EP 44: Quick Question, What Is a Mini Driver and Who Should Play One?

Episode Description:

In this episode of The Golf Intervention, Eric and Rob dive into one of the hottest topics in gear right now: the new wave of minidrivers. What are they? Who are they for? And do you actually need one in your bag? We answer listener-submitted questions and break down the performance, design, and strategy behind minidrivers from Titleist, TaylorMade, and Callaway.  

Whether you're a competitive player, a weekend warrior, or just a gear junkie, this episode will help you understand if a minidriver can actually make a difference in your game—or if it's just hype.

In This Episode:

• 🛠 What exactly is a minidriver?
• 📏 How it compares to your 3-wood and driver
• 🎯 Who benefits most from using one
• 🧠 How it fits into modern scoring strategy
• 🧪 The data and testing we’ve seen so far

Transcript

0:01

On today's quick question episode, we take on this question. Eric, what's the deal with the mini driver? Well, that's a good question. The mini driver seems to be the latest trend in equipment. So I say the mini drivers really bringing back an old, you know, um, piece of equipment that that was around before. It's not a brand new thing, but I think that the data. That we're seeing from players, especially longer hitters, is sort of lending to the fact that driver, at times we know the dispersion is too wide to hit on certain holes and so then players are going, okay, if I can't hit driver,'cause it won't fit in between some width that they like, a lot of times it's 50 or 60 yards between issues, um, out of bounds or loss balls or hazards or whatever. So. What these longer players are doing. Let's say I hit a, a club that, that carries 300 yards and I got this width and dispersion, I come onto a hole and it's shorter than that. Um, the problem is if they go fairway wood, the fairway wood goes shorter, but it's actually not more accurate. And the problem with the fairway wood up the t. Is that the head is so small, it tends to be unforgiving less, much less forgiving, we'll say, than the driver. And so that dispersion kind of widens out. So it's not like it's going straighter, it's just going shorter. So those players instinctively have gone like to a utility club, like a utility, three iron or two iron, a four iron, and then they might be hitting that club, 250 yards, maybe even a hybrid, um, to gain some. You know, consistency in dispersion, but they're giving up so much distance. So what is mini driver? Mini driver is essentially like combining the forgiveness of a driver. So the head is a little bit smaller than a driver with the length of a shaft of a, of a fairway would, so you, you can hit it a little bit more in the middle of the face and. Then you can, you know, just hit a club that's a little shorter than the driver, but still have almost the same amount of forgiveness and accuracy. Now, the tailor made in Callaway mini drivers play like a driver. They're just a little bit smaller and they play a lot like a driver faces hot, big head. And I don't really think most players are gonna be able to hit those clubs off the fairway. Pretty much all of'em, I think are 13 degrees. Mine might be 12 and a half. Um. Definitely an adjustable Zel on the Callaway and the, and the, and the talus, which is 13 degrees. So the Talus GT Mini is. Really usable off the fairway. It's a slightly smaller head, but what I've seen, and this is the one that every single player that I fit has gotten the Titleist, is it's a, it's a shorter shaft. Obviously the head is a little bit smaller and is absolutely usable off the fairway. So the players are giving up, this is what I'm seeing, you know, if they were hitting three 10 with their driver, they're hitting two 80 with the mini driver, 2 75 with the mini driver. And that's really been helpful, um, because they hit it in a much tighter dispersion, maybe call it. 40 yards width right to left as opposed to maybe 60 or 70 or 80 with their driver at 300 carry plus. So that tends to be the player that uses mini driver tends to be a longer hitter looking for something a little more accurate, but doesn't wanna go all the way down to like an iron off the team, lose all that distance. So. The Titleist is backorder. I just ordered one yesterday. It's Backorder till July. So I think the demand for these clubs has been way higher than they anticipated. I think that the other person that could really use a mini driver might be someone that just doesn't feel comfortable hitting a driver with that big, long shaft. So if I go down to something that's more like five wood length shaft with a nice forgiving head, like, like maybe the Callaway and the tailor made offer, um. That could be a club that might be just a little easier to, to swing essentially and hit the middle of the face and with slightly more loft. You know, that back spin of the ball is really helps a lot of times make the ball fly straighter. It's not as aerodynamic for distance, but that little bit more back spin that the added loft puts on it will help the ball fly straighter and less offline. So if you're someone that either doesn't feel like they can hit a full length driver. Solidly enough to use it. Or you're one of those longer hitters that's going back to like a utility or an, or a long iron and giving up tons of distance off the t many driver could be for you. So test them out. Uh, we have all three. We don't have tons of shaft options at this point. I think it's kinda like they put'em out there. Um, it's interesting. They all kind of came out the same week, which was I thought, very interesting. Uh, they all feel good. I've hit all of'em. I have to say I'm impressed. But the Titleist definitely could be hit off the fairway, and that, in my opinion, gives a slight edge to that longer hitter. Um, and then the other two with the bigger heads might give the slight edge to the person looking for a a club they can just hit a little bit more easily. So check it out. Many drivers get fit today by a certified club fitter. And thank you again for tuning into this quick question episode of the Golf Intervention Podcast.