Zero Torque Putters

garyt1957 · 2025-10-01T18:30:01+00:00

Who has tried/ uses one? Does it work? Did you adjust your stroke as recommended?

rsvman2

Sneakylong A lot of what you said in your post used to be true. But the quality of Chinese knock-off stuff, including golf clubs, has increased exponentially over the past 5-7 years.
Direct comparisons of copy drivers versus the genuine article, performed with top quality launch monitors, largely show that performance differences that used to exist are gone now.

I have zero doubt that the Chinese could make a knock-off Lab putter that performs the same (or within a percentage point) as the real deal and sell them for less than half the cost.

Par4QC

rsvman2 I have zero doubt that the Chinese could make a knock-off Lab putter that performs the same (or within a percentage point) as the real deal and sell them for less than half the cost.

If they have the correct, and good, equipment for machining, they can make exactly the same. Anyone could. And as far as the metals they might use, hell, we get/use a lot of foreign metals here. And our aluminum might even be lesser quality than theirs.

Could Chevrolet make a Ford F-150 truck? Absolutely yes, exactly the same.👍

candukid

rsvman2
I was going to reply like this. The OZ is a hunk of machined aluminum. Not very difficult to program a CNC to make exact copies. Put the same weights in it as a real LAB and voila, you have an exact copy that plays the same.
Now that saying, the shaft you get and grip are not the same as you get in a real LAB no matter what it says on the shaft. I have replaced the shaft on my HS with a UST frequency filtered shaft. The CS OZ I am still contemplating.

Sneakylong

rsvman2 I have zero doubt that the Chinese could make a knock-off Lab putter that performs the same (or within a percentage point) as the real deal and sell them for less than half the cost.

I'm sure they could. But don't call it a L.A.B. putter. Again, have no problem with 'clones', but don't use the OEM name on the club and pass it off as an original (OEM). No one should be ok with that.

Use some other acronym. Like C.L.A.B. (Cloned Lie Angle Balanced lol). China is notoriously known for stealing intellectual property. They don't play by the rules.

jsippy73

candukid I was going to reply like this. The OZ is a hunk of machined aluminum. Not very difficult to program a CNC to make exact copies. Put the same weights in it as a real LAB and voila, you have an exact copy that plays the same.

Agree. One would think the sooner or later the real LAB putters would come down in price.

Sneakylong

Typhoon That being said, you story about the guy buying one used that had an Accra shaft… Temu uses the Accra shaft too. So who knows, fake or real?

No he said he bought his new. And that's the issue I have with counterfeit clubs. If it gets resold how is the untrained eye supposed to tell if it's a legit OEM or a fake?

Edit: He may have bought it from TEMU / AliExpress etc. and was afraid to say so. lol

I have no problem with 'clones' as long as they're not using the OEM name on it. But if it's marked as L.A.B. then that's not good.

I bought a Ping G15 wedge on Ebay years ago. It was clearly a fake. Very noticeable. I called the seller and he said just throw it away and he'd credit my account.

I only buy from reputable authorized sellers. I like Edwin Watts myself because of their 90 day playability guarantee.

garyt1957

Sneakylong I have no problem with 'clones' as long as they're not using the OEM name on it. But if it's marked as L.A.B. then that's not good.

They're still stealing intellectual property and that sucks. Fuck clones.

Par4QC

Sneakylong No one should be ok with that.

Not a doubt that LAB knows about these heads/putters being sold.
I've not seen anything about any lawsuits.
Telling, it is.😉

IF....LAB is behind all this, they could not use the shafts they use for their online putters, and sell at the prices they are, thru Temu, etc..

candukid

Sneakylong
They do sometimes.

rsvman2

Sneakylong Agree. They shouldn't brand them as the real deal. I was just replying to the idea that knock-offs were always lower quality, which used to be true but is not anymore.

ode

Sneakylong I like FLAB .... F for Fake🙃

candukid

Par4QC
It makes you wonder why on earth LAB didn’t serial number theirs. Easy to tell a fake PING or TM just by the serial number. Would not have been difficult for LAB

Sneakylong

Par4QC

Quick Google and this came up.

https://www.golflink.com/equipment/how-to-spot-fake-lab-putter

Typhoon

candukid Look at the TM p790 heads you bought…can’t be told from OEM but you don’t hear of any TM lawsuits.

