Went into Dick's Sports intending to purchase an Odyssey putter with Stroke Lab shaft which was on sale and ended up walking out instead with a new LAB OZ1i having the milled insert, stock shaft and 2 deg. forward lean. I liked the firmer feel with the OZ1i insert and used Dick’s 'Trade in Policy', which helped to reduce the cost of the LAB putter. If you are considering a Zero Torque putter by any of the manufacturer's out there, IMO you should check out a good number of reviews (YouTube) and spend some time rolling putts with a ZT comparing it to conventional face balanced mallet putters. I spent some time on 'practice putting greens' getting used to my LAB OZ1i putter to get the most out of the Zero-Torque (ZT) feature. Discovered I needed to reduce my grip pressure when compared to my previous face balanced mallet putters, as I was manipulating the face instead of letting the ZT putter feature work in staying square to the line. My experience when using the LAB OZ1i, is that my previous directional accuracy issues have almost disappeared entirely after adopting a ‘lighter grip pressure’ and letting the ZT putter face do the work! That is the major advantage I feel with a ZT putter and this LAB OZ1i insert putter. Putting is about - Direction, Speed, & Slope of Green. I now just concentrate on the slope of the green and the speed of the putt! After determining the line to the cup, I ‘position’ the line on the ball to the cup line, then aim or ‘square up’ the putter line to that on the ball and make a stroke by rocking my shoulders while maintaining a grip pressure that won’t open/close the putter face! The accuracy seems repeatable and even though you won’t make everything, your missed putts seem to end up closer. Recently made the ‘Longest Putt’ in our weekly League, in addition to putting from 10ft on the fairway to a forward Flag position on the green rolling it to within 4 inches next to the cup. Never able to do that before so my OZ1i is staying in the bag! YMMV of course, as only you can tell if a ZT LAB putter works for you but it’s worth a try if it can help lower some strokes.
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