The Hahn Bio
A self-diagnosed putter psycho, Hahn spent 20 years working in the nightclub and entertainment industry. This night-owl lifestyle left him with plenty of time to indulge his passion for golf, taking him from a beginner to scratch player in just under three years.
Hahn was always a tinkerer, especially when it came to equipment. Throughout his golf journey, Hahn was constantly experimenting with different putter styles, grips, and so on, trying to find an extra edge. Hahn went through putter after putter trying to find an answer. The pivotal moment came when a friend introduced Hahn to a revolutionary putter called Directed Force.
Hahn founded L.A.B. Golf with inventor Bill Presse IV in 2018 after Directed Force failed to gain any momentum.
The Hahn Story
When I was in my early 20s, my ambitions and life goals had absolutely nothing to do with golf. I was a touring musician and had recently started a small talent buying agency helping smaller acts find venues to play around the west coast as well as booking acts for some venues and festivals in and around Eugene, Oregon. At the time, I had a dog and my house was just a few blocks from a dog-friendly municipal course called Laurelwood GC. Even though I had learned to play when I was young, it never really took as a hobby, however, playing a little golf seemed like a more fun way to walk the dog than boring walks around the block. I had my folks send me my golf clubs and began playing almost every day. Given my self-employment and the fact that a good portion of the work was done at night, I had tons of time to play.
When I first started to get back into it, I would rarely break 90. One day I was paired with a likeminded fellow who could really play and as anyone who golfs knows, playing with better golfers is really the only way to get better. To say I got “the bug” is a massive understatement. I traded in my game improvement irons for a set of used Hogan apex irons from the 70s, put up a net in the garage and proceeded to consume every bit of golf knowledge I could get my hands on. I hit thousands of balls, watched all four rounds of every tournament on TV, read every book and started taking lessons. I was a scratch player about 18 months later.
Like every golfer, I would sometimes choose to blame equipment for my poor play! Consequently, I became somewhat obsessed with equipment, particularly putters. Fast forward to 2017, I had about 50 or more putters in my basement. I was switching every round at this point just so I could ride a “honeymoon” phase every round. It wasn’t working! Then one day my coach, Bob Duncan, showed me the most ridiculous putter I had ever seen. It was called the Reno 2.1 by a company called Directed Force. I almost blew snot out of my nose! It was bulbous and awkward. Had this very strange oval grip that appeared to be crooked in relation to the shaft. He asked me if I wanted to try it, and I told him I wouldn’t be caught dead with that thing in my bag. He insisted I give it 9 holes and I reluctantly agreed. What followed could only be described as fate. I proceeded to make about 150’ worth of putts in only 7 holes!! Needless to say, I placed an order for my own Directed Force putter.
What followed when it arrived was the best golf I have ever played in my life. I went from a 1 handicap to a +3.5 in about 6 weeks! Golf was so much fun and no more putter neurosis! Unfortunately, about 2 months after arrival, the head fell off my beloved DF putter and I had to send it back to be repaired. The inventor/founder, Bill Presse, personally reached out to apologize. We ended up talking for a few hours. It was clear we were kindred golfing spirits. We kept in touch and had a lot of fun together in golf forums online, extolling the virtues of this profound new technology.
A few months later, Directed Force was about to close its doors. I called Bill to see if there might be an opportunity to partner with him, re-brand, and give it another go. By the Spring of 2018, we were partnered, L.A.B. Golf was born and the rest they say, is history.
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What elevates L.A.B. Golf beyond the competition in the putter category?
Put simply, L.A.B. Putters are simply easier to swing. We employ a technology that uses physics to enable the putter head to swing freely without twisting.
Every one of our putters is effectively made to order, balanced by hand and customized to your specifications.
Who is your customer and how are you looking to expand your reach in the marketplace?
Early on, our target customers were “golf nerds”. The industry has a hard time accepting new technology and we knew if we could get putters to the true enthusiasts, word would spread about our technology.
