Lab – Ultra Golfing https://ultragolfing.com Golf news & updates Tue, 26 May 2026 13:25:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://ultragolfing.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/cropped-UG_Favicon-32x32.png Lab – Ultra Golfing https://ultragolfing.com 32 32 Aircast.Tech, aiming to improve streaming, wins top honors at Tech Lab https://ultragolfing.com/aircast-tech-aiming-to-improve-streaming-wins-top-honors-at-tech-lab/ https://ultragolfing.com/aircast-tech-aiming-to-improve-streaming-wins-top-honors-at-tech-lab/#respond Tue, 26 May 2026 13:25:44 +0000 https://ultragolfing.com/aircast-tech-aiming-to-improve-streaming-wins-top-honors-at-tech-lab/

AI is being used creatively by numerous companies, but Aircast.Tech aims to improve fan experiences at golf tournaments and other sporting events.

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Penn. — Startup founders, technology experts and golf industry insiders from around the world gathered in a hospitality tent perched above the 17th tee at Aronimink Golf Club on Tuesday to not only catch a glimpse of the players as they practiced on the long par 3, but also participate in the third-annual Golfweek Tech Lab.

Think of the event as the “Shark Tank” of golf, with small companies from a variety of sectors trying to impress a panel of judges with solutions to challenges that face the world of golf and sports.

As you might expect, two words that were inescapable at the 2026 Golfweek Tech Lab: artificial intelligence.

Golf.AI is using the technology to create agents that can provide personalized answers when golfers call a club or resort. Bantee uses it to not only allow players to share their round on a customized social media platform, but also build customized buddy trips after picking a region, how much golf they want to play and where they want to stay.

After the judges had a chance to see and talk with each company, however, it was Aircast.Tech that emerged as not only the winner in the Media & Digital Solutions category, but also the Grand Prize winner.

Clubhaus won in the Business Solutions category and Groove Golf won in Player Performance. Piing.Events won in Fan Engagement.

Founded by Australian native Craig Horobin, Aircast is tackling a problem that almost every modern sports fan has experienced: live sports that no longer feel truly live.

Whether it’s a text message from a friend spoiling a touchdown before it appears on your screen or trying to stream video from a crowded golf course where the signal constantly buffers, delays have become an accepted frustration of the streaming era. Aircast is attempting to eliminate much of that lag by delivering synchronized video and audio feeds to mobile devices in less than a second, even inside crowded venues.

“It just gives fans added context to what’s going on,” Horobin said. “Not just right in front of them, but on other holes as well.”

For golf, the application is obvious.

Fans standing beside a green or tee could use a tournament’s existing app to instantly switch between featured groups, alternate camera angles, commentary feeds and replays happening elsewhere on the course without dealing with the 30- to 60-second delays that plague most streaming services.

Horobin said Aircast’s technology is designed to work quietly in the background through software embedded into existing apps rather than forcing fans to download yet another platform.

“What we want to do is be as frictionless as possible,” Horobin said. “If the PGA integrated our SDK into their app, once a fan got on site, geo-fencing would detect that they’re there and they would be able to access the feeds available over that network.”

The technology also addresses one of the biggest challenges facing live sports venues: overloaded cellular networks.

At large sporting events, even sending a text message or uploading a photo can become difficult once tens of thousands of fans are concentrated in one area. Horobin said Aircast minimizes bandwidth requirements by transmitting feeds in a one-way distribution model rather than relying on the constant back-and-forth data traffic of traditional streaming systems.

“It doesn’t congest or contend the network,” Horobin said. “We section off a small part of the network and make sure people can access those feeds directly from broadcast.”

While golf presents a natural use case because fans are spread across an entire property, Aircast has already gained traction in tennis, another sport where multiple matches happen simultaneously. The company has worked with the Australian Open and is preparing to support other tennis events this summer.

Horobin founded Aircast in 2017 while working in broadcast technology for major international events, including the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups and Commonwealth Games. What began as a side project became a full-time focus during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the shutdown of live events allowed him and his small team to fully develop the platform.

