Role of a Mini Driver?

[DGreasy]

I have an Elyte driver and 11.5 mini in the bag and hit the mini 9/10 tee boxes vs the driver.  For me it's way more accurate and only losing about 20 yards on average but staying in play way more.  

I do like having the driver though for par 5's and long/wide open par 4s, but if I didn't have a spot for both I would just game the mini.. FWIW

[bob_fish]

started playing a Callaway 13.5* Mini a couple of weeks ago and hitting a lot more fairways with it, while only losing about 15 yards off the tee.

 

Bottom line, for me, my scores are dropping and that's all that matters.

[stratgolf]

23 hours ago, johnspies said:

I'm interested in replacing my Driver and 3 wood with a Mini Driver. Losing a few yards but perhaps gaining a bit of accuracy is perfect for my situation plus I'd like to consolidate 2 clubs to 1 if possible. Having not hit one, are they capable of replacing a 3-4 wood from the fairway? Off the tee, I'd imagine there's little if any difference?

 

I'm a 17 handicap so looking for something more consistent off the tee and willing to sacrifice some yards to stay in the fairway. thanks in advance.

 

As for most people, I think you should have to have a case for adding the mini. Do you hit 3 wood mostly from the tee and want extra forgiveness? Do you need a second serve driver? Do you want to hit a different stock shape with your mini for different holes? Do you need something that goes further than your 3 wood?

[NRJyzr]

11 hours ago, robbie91 said:

Outside of a golfer who has a mental block with a traditional driver, I've never understood why someone would want to replace a 460cc head with mini driver. If it's the loft or shaft length in the mini driver that's producing consistency, both can be adjusted in a 460cc head without losing any forgiveness.  

 

I do think mini driver can make sense as a 3 wood replacement for guys who primarily hit 3 wood off the tee or who are comfortable hitting the mini driver from the turf. As someone who rarely fits 3 wood into greens, I've been interested in tinkering with one myself. 

 

Not everyone does well with larger clubheads.  It's just something that exists, far from a "mental block."  LOL

 

Ping came out with the Blueprint line due to this, they came to the realization that some golfers just hit smaller clubheads significantly better.  There's not much in the relative difference between a G series iron and a Blueprint / Blueprint S / Blueprint T, and a 300cc to 340cc driver and something in the 440-460cc range.

 

[me05501]

Here's how I think of it and why carrying a Mini has worked for me.

 

We see almost every club in the bag as being meant to hit the ball a specific max distance. We don't expect our PW to go 175 yards. That's what a 7 iron is for. We always have a longer club we can reach for to do whatever job is in front of us. 

 

That's true until we get to the driver. Most of us swing the driver hoping for maximum distance. Guys who hit it 220 want to hit it 240. Guys who hit it 240 want to hit it 260. 

 

This thinking creeps into the swing we make...going all out, losing control of the club at the top and losing our balance coming through. 

 

If you have a mini driver you probably don't swing it like that. Subconsciously you know that the role of that club is to hit fairways and not run through doglegs and add some backspin and basically provide an easier tee shot. The swing is more in balance and you're more likely to find the center of the face and you get 95% of your average driver distance with way less stress. 

 

Once you get used to doing this on every tee box you can easily convince yourself to make a similar swing with the driver. You start hitting the middle of your driver and finishing in balance and you see the ball do what it's supposed to do and hopefully it also finds more fairways and gets you 12-20 extra yards. 

 

The reverse is also true for me. I'm more likely to hit driver from most tee boxes these days but having the Mini in the bag is like a safety net. If I start overswinging and  spraying it around I can drop back to the more comfortable option and get through my round with minimal damage to my score. 

[Mike_C]

I bought an R7 mini mostly to test, thinking I wouldn't like it, as my 3 wood was maybe my favorite club.  After about 6 weeks, it is staying.   I got it at 13.5 degrees, and went with the stock X flex shaft as the stiff seemed very loose to me, tried a couple others but like the stock X.  I actually like to hit it off the turf a lot, it doesn't go as far as teed up, but just seems to go straight, I can hit it 240ish off the turf, kind of like a good 3 wood for me but overall will have less left to right dispersion.  Teed up, how it strike it makes a big difference, a slight cut, and I mean slight, and it goes 240-250, If I turn it over just slightly, I have hit it 280+.   It seems to be spin mostly, a slight draw seems to produce more driver like spin, so if I hit it higher but with lower spin  it just carries and carries then also will roll out. 

[Tampajoe3]

I found the mini finds many more fairways than my driver.

However, the distance I get with the mini is about the same as my "just ok" driver shots.  

It is behind up to 30 yards on a really good driver hit.

Love my mini though.  

[PhilWhitUK]

14 hours ago, Ger21 said:

I used to carry Driver, 3 wood, 7 wood. The 3 wood was a tee only club for me on shorter holes.

