While the defining shot of J.J. Spaun’s U.S. Open victory was undoubtedly his clutch tee shot at the 71st to drive the green and set up the go-ahead birdie, the most fitting memorable came a hole later with the putter.
Needing to get down in two from 64 feet on Oakmont‘s treacherous 18th green to avoid a playoff with Robert MacIntyre, Spaun benefited from a read courtesy of Viktor Hovland, who had putt on the same line, and proceeded to send his ball up the hill, across the green and into the cup.
“We kind of got a good line, a good read on the speed,” Spaun said. “I was more focused on how hard he was hitting it. I kind of knew the line already, but it looked like he gave it a pretty good whack because it started raining there for the last 10, 15 minutes. I just tried to pick my line and put a good stroke on it. I knew it was going to be a little slow.
“About eight feet out, I kind of went up to the high side to see if it had a chance of going in, and it was like going right in. I was just in shock, disbelief that it went in and it was over.”
A major first for zero torque putters
It was a storybook way for Spaun to not only win his first major title, but also win the first major for putter manufacturer L.A.B. Golf — and also the style of his putter in general. Spaun uses L.A.B. Golf’s DF3 zero torque putter, and his major victory represents the first for a zero-torque putter.
Zero-torque putter usage has been steadily growing both on the PGA Tour and in the recreational game over the past few years after L.A.B. introduced the concept to the U.S. market in 2018 with its Direct Force 2.1 putter. The putters have shafts that go directly through the center of gravity of the putter, making them resistant to twisting.
The craze took off in late 2023 when Lucas Glover, who had been struggling with his putting, switched to a L.A.B. Golf long putter and won twice in back-to-back weeks on the PGA Tour.
J.J. Spaun’s clubs: Inside his U.S. Open-winning setup
In the past years, many other OEMs have released putters with their own take on zero torque, and usage has steadily increased. Spaun himself added the DF3 to the bag over the past winter.
L.A.B. (which is short for Lie Angle Balance) says that its putters are balanced based on the lie angle of the putter so that the face of the putter remains square through the stroke. Because the shaft goes directly through the center of gravity of the head, the shaft enters the head behind the face of the putter, unlike traditional models where the shaft is in front of the face. As a result, most of L.A.B.’s models, including Spaun’s, have a forward shaft lean to preset a player’s hands in a forward press.
J.J. Spaun’s L.A.B. putter
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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, L.A.B. Golf
Spaun’s gamer is the L.A.B. Golf DF3, which was released early last year as a more compact version of the company’s original Direct Force 2.1. He plays it at 34″ with a 70˚ lie angle and uses a TPT graphite shaft. It has 2 degrees of forward shaft lean and he uses L.A.B.’s “G” alignment aid, which is a straight sight line from the face to the back of the putter.
“With DF3, we refined every aspect of the design,” L.A.B. founder Sam Hahn said of the release last year. “DF3 is quite a bit smaller, but because of all we’ve learned about building Lie Angle Balanced putters over the years, we were able to maintain almost all of the forgiveness and stability [from DF 2.1].”
With the flatstick, which Spaun has equipped with a blacked-out Scotty Cameron grip as opposed to the “press” grip that L.A.B. uses to make gripping the putter feel like normal, Spaun gained a whopping 10.4 strokes on the field, second in the field. In addition to the bomb on 18, he also made birdie putts of 40 and 22 feet on the back nine. That was part of an inward 32, the lowest final nine by a U.S. Open champion since Tiger Woods in 2000.
Want to find the right putter for your game? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.
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