The strategy proved effective and now our target customer is anyone and everyone who wants golf to be a little easier.
In terms of approximate percentages — what are sales via green grass shops, online and brick and mortar retail outlets?
Direct to consumer sales account for about 40% of our sales. Box retailers like PGA Tour Superstore and Golf Galaxy account for 40% and the remaining 20% is green grass, mom and pop brick and mortar and fitting studios.
The cost of buying today’s putter has risen dramatically from a few years back. Why should golfers consider such a hefty payout for a L.A.B. putter?
As far we are concerned, our putters are the only ones that can legitimately justify the price. Because there is no way to achieve Lie Angle Balance in a mass production, our labor costs are as much as 10X the labor needs of our competitors.
Additionally, in order to provide so many custom options, we need to be very nimble with our inventory which can only be done with smaller quantities of parts from American machine shops. We are actively working to bring the cost down, but for now it is what it is but as you’ll hear from our customers, worth every penny!
All companies tout the importance of customer service. Define the term and the approach followed at L.A.B. Golf.
Only recently have our putters been available to try around the world and so prior, the vast majority of our customers were buying a very expensive putter, sight unseen direct from our website.
We have a remote fitting process that made this possible. In performing the remote fittings early on, having a dialogue with our customers was necessary and very useful.
We found that the personal connection with our customers not only made for a better experience for the customer, but the real time feedback on our product and process also helped shape what we feel is the best customer service in the industry.
We were at a crossroads a few years ago where we either needed to figure out how to automate all the service and significantly reduce our custom offerings or we needed to figure out how to scale the concierge service we’d been providing thus far. We chose the latter, and we are so proud of the team and service we’ve developed.
What role does customer feedback play in product development and how do you solicit such comments?
Customer feedback is everything. We feel this is the area that the industry has really let down the consumer. Some of these companies are so big and have become too disconnected with their customers.
We collect feedback through normal channels like surveys and such but the best place to find out how folks feel is on social media. We spend hours online engaging with customers in golf forums, blogs and in the comment section of every platform.
This real time unfiltered feedback has proven invaluable not only in getting feedback from the consumers but also in helping to develop meaningful relationships with our customers.
Do paid professional golfer endorsements matter in increasing sales and what is L.A.B. Golf’s approach on this specific topic?
Paid endorsements help for sure but unfortunately, this is a luxury we haven’t been able to afford. Early on, we knew if we were going to get our putters out on tour and on TV, it was going to have to be because we were providing a technology and service that outweighed the endorsement dollars the players were receiving from other companies.
This turned out to be a huge benefit to us because of the implicit validation of seeing a tour player using our putters, knowing they were giving up significant money to use our stuff over the competition.
Related: Masashi (Marcy) Kamoda interview
If you could change one thing in golf unilaterally – what would it be and why?
Accessibility. It’s such a gorgeous, challenging, existential, hilarious game. I wish everyone had the time, money and patience to enjoy the best game on earth.
We’d need more courses though because the second thing I’d change is pace of play!
The biggest challenges facing the company – short and long term is what? And what actions are being planned / implemented in dealing with both?
Our short term and long-term challenges are the same. For the last 7 years, we’ve operated in a virtually non-competitive environment. In recent years, our success in the market and on the various professional tours has changed the tune of other manufacturers who wrote our technology off as a fad.
They are all now seeing the merits of our technology and are hard at work to come out with comparable offerings. Thus far, none have been able to replicate our tech.
Unfortunately, the big dollar marketing machines are working hard to fool consumers into believing their putters do what ours does. The solution is to continue to do what we do! To continue to let R&D drive our marketing message and not the other way around.
To listen to our customers to improve our putters and their experiences. To challenge ourselves to innovate and to say yes to our customers as often as is humanly possible. We’ve disrupted the equipment side of the business. Now we want to disrupt the business side of business by being ethical, forward thinking and driven by being the best we can be, knowing the profit will take care of itself if we do so.
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