Now I carry an 11.5° mini, and a 5 wood. I can hit 5 wood on any holes that need something less than the mini, and it's easier off the deck than a 3 wood.

 

Mini is longer and straighter than a driver for me on all but perfect strikes with the driver. My average driver distance, and accuracy, are way up since switching to the mini.

 

Me too.  Have gone to the Callaway as I just use it off the tee.  I tee it slightly low.  Then I go de-lofted 5 wood and then 7 wood.  Love this combination for me.

[ericft]

I agree with everything that has been said so far...when I first got a R7 Mini it was amazing how far I hit it but some drives with regular driver were 15-20 longer so I was in fairway with Mini and figured I should just play driver for the extra...then started to hit is wayward as i swing too much up on driver 7-9AOA and misses were penal...plus compared to some of the folks I play with who hit it 300 yards, my misses were not long enough to just wedge it onto the green..so not only was I loosing dispersion but still had long shots in. So I have decided to go back to hitting mini driver, accept the occasional shorter drives ( compared to best driver shots) and play from the shorter grass where I actually have a chance to hit more greens. 

Some mini drivers shots were as long or longer than driver so the R7 mini is not short by any means. In addition, I have gone with a 5 wood and 7 wood and soon 9 wood as the 5 wood is so much more predictable to hit from fairway than even 3/4 woods and I rarely have to hit anything 3 wood length off the deck..in that case I should rather layup with iron. 

The mini can also be hit off nice fluffy lie on fairway if needed..

In addition, I agree with sometimes larger heads with the gear effect can be harder to hit than smaller heads...same with blades vs big game improvement irons. I play better with blades partly because of thin sole but also less room on face to miss it..

 

 

[rsballer10]

There seems to be (3) types of people that are playing mini-drivers:

1. people that play a driver that's either not fit properly, or they don't deliver the club in a way to make the driver work properly. Either way, the driver isn't being used to it's full potential. Find a good fit, perhaps play a little extra loft, 44.5" to 45" and I bet the need to a mini disappears.
2. people that need a driver shaft so short, it's easier to play an OTR mini than Frankenstein a 460cc driver. This makes sense, because once you add a ton of weight to a 460cc they can sometimes act funny. It's really hard to add weight and not mess up the CG. Visually, the head is smaller than a driver, but at 43 3/4" the head is plenty big enough.
3. People who actually have the delivery to make both drivers work. Someone that hits level/up enough on a driver to benefit from the extra ball speed of a 45"+ driver at a lower loft can see enough of a gap between the two clubs to justify playing both. Hitting up is great, but there are times where a "fairway finder" is warranted. Tee the mini down, and hit a lower, more controlled shot when the time calls for it.

[Ger21]

21 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

people that play a driver that's either not fit properly, or they don't deliver the club in a way to make the driver work properly. Either way, the driver isn't being used to it's full potential. Find a good fit, perhaps play a little extra loft, 44.5" to 45" and I bet the need to a mini disappears.

 

This is making the assumption that everyone should be able to hit a driver, and hit it well 14x per round. I've had days where I hit 10 great drives, but the 2 that went in the woods turned a mid-high 70's round into an 81 or 82.

Dispersion, and consistency with the mini is much better. 

[kthomas]

1 hour ago, NRJyzr said:

 

Not everyone does well with larger clubheads.  It's just something that exists, far from a "mental block."  LOL

 

Ping came out with the Blueprint line due to this, they came to the realization that some golfers just hit smaller clubheads significantly better.  There's not much in the relative difference between a G series iron and a Blueprint / Blueprint S / Blueprint T, and a 300cc to 340cc driver and something in the 440-460cc range.

 

 

I believe Marty Jertson of PING stated that larger driver heads can be harder to square up at impact for a lot of golfers.

 

I do think there's something to this. 

[rsballer10]

1 hour ago, Ger21 said:

 

This is making the assumption that everyone should be able to hit a driver, and hit it well 14x per round. I've had days where I hit 10 great drives, but the 2 that went in the woods turned a mid-high 70's round into an 81 or 82.

Dispersion, and consistency with the mini is much better. 

#2

[NRJyzr]

56 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

people that play a driver that's either not fit properly, or they don't deliver the club in a way to make the driver work properly. Either way, the driver isn't being used to it's full potential. Find a good fit, perhaps play a little extra loft, 44.5" to 45" and I bet the need to a mini disappears.

 

Disagree with this.  First thought...  even 44½" is too long for a great many people, much less 45".  Length is a fitting parameter, and the full potential you mention as the goal is realized for many golfers at 44" or even shorter.  

 

OEMs choosing the lengths they use as "standard" in the current marketplace has nothing to do with actual fitting.

