There are a lot of putters on the market that have added some type of hi-tech design or materials to their putters, but LA Golf's putters are a marvel of modern technology from the grip all the way to the sole! The body of the putters are made with either light weight matte or forged carbon. Carbon is 5 times less dense than steel which, LA Golf claims, makes their putters much more forgiving on off-center hits. In fact, they claim their putters have one of the highest MOIs and the largest "sweet spot" on the market.
In addition to the space age head materials, LA GOLF adds a descending loft technology face insert. The theory behind a descending loft face is that whatever angle of attack you employ in your putting stroke it leads to less hopping and skipping, starting the ball rolling forward 50% faster.
The final piece of tech included with LA Golf putters is the addition of a P-Series stability shaft. Stability shafts have become very popular on all the major golf tours for their ability to reduce vibration and improve control by reducing twisting on off-center strikes by 50% versus steel shafts. We can tell you that this is one rigid shaft! Upon cutting this shaft down to our preferred 34" length our cutting wheel stalled a bit, and we use the same cutters that are found on the OEM tour trucks?
TESTING:
The Malibu is available with a quarter toe hung slant neck or plumbers neck or in a face balanced slant neck version. LA Golf also offers three different grip sizes for their putters.
We opted for the plumbers neck putter with a quarter toe hang and a the standard size grip. When we ordered the putter the wholesaler informed us that they received a batch of putters with the LA GOLF logo up, which, when looking down the putter when putting can be quite distracting. Since we were only testing this model we ordered it anyway. Eventually we will pull the shaft & turn it around and hit-up LA Golf for a new grip.
We decided to pit the Malibu against one of our current gamers the MLA Golf Pro Series XDream. MLA putters are known for having a high MOI head, so we thought that would be a good comparator for testing. In addition the heads are about the same size & weight, they both have about a quarter toe hang and they both are fitted with a Winn style pistol putter grip.
The first thing you notice when picking up the Malibu is how light it feels, which is due partially to the head material but also the stability shaft. It really looks like it's going to be a lot heavier than it is.
Lining up putts was a little easier with the much larger aiming system of the MLA putter versus the single black line on the Malibu. To be fair, we've been using an MLA putter for over 5 years so we are quite comfortable with their aiming system.
The strike of the Malibu has a very muted, but pleasant, sound at ball contact as compared to the MLA, or any other traditional metal putter. Sort of like comparing the sound of a ball peen hammer to plastic dead blow hammer. The Malibu also has a much softer feel than the MLA. We really liked the feel of the ball coming off its descending loft face.
For whatever reason, unknown to the manufacturer, we've seen that the MLA Pro XDream starts the ball rolling forward faster than any of the other MLA models, and, many other putters we've tried. Besides the start of the putt, we really notice this effect when a putt approaches the hole looking like it's not going to get there and continues another 1-2 rotations dropping into the cup. We saw this same effect on well struck putts with the Malibu, attributing that to their descending loft face.
In regards to performance, it was bit of a mixed bag. From 3 feet there were no real differences in make percentage. On 10' putts we found the MLA XDream not only had a higher make percentage, but the misses were much closer to the hole than with the Malibu. Where the Malibu started to separate from the MLA was on longer putts in the 20-40' range. The Malibu not only felt more stable than the MLA on longer strokes, but we were in the hole or inside the 3' circle much more often than with the MLA.
PRODUCT SPECS:
| SPEC | LA GOLF Malibu | MLA Golf Pro XDream |
| Head | Matte Carbon | Steel |
| Weight | 363g | 380g |
| Shaft | P-Series Stability | Steel |
| Lie | 71° | 71.5° |
| Loft | Descending 4°, 3°, 2°, 1° | 2.5° |
| MSRP | $499 | $239/Now $159 |
SUMMARY:
We hate to tell you this, but there is no perfect club on the market that is automatically going to make you a great putter, that comes from putting in the work. Our reviews always focus on does the product offer some form of game improvement and does it provide quality and value for the price. We really, really like the feel of the Malibu and its stability on long putts was fantastic! Considering the stability putter shaft by itself will set you back close to $400, all of the added technology included in this package we have to say..........Mali-Bu-Yeah!
UPDATE: We picked a great time to purchase and do a review of the Malibu putter. As of 3/24/24 The Hackers Paradise is reporting that LA Golf is laying employees off due to financial concerns and the company's ability to continue current operations is in question.
The putter for this review was purchased by Golf Gear Box.
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