It’s probably too soon to suggest that mini drivers are all the rage but interest in the category is growing – if only because most of us have never played one. They’re like a fusion restaurant that serves sushi burritos. You’re pretty sure you don’t need any part of it but you’re going to try it anyway.
For those just learning about the mini driver category, it isn’t entirely new. TaylorMade launched the SLDR mini in 2014. It followed that with the surprisingly vowel-rich Aeroburner. Callaway entered (and quickly exited) the category with the Big Bertha Mini 1.5. That left TaylorMade as the only serious player in the category for the better part of a decade.
Golfers sure do love copper
In 2023, TaylorMade released the BRNR mini and while I can’t explain exactly why, interest in the category increased exponentially (albeit from almost nothing to a little bit of something). Maybe it was the copper accents and the throwback vibe. Maybe golfers just love equipment with names that sound like dating app usernames. Regardless, golfers were curious.
That could explain why, last year, the number of big OEM offerings in the mini driver doubled. Granted, that sounds way more impressive than it is, given that Callaway’s release of the Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 mini gave us two options to choose from, but it suggests manufacturers think there might be money to be made in the category.
Mini momentum
When the dust settles on 2025, my hunch is golfers will have at least a half a dozen mini options to choose from. And with that comes the million-dollar (or probably $450) question:
Do you need a mini driver?
In my not so humble option, the original SLDR is still the best Mini Driver released to date.
Before we answer, it might be helpful to understand why mini drivers are gaining in popularity on the PGA Tour.
I don’t think it’s a secret that elite golfers are gaining distance. That’s not to suggest the gains are nearly to the extent that the USGA claims as justification for its foolish ball rollback but professional golfers are getting longer.
The trickle-down effect of that is that use of 3-woods on Tour has diminished significantly. There are increasingly fewer situations that require a 3-wood anywhere but off the tee so the traditional 3-wood and, in many cases, the classic 5-wood have been replaced by 4- and 7-woods.
What average golfers may not understand is that the pros aren’t choosing the 3-wood for accuracy (data suggests that even for elite golfers, the 3-wood offers minimal accuracy benefit over a driver). It’s typically used when the driver is too much club off the tee. That’s a problem most of us amateurs can relate to – about as well as we relate to having too much money or being too good-looking.
For the pros, however, the mini retains some of the control or “workability” of the 3-wood but offers more forgiveness with a shape and profile that’s much more driver-like – for whatever that’s worth.
Off the deck, the larger mini is more unwieldy than a fairway wood but if you never hit it from the fairway, what does that matter? Of course, if hitting “from the fairway” is more of an aspirational concept than a regular occurrence for you, maybe a mini driver is the answer.
What about the rest of us?
Coming Soon …
For most average golfers, I’d wager there are few situations where driver is too much club. Truth be told, most times I see average golfers pull less than driver off the tee, the math says they’re doing it wrong.
Let that big dog hunt.
Fifteen-handicap golfers (Shot Scope’s benchmark for defining the average golfer) hit slightly fewer fairways with their 3-wood off the tee than with their driver. They hit more balls OB as well and they do it all while giving up nearly 20 yards of distance.
Five-handicap golfers are slightly more accurate with their 3-woods (51 percent of fairways hit compared to 49 with the driver) but the percentage of penalty strokes is identical and the 3-wood is, on average, almost 15 yards shorter.
The data for scratch golfers is almost identical.
The point is that while many golfers believe a 3-wood is the safer alternative to the driver off the tee, the data suggests you’re giving up significant distance and not getting much of an accuracy benefit in return.
Who is a mini driver for?
The Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Mini Ti 340 is the biggest mini released to date.
In some sense, the mini driver movement suggests a professional solution in search of an amateur problem.
The cynic in me says they’re for no one and yet, short of my untimely death, there is no scenario in which a mini isn’t in my bag at least some of the time this season. Call me a hypocrite but at least I’m a hypocrite with an intriguing new club.
The reason I’m skeptical (in the most hypocritical way possible) is that the math says that those of you who hit 3-wood off the tee should probably do it less often and for golfers who already struggle to hit stronger-lofted fairway woods from the fairway, moving to a bigger and deeper head isn’t likely to make things any easier.
And so, I’m going to suggest that the trend towards mini drivers represents a Tour solution being retrofitted with an amateur narrative.
With that said, it’s important to acknowledge that mini driver data from amateur golfers is somewhere between sparse and non-existent. Some golfers absolutely love their mini drivers because, anecdotally, they’re easier to hit (or at least hit straight) than the driver and are more forgiving and longer than a fairway wood.
For average golfers who struggle to keep their drivers in play, minis might be the stroke-saving solution to their tee shot woes.
A better way?
Factoring in all facets of performance – distance, accuracy, forgiveness – most would probably be better served with a full-sized head and a shorter shaft. Think of the ideal as an even shorter version of COBRA’s Tour Length builds.
A couple of years ago, an industry buddy of mine had a shorty version of a mainline driver in his bag. The Tour guys loaded it up with hot melt, cut the shaft down and somehow made what might be the most automatic driver I’ve ever tried.
Shorter? A bit but way easier to keep between the white stakes.
For average golfers, I think that approach would make more sense even if it might take some effort to stay within USGA MOI limits with the increased head weight necessary to maintain swing weight with a shorter build.
But maybe …
If you are thinking about adding a mini to your bag, choosing the right one starts with figuring out what it’s going to replace.
If it’s the driver that’s coming out of the bag, bigger and with lower loft is probably better. That’s where the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke TI 340 fit last season.
If it’s a fairway wood replacement, then something smaller – BRNR, Secret Weapon (both 300cc) or the upcoming (and smaller still) Titleist GT280 will likely prove more playable off the fairway while giving you a second option off the tee.
Decisions, decisions …
The good news for the mini-curious is that before the year is over (likely before we hit the heart of summer), you’re going to have more options than ever.
That may not be a good thing but it’s going to be fun.
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