Agil Partners Co., Ltd.
The putter that led Lucas Glover to victory two weeks in a row on the PGA Tour is now on sale in Japan!
Overcoming the yips and making a comeback with L.A.B.Golf’s long putter ……
Agil Partners Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Representative: Masashi Yamazaki), which operates L.A.B.Golf Japan, won for two consecutive weeks in the final round of the 2022-2023 season of the PGA Tour (U.S. Men’s Golf Tour). We are expanding sales in Japan of the putter that Lucas Glover (USA) used to win the championship. Glover, 43, was languishing in 112th place in the FedEx Cup points standings at the time of the final regular series game. However, after he started using the long L.A.B. Golf putter, he regained his putting ability and won the Wyndham Championship from August 3rd to 6th, his first comeback victory in two years and one month.
They then jumped up to 49th place in the rankings and qualified for the tournament, and performed well in the first round of the playoff series, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the following week, winning for the second consecutive week.
The putter used by Glover is equipped with unique technology that is completely different from existing putters. It has already become a hot topic in Japan among people who are highly interested in putters. Started using L.A.B.Golf long putter with advice from Brad Faxon
[Image 1: https://prtimes.jp/i/127933/2/resize/d127933-2-21d33de99bcf7dee18cc-1.jpg&s3=127933-2-4435b4c047a14dead401ad5eae91c04c-1000×1781.jpg] Glover turned pro in 2001 and won his first PGA Tour victory at the Funai Classic in October 2005. Then, in June 2009, he won a major at the U.S. Open Golf Championship, and joined the ranks of top players. After that, he achieved his third tour win at the Wells Fargo Championship in May 2011, and his career continued to go well. However, due to a left knee injury in 2012, his performance took a downward turn. He scored his fourth tour victory at the John Deere Classic in July 2021, and seemed to be on the cusp of a comeback, but he fell into a slump again in the 2022-2023 season.
The cause of the malaise was obvious. Although the accuracy of his driver and iron shots was excellent, his putting accuracy was extremely poor, and he finished 179th on the tour overall.
After seeing Glover struggling with his putts, Brad Faxon, a master putt who won eight tours from the 1990s to the early 2000s, offered a helping hand. “I thought I’d try using L.A.B.Golf’s long putter.” Glover has used a standard-length putter for most of his career, but when he took the advice of a putting master and switched to a longer putter, he saw immediate results. Finished in a tie for 4th place at the Rocket Mortgage Classic from June 29th to July 2nd. After finishing in the top 10 the following week and the week after, they took victory three weeks later at the final round of the regular season, the Wyndham Championship.
With this victory, Glover jumped from 112th to 49th in the FedEx Cup point rankings, advancing to the playoff series where the top 70 players can participate.
He also performed well in the first round of the playoff series, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, defeating Patrick Cantlay (USA), who was tied with a total of 15 under par, in the playoff and winning the championship for the second consecutive week.
Even he himself could not have predicted that such a dramatic change would occur. This courageous decision resulted in two wins in the 2022-2023 season and tied for 18th in the FedEx Cup points rankings. They ended the season with a solid performance, earning $6,362,876 (approximately 940 million yen) in prize money.
L.A.B.Golf was developed by a tour professional who wanted to create a putter that could more easily reduce scores.
How was Glover able to regain his putting form? Is it because I used a long putter? No, other manufacturers also have long putters. I was able to make putts because of L.A.B.Golf’s long putter.
So, what kind of manufacturer is L.A.B.Golf? The developer of L.A.B.Golf is tour pro Bill Presse.
While competing on mini-tours, he had been wondering if he could develop a putter that could more easily reduce his scores. He placed particular emphasis on keeping the putter head square, and began to focus on lie angle balance.
At the same time, he also knew that he needed a putter head that was as resilient as possible to mistakes and able to hit the ball off the face and onto the desired line.
After much trial and error, we arrived at L.A.B.Golf’s flagship model, “DF 2.1.” “DF 2.1” is an abbreviation for “DIRECTED FORCE 2.1.” It looks weird, but the ball rolls straight in the direction the face is facing.
[Image 2: https://prtimes.jp/i/127933/2/resize/d127933-2-5e5b2a794e75c6bd2f2a-6.jpg&s3=127933-2-0d047da0632e82ceed7cb8922ac18edd-2592×2230.jpg] L.A.B.Golf uses aluminum as the material for the putter head. However, no matter how straight the ball rolls, if there is any resistance to the shape of the head, you may not be able to move the putter head comfortably. Therefore, L.A.B.Golf has also lined up the “MEZZ.1” for golfers who prefer the orthodox mallet type.
[Image 3: https://prtimes.jp/i/127933/2/resize/d127933-2-12fd8391dc8d037d0e0f-3.jpg&s3=127933-2-c69dc7742eb153ce6e54a171ab4a22d3-1000×1000.jpg] What is noteworthy is that both models use aluminum for the head material. Common putter heads are made of stainless steel or soft iron. Aluminum is lightweight and difficult to balance, and the surface is soft and easily scratched, so common sense suggests that it is not suitable.
However, L.A.B. Golf has succeeded in realizing lie angle balance technology that keeps the face square throughout the stroke by making the head from lightweight aluminum and using tungsten as the weight adjustment screw. “L.A.B.” in L.A.B.Golf is the initial letter of “Lie Angle Balanced”, which is the English expression for lie angle balance.
[Image 4: https://prtimes.jp/i/127933/2/resize/d127933-2-f02ecfa22ccbdbe9c3d3-5.jpg&s3=127933-2-e12a1df9dc6c90c6986af35183d691af-2511×2195.jpg] L.A.B.Golf is the world’s first torque-free putter
Let me tell you a little more about how the face stays square throughout the stroke. Since Carsten Solheim, the founder of PING, invented the pin type putter in the 1960s, putters of various shapes such as mallet type and neo-mallet type have been developed. has hardly evolved in over 50 years. As a result, golfers continue to adjust their own movements to prevent the putter head from rotating during the stroke.
L.A.B.Golf wanted to solve the problem of the putter head rotating during the stroke. For example, the driver changed from a persimmon head to a metal head, and then a titanium head, making the head larger due to lighter materials and increasing the degree of freedom in weight distribution. As a result, clubs with high tolerance for mistakes are being developed one after another.
L.A.B.Golf’s idea is that by reducing the weight of the putter head material, it will increase the degree of freedom in weight
distribution and create a club with greater tolerance for mistakes. We found that by setting the appropriate length and lie angle to match the golfer’s putting style, the putter head can remain square throughout the stroke without rotating. I decided to call it a torque-free putter because it frees me from the rotation (torque) of the head. If you watch this video, you can see the difference between a torque-free putter and a non-torque-free putter.
[Video 2: https://prtimes.jp/api/movieim.php?url=www.youtube.com/watch?v=74sFpkimD_M] It is through this system that Glover, who had struggled with his putting for many years, was able to make putts. Maybe it can solve your problem too.
More details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000002.000127933.html