Best Defensive Lacrosse Heads

What to Look for in a Lacrosse Head for Defense or LSM

With so many lacrosse heads designed for defense on the market today, it can be difficult to decide which to pick. To help, I've listed out 7 things you should consider when choosing which to go with.

1) Stiffness & Durability

First and foremost, you need a strong head that is durable enough to last through thousands of checks. As a defenseman, you need to be confident that your head won't break, warp, or flex too much when delivering poke and slap checks over the course of the game.

It's important to consider how heads hold up over the course of an entire season or multiple seasons. Even if a head feels very stiff when it is brand new, it could still become flexible after a lot of use or in hot weather.

Read (or watch) customer reviews to get a sense of the longterm stiffness and durability of the head.

2) Weight

Typically, the heavier a head is, the more durable and stiff it is.

More recently, however, companies have developed advanced plastics that are very light but just as strong (if not stronger) than “traditional” bulky defensive heads.

Assuming the stiffness and durability is equal, most players prefer a lighter head because they can throw faster checks, react faster, and move around the field faster.

Most new defensive heads on the market today weigh around 5.2 oz to 5.6 oz. Any head in this range should feel pretty normal on your d-pole. Once you get into heads over 6 oz, your stick may start to feel top heavy.

3) Face Shape

The next thing to consider when choosing a defensive head is what kind of face shape you want. 

In the past, defensemen almost always preferred very wide heads that gave them more area to intercept/deflect passes and for laying checks. 

Recently, there has been an influx of defensive heads more geared towards advanced players, LSMs, and D middies. These heads typically have a narrower face shape—especially towards the throat of the head—that allows for better control of the ball.

As you'll see in the reviews above, there is no one “best” face shape when it comes to defensive heads for lacrosse. My advice is to try out a wide head as well as a more pinched defensive head to see which you are more comfortable with.

4) Scoop

I think having a good scoop is more important for defensemen than any other position.

Why?

Mainly because your head is attached to a long defense shaft that makes it more difficult to achieve a low angle with the ground when scooping. 

Whereas attackmen and middies can bend down a few inches to achieve a low enough angle to scoop a ball, defensemen often have a higher angle due to their shaft length. 

Having a more angled scoop can help you gobble up ground balls easily without having to bend completely over, which would likely slow you down considerably.

5) Pocket Placement

The design of your head—especially the placement of the offset on it—is the main factor in where your pocket should go. 

The part of the stick with the largest offset (or where your head is closest to the ground when holding it horizontally) is where its ideal pocket is. 

Most defensive heads have an offset around the top half of the head, leading to mid-to-high pockets.

While this is often beneficial for defensemen since it leads to more hold and whip—which is ideal when using a full-length defense shaft—if you are used to a low or mid/low pocket, you may want to look for a head with an offset closer to the throat.

6) Stringing Holes

Though not as important as the other factors in this list, you should also make sure that the head you choose has a sufficient amount of stringing holes so you can customize your pocket to fit your game.

This is most likely to be a problem with older heads as most new heads developed nowadays do have numerous stringing holes to work with.

7) Strung vs. Unstrung

Lastly, you will have to decide whether you want to buy a head that is strung or unstrung. 

I personally always buy unstrung heads because I like to string them myself to fit my preferences. 

If you don't know how to string or don't know someone that does, however, going with a strung head could be a good option. This is especially true if the site you buy heads from strings them themselves instead of coming with (notoriously bad) factory string jobs.