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

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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

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
On today's quick questionepisode, we take on this
question.
Eric, what's the deal with themini driver?
Well, that's a good question.
The mini driver seems to be thelatest trend in equipment.
So I say the mini drivers reallybringing back an old, you know,

(00:22):
um, piece of equipment that thatwas around before.
It's not a brand new thing, butI think that the data.
That we're seeing from players,especially longer hitters, is
sort of lending to the fact thatdriver, at times we know the
dispersion is too wide to hit oncertain holes and so then

(00:42):
players are going, okay, if Ican't hit driver,'cause it won't
fit in between some width thatthey 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 aredoing.
Let's say I hit a, a club that,that carries 300 yards and I got
this width and dispersion, Icome onto a hole and it's

(01:05):
shorter than that.
Um, the problem is if they gofairway wood, the fairway wood
goes shorter, but it's actuallynot more accurate.
And the problem with the fairwaywood up the t.
Is that the head is so small, ittends to be unforgiving less,
much less forgiving, we'll say,than the driver.
And so that dispersion kind ofwidens out.
So it's not like it's goingstraighter, it's just going

(01:26):
shorter.
So those players instinctivelyhave gone like to a utility
club, like a utility, three ironor two iron, a four iron, and
then they might be hitting thatclub, 250 yards, maybe even a
hybrid, um, to gain some.
You know, consistency indispersion, but they're giving
up so much distance.

(01:46):
So what is mini driver?
Mini driver is essentially likecombining the forgiveness of a
driver.
So the head is a little bitsmaller than a driver with the
length of a shaft of a, of afairway would, so you, you can
hit it a little bit more in themiddle of the face and.
Then you can, you know, just hita club that's a little shorter
than the driver, but still havealmost the same amount of

(02:07):
forgiveness and accuracy.
Now, the tailor made in Callawaymini drivers play like a driver.
They're just a little bitsmaller and they play a lot like
a driver faces hot, big head.
And I don't really think mostplayers are gonna be able to hit
those clubs off the fairway.
Pretty much all of'em, I thinkare 13 degrees.
Mine might be 12 and a half.

(02:28):
Um.
Definitely an adjustable Zel onthe Callaway and the, and the,
and the talus, which is 13degrees.
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 playerthat I fit has gotten the

(02:48):
Titleist, is it's a, it's ashorter shaft.
Obviously the head is a littlebit 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 three10 with their driver, they're
hitting two 80 with the minidriver, 2 75 with the mini
driver.
And that's really been helpful,um, because they hit it in a
much tighter dispersion, maybecall it.

(03:10):
40 yards width right to left asopposed to maybe 60 or 70 or 80
with their driver at 300 carryplus.
So that tends to be the playerthat uses mini driver tends to
be a longer hitter looking forsomething a little more
accurate, but doesn't wanna goall the way down to like an iron
off the team, lose all thatdistance.

(03:30):
So.
The Titleist is backorder.
I just ordered one yesterday.
It's Backorder till July.
So I think the demand for theseclubs has been way higher than
they anticipated.
I think that the other personthat could really use a mini
driver might be someone thatjust doesn't feel comfortable
hitting a driver with that big,long shaft.
So if I go down to somethingthat's more like five wood

(03:51):
length shaft with a niceforgiving head, like, like maybe
the Callaway and the tailor madeoffer, um.
That could be a club that mightbe just a little easier to, to
swing essentially and hit themiddle of the face and with
slightly more loft.
You know, that back spin of theball is really helps a lot of
times make the ball flystraighter.
It's not as aerodynamic fordistance, but that little bit

(04:12):
more back spin that the addedloft puts on it will help the
ball fly straighter and lessoffline.
So if you're someone that eitherdoesn't feel like they can hit a
full length driver.
Solidly enough to use it.
Or you're one of those longerhitters that's going back to
like a utility or an, or a longiron and giving up tons of
distance off the t many drivercould be for you.

(04:36):
So test them out.
Uh, we have all three.
We don't have tons of shaftoptions at this point.
I think it's kinda like they put'em out there.
Um, it's interesting.
They all kind of came out thesame 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 definitelycould be hit off the fairway,
and that, in my opinion, gives aslight edge to that longer

(05:00):
hitter.
Um, and then the other two withthe bigger heads might give the
slight edge to the personlooking for a a club they can
just hit a little bit moreeasily.
So check it out.
Many drivers get fit today by acertified club fitter.
And thank you again for tuninginto this quick question episode
of the Golf InterventionPodcast.