“There’s been companies in the past that have tried this and not been successful,” Horobin said. “For us, awareness is huge. It’s getting people to realize this is available.”

And if Aircast succeeds, the next evolution of watching sports may not involve choosing between being at home or attending in person.

It could finally deliver the best parts of both experiences at the same time.



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]]> https://ultragolfing.com/aircast-tech-aiming-to-improve-streaming-wins-top-honors-at-tech-lab/feed/ 0 LAB Golf DF3i adds stainless steel insert to change feel and sound https://ultragolfing.com/lab-golf-df3i-adds-stainless-steel-insert-to-change-feel-and-sound/ https://ultragolfing.com/lab-golf-df3i-adds-stainless-steel-insert-to-change-feel-and-sound/#respond Tue, 17 Feb 2026 05:09:50 +0000 https://ultragolfing.com/lab-golf-df3i-adds-stainless-steel-insert-to-change-feel-and-sound/

LAB Golf’s DF3i keeps lie angle balance intact while adding a stainless steel insert to deliver firmer feel and more traditional sound.

Gear: L.A.B. DF3i putter

Price: $499 (stock), $599 and up (custom)

Specs: 6061 aluminum body with milled stainless steel face insert, steel sole weights, 69-degree lie angle.

Available: Feb. 27

Who it’s for: Golfers who struggle to return the putter face square at impact or consistently start putts on their intended line.

What you should know: The DF3i retains the lie angle balance design that defined the original DF3, but adds a milled stainless-steel insert like the one used in the OZ.1i and OZ.1i HS, delivering a firmer feel and more traditional sound at impact.

The Deep Dive: First impressions have never mattered much to L.A.B. Golf. From the moment the company introduced the first lie-angle balanced Directed Force to the broader putting conversation, its designs have pushed golfers to focus less on shape and more on functionality. The DF3i continues that philosophy, pairing the same stability-driven geometry and lie-angle balanced design of the original DF3 with a milled stainless-steel insert that brings a firmer feel and more familiar sound to a putter built around one central goal: keeping the face square to the arc a golfer naturally creates.

The DF3i is an evolution of the DF3 platform introduced in 2024. The compact mallet shape remains intact, as does the center-shafted construction and the precise weighting that defines lie angle balance. Once the putter is soled behind the ball, its mass properties are designed to keep the face from opening or closing relative to the stroke path. The putter is balanced relative to its lie angle, which is why length, lie, and build specs are so critical to how the design functions.

The noticeable change is in the face. The body and hitting area of the original DF3 are made entirely from 6061 aluminum, but the DF3i has been a milled stainless-steel insert that is secured in place with screws in the sole. That construction mirrors what L.A.B. introduced with the OZ.1i and OZ.1i HS and allows engineers to maintain precise mass placement while altering sound and feel. The result is a firmer impact sensation and a sharper, more metallic auditory feedback that some golfers felt was missing from the original DF3.

Yes, the body remains milled from 6061 aluminum, with steel weights positioned in the forward portion of the sole. Those weights vary by putter length and are measured and installed by hand to ensure the proper lie angle balance is achieved. The DF3i also continues to use L.A.B.’s Press Pistol 2 Degree grip, which introduces built-in forward press through an asymmetrical shaft entry. At address, that setup keeps the shaft, hands, and primary hitting area more in line, while the rear hoop portion of the head sits back from the ball.

Visually, the DF3i still won’t be mistaken for a classic blade or a modern Tour-style mallet, and L.A.B. has never pretended otherwise. The brand’s growth has been driven by performance-first golfers and reinforced by Tour validation, with multiple PGA Tour wins in recent seasons from players using L.A.B. designs. The biggest win, of course, came last year at Oakmont, when J.J. Spaun won the 2025 U.S. Open using a DF3.

Those results have helped shift the conversation from how these putters look to how they behave during the stroke.

As with any lie-angle balanced putter, the DF3i is at its best when it’s built specifically for the golfer using it, rather than treated as a one-size-fits-all solution. However, L.A.B. will continue to sell the DF3i directly to consumers. Personalization options include a rainbow of colors, alignment features, shafts and some grip options.

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