We Put The Best Zero-Torque Putter Against The Worst Blade And The Gap Is Huge

It’s one thing to feel like a putter performs better. It’s another to have the numbers prove it.

In our 2025 Most Wanted Zero-Torque Putter Test, the L.A.B. Golf OZ.1i didn’t just lead the category. It dominated it. But we wanted to know something else: How would it stack up against one of the lowest-performing blades from our 2025 Most Wanted Blade Putter Test?

The performance gap wasn’t subtle. It was seven strokes.

Understanding “PuttView handicap”

PuttView handicap is the number behind every score in our test. Think of it like a round of golf, only for putting.

Each tester hits hundreds of putts from five, 10 and 20 feet. The PuttView system tracks direction, speed and proximity to the hole, then converts that data into a handicap-style number that reflects how many strokes a player would gain or lose using that putter.

A score of –7.6, as we saw from the L.A.B. OZ.1i, means the average player would gain roughly seven strokes over the course of a round compared to their baseline. A score closer to zero means no advantage.

The numbers behind the story

Here is a look at how these numbers stacked up and what they looked like on short, medium and long putts.

Putter	Source Test	Overall PuttView Handicap	Short	Medium	Long	Avg Miss (ft)
L.A.B. Golf OZ.1i	Zero-Torque	-7.6	-8.1	-5.8	-8.7	0.67
PXG Battle Ready II Closer	Blade	-0.6	-0.8	3.4	-4.3	0.87

Across every distance, the OZ.1i produced smaller misses, truer rolls and better distance control. The images below show the difference in dispersion between these two putters.

Why zero-torque works

Zero-torque putters like the OZ.1i are engineered to keep the face square throughout the stroke.
Traditional putters twist open and closed as you move the club, relying on perfect timing to square the face at impact.

Remove that torque and you remove the need for perfect timing. That’s the concept that L.A.B. was built on and it’s been proven in test results like these. Testers who tried the L.A.B. OZ.1i had the following to say about their experience.

“Easy to roll, great distance control, and love the press grip.” “The angle was perfect at setup—it just rolls end over end every time.” “It feels different at first, but once you see how straight the ball rolls, it’s hard to go back.”

Why this matters to you

If you’ve played a blade putter your entire life, you know how good it can feel but you also know what happens when timing slips or the face wobbles open under pressure.

The data shows that a zero-torque design removes that variable. Every golfer, regardless of handicap, benefits from a putter that resists twisting through impact.

If you haven’t tested a zero-torque putter yet, it might be time.

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