec, you can order the same spec without redoing your fitting.

Having tested the TPT as part of a MyGolfSpy TPT test, and subsequently adding a TPT driver and 3 wood shaft, I don’t need any convincing on the value that TPT adds.

My putter was ordered on the 11th March, and went into production on the 4th April which is just over 3 weeks and sooner than I expecting given I was hearing the lead time was closer to 8 weeks. I’m not sure if being an early Armlock order helped. The putter shipped on the 11th April and arrived on the 22nd April.

Customisation and fitting

The thing that LAB has going for it is the level of customisation which none of the other brands offer. You get to pick your colour, alignment, shaft, and grip. 

For the most part, all they offer is some weight customisation. Not even a shaft or grip unless you go to the Scotty Cameron store where you get charged a small fortune for some paintwork modifications.

The irony is most of those brands offer fully fitted iron and woods, with fittings forming a big part of their strategy, including lie angle adjustments. To not offer the same for putters seems like a big miss, particularly given for the average player, it forms roughly 40% of their entire round.

Quality and construction

As usual, the quality of the LAB putters is outstanding. The Oz.1i itself is beautiful, the milled steel insert looks great and there is very little to complain about when it comes to the construction. The design is more traditional and should appeal to those who don’t like the DF3 or Mezz design.

The headcover is the stock headcover. I would really love it if LAB created a unique TPT specific headcover for TPT shafted LAB putters. LAB? Are you listening?

Fortunately my DF3 matching head collection fits the Oz.1i head, although it’s a little loose.

The durability of the powder coating isn’t fool proof so it will show scratches and dings over time, if you aren’t careful. Someone suggested a pain marker so I may have to colour match one up for mine. I’d love one in brushed aluminium, but I think it would be too hard to get right. Maybe one day when I have cash to burn, I’ll buy one, remove the powder coating and brush the aluminium.

Aesthetics

The Oz one is definitely the best looking LAB mallet in the traditional sense of the word. If you’re coming from the DF or Mezz, the Oz.1i is the pretty sister. The Oz is closer to a Scotty Cameron halfback. LAB say Adam Scott design based it based on a sports car, and I would guess that’s the back of a Porsche 911. 

Is it the best looking putter on the market? I’d prob any say no. I think there are some really beautiful putters out there that fall closer to form than function, but it’s definitely in the category of the sports car territory in the looks department, where DF3 looks more like an F150 and the Mezz a cybertruck.

I do think the front plate adds to the aesthetics. 

Feel

First off, from a weight perspective, the Oz.1i feels lighter than the DF3. I don’t have the right tools to do an accurate weight comparison so hopefully someone can check for me.

The Oz.1i definitely has a noticeably more direct feel, along with being much hotter off the face than the DF3. On a 5 yard putt, the Oz.1i travels about 2 feet further on the same putting stroke. I’d like to try the new gears shaft to see how it compares but I wasn’t prepared to take a risk on a shaft I may not like, no offence to Gears, just more of the known vs unknown.

The Oz.1i is different in the sense that it feels like there less weight in front of the head and behind the shaft. This may seem like an obvious statement, given the designs, and obviously this contributes to stability on the DF3 which I’ll cover in the next section.

Stability

The DF3 is very stable. I was hoping the Oz.1i would be similar and it lived up to my expectation.  It’s hard to say which is better, but I cant help but feel the DF3 has the edge. 

For an armlock, the stability is less of an issue so I didn’t have any concern. On a short putter, there may be more obvious differences.
The one thing I will say gives me a slight stability advantage over the DF3 is long putts where I find the hotter face on the Oz means I don’t have to swing as hard. It feels a little more controlled. 

Distance control

Our greens are slow. They’ve been going through a patch of coring and vertidraining to get rid of the thatch issue which was causing drainage issues. As a result, our greens have been slow for as long as I’ve been at the course, but they are on the tail end of that and we are seeing them speed up.

While the DF3 has been great, the interesting question was always going to be what distance control was like on our slower greens, and how would the putter go on faster greens.

Comparatively, the Oz.1i.travels just over a foot further on the same swing from 5 yards. l have found my putting on the slower greens has definitely improved and I’m less inclined to leave it short with the Oz. 1i.
That said, I have no intention of selling my DF3 and I intend to revisit the comparison when the greens speed up.

Other thoughts

Annoyances? Yeah, one big one. The name. Do you have any idea how annoying it is typing the name. I can’t even shorten it because then you don’t know if I am talking about the Oz with or without the insert. And I get the version, but the DF3 doesn’t have a dot, why the dot? Why not just the Oz1, it would have been easier to type.
Outside of that, my next annoyance is why not the DF3i? The insert is actually pretty good so I think they should consider a DF3i. 

Compared to the DF3

• Compared to the DF3 it’s really not a difficult comparison. 
• Stability – DF3
• Feel – Oz.1i
• Speed control – hard to pick a winner here, its really going to be an individual thing but for me, on our current slow greens, the insert is the winner. That said, I may consider a non-insert Oz for faster greens at a later stage.

Conclusion

If you’re asking what my choice is, I’m going to say the Oz.1i is a definite pick on our greens. I’m leaving less short and I don’t feel like I have to hit the ball as hard on long putts which helps with my accuracy. 
We do have a new greenskeeper who is going to be fixing them up, make them faster and that could change things. As a result, the DF3 will stick around for the time being. have to say I don’t know. It’s probably too early to make the call and they are both very closely matched. I’m going to persist with the Oz.1i for now to give myself a chance to see if it’s a better fit. The fact that they are so closely matched is a good thing, the DF3 is a very good putter.