Par4QC

Sneakylong
That still does not mean 'fake'. They may just be cheapened for profit...shafts, hc, grips... but actually the exact same head.

I'm not saying they are fakes, but I'm also not going to say they are the real McCoy. Until I see action taken by LAB Golf.

Hell, all they would need do is notify a certain golf playing 'high level U.S. g'vt official' about these foreign imports and it would stop within hours!! IYKWIM😉😄

candukid

Sneakylong
Numbers 1 and 2 are not applicable to mine. Weights were lock-tighted in. Mine is perfectly balanced.
Visually it is indistinguishable. I have compared pics of real vs mine and there is no difference.
I own a “LAB” putter that didn’t cost me a grand.

jsippy73

Par4QC Hell, all they would need do is notify a certain golf playing 'high level U.S. g'vt official' about these foreign imports and it would stop within hours!! IYKWIM😉😄

I'll point this out to "Him", will be corrected shortly. Ha, ha!!

Sneakylong

Par4QC That still does not mean 'fake'. They may just be cheapened for profit...shafts, hc, grips... but actually the exact same head.

So…. What you’re saying’s is L.A.B. Golf has made a deal with these Chinese EBay’s to sell their product at a fraction of the price so as to undercut their sales here in the U.S. ? That actually makes sense to you?

Can you imagine Ping pulling that deceiving bullshit? If they ever got exposed pulling that it would be disastrous.

Color me not buying it. 🙄 But, here in Florida there is some land for sale that only has a little bit of water on it. Some might call it water front property. But most would call it a swamp.

Sneakylong

candukid I own a “LAB” putter that didn’t cost me a grand

No you don’t. You own a counterfeit. Email L.A.B. Golf and see what they say. Dollars to donuts they say the same.

candukid

Typhoon
This is true. TM must either be allowing them to resold by Chinese resellers with their blessing, or they can’t be bothered.
Either way, you get no customer service with them. The fact that I am able to do all the adjustments myself, makes it a no brainer. I have $2300 irons for about $400.

sdandrea1

garyt1957 They're still stealing intellectual property and that sucks. Fuck clones.

Clones are ok in my book, counterfeit is a big NO! As long as there is no patent infringement, it's ok to copy something, IMO. That has lead to a shit ton of technology advancement in the tech world.

Nat

garyt1957

That’s the proverbial million dollar question, are they stealing intellectual property? As I’m sure you know, there are many many open source designs in China that the foundries sell to multiple producers. Maybe, just maybe, the lab designs are open designs.

Sneakylong

garyt1957 They're still stealing intellectual property and that sucks. Fuck clones.

Absolutely…. If they really are….. It most cases a clone is just a cheap looking copy. Cosmetically may look similar, but far from the same. And they don’t use the OEM’s name. Hence the word clone vs. counterfeit.

A counterfeit tries to deceptively pass itself off as an original. A clone clearly does not by not using the OEM’s name.

garyt1957

sdandrea1 As long as there is no patent infringement,

This I agree with.

candukid

Nat
Or maybe the design isn’t patented?

Sneakylong

Nat That’s the proverbial million dollar question, are they stealing intellectual property? As I’m sure you know, there are many many open source designs in China that the foundries sell to multiple producers. Maybe, just maybe, the lab designs are open designs

If L.A.B. Golf didn’t trademark their name then they’re imbeciles. Open source on a design is one thing. Clearly L.A.B. doesn’t hold a patent on the zero torque technology. Others like TaylorMade and Odyssey etc. have their own versions.

Regardless any copy of their design cannot say L.A.B. on it without it being a fake. Fake as in counterfeit.

Again, unless their business model is to deceive their customers. Which I can’t imagine any business school having a class in how to ruin your business with such a bizarre business model. 🙄

Ping is the classic example of protecting their pricing. If they found that a retailer or Pro shop was undercutting their price they’d pull their product from that seller.

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