 

Inserting myself into that concept...  I'm good up to 44", maybe 44¼".  Going longer than that makes dispersion a problem.  It just doesn't work with my swing (neither do sub-70g shafts).  It doesn't affect distance for me, in fact, my swing is slower at 44½" than it is at 43" or 43½".  Both lucky and unlucky, depending on the perspective approach.  😐

 

[rsballer10]

1 minute ago, NRJyzr said:

 

Disagree with this.  First thought...  even 44½" is too long for a great many people, much less 45".  Length is a fitting parameter, and the full potential you mention as the goal is realized for many golfers at 44" or even shorter.  

 

OEMs choosing the lengths they use as "standard" in the current marketplace has nothing to do with actual fitting.

 

Inserting myself into that concept...  I'm good up to 44", maybe 44¼".  Going longer than that makes dispersion a problem.  It just doesn't work with my swing (neither do sub-70g shafts).  It doesn't affect distance for me, in fact, my swing is slower at 44½" than it is at 43" or 43½".  Both lucky and unlucky, depending on the perspective approach.  😐

 

#2

[me05501]

IMO the internal weighting of Mini drivers is designed to optimize the ball flight for that loft, head size and shaft length. 

 

I've tried a 12* driver on a 44" shaft and couldn't get the trajectory down to a reasonable height. 

[QuigleyDU]

I think replacing a driver with a mini driver makes zero sense... Why not just go with a 12 degree driver? 

[Ger21]

25 minutes ago, QuigleyDU said:

I think replacing a driver with a mini driver makes zero sense... Why not just go with a 12 degree driver? 

 

There are numerous posts that explain why, but the anti-mini crowd doesn't seem to want to read them.

[QuigleyDU]

2 minutes ago, Ger21 said:

 

There are numerous posts that explain why, but the anti-mini crowd doesn't seem to want to read them.

I am far from anti mini. I play the GT280 and absolutely love it. But again, the idea of a driver replacement doesn't make sense. You are giving up both distance and forgiveness. 

[Mtn_Mikey]

Just put my new GT 280 into play and very satisfied as it fits a somewhat unique niche for me.

 

Chose the Mitsubishi Tensi 1K Blue, 55-gram shaft with R2 flex for my decrepit 77-year-old, lower back fused body. I increased the loft .75 degrees to 13.75 and set it upright by the same degree.

 

Over the weekend I hit 26/28 fairways, so driver accuracy is not the issue. (Wish I could say that for length.) On a few holes, due to severe slopes, good drives can roll into fairway bunkers. So, I selected the GT280 to still give me better length than my 4 wood it replaced yet allow me to be comfortably short of some fairway bunkers off the tee.

 

I've found it easy to hit off the deck and very responsive. The only time it has been an issue if I get tired late round in the Phoenix heat and start being a little steep. That's an operator issue.

 

The mini driver may not be for everybody but a blessing to me!

[rsballer10]

Just now, Mtn_Mikey said:

Just put my new GT 280 into play and very satisfied as it fits a somewhat unique niche for me.

 

Chose the Mitsubishi Tensi 1K Blue, 55-gram shaft with R2 flex for my decrepit 77-year-old, lower back fused body. I increased the loft .75 degrees to 13.75 and set it upright by the same degree.

 

Over the weekend I hit 26/28 fairways, so driver accuracy is not the issue. (Wish I could say that for length.) On a few holes, due to severe slopes, good drives can roll into fairway bunkers. So, I selected the GT280 to still give me better length than my 4 wood it replaced yet allow me to be comfortably short of some fairway bunkers off the tee.

 

I've found it easy to hit off the deck and very responsive. The only time it has been an issue if I get tired late round in the Phoenix heat and start being a little steep. That's an operator issue.

 

The mini driver may not be for everybody but a blessing to me!

This is a well reasoned take - which doesn't surprise me with an avatar like that!! GO TERPS!!

 

[Mtn_Mikey]

2 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

This is a well reasoned take - which doesn't surprise me with an avatar like that!! GO TERPS!!

 

Still remember and cherish setting up classes at College Park in the morning and playing our course many afternoons before studying or work. LOL, I "aced" my PT golf class with Barry Rodenhaver (think that's correct) eons ago!

[1puttTUT]

3 hours ago, PhilWhitUK said:

Me too.  Have gone to the Callaway as I just use it off the tee.  I tee it slightly low.  Then I go de-lofted 5 wood and then 7 wood.  Love this combination for me.

 

Driver, mini driver, strong 5 wood is a fantastic combo

[Ger21]

41 minutes ago, QuigleyDU said:

You are giving up both distance and forgiveness. 

I'm giving up 10-15 yards from my best drives, and accuracy is greatly improved.

Most holes, I'm hitting the same club into greens.

Edited July 28 by Ger21

[QuigleyDU]

2 minutes ago, Ger21 said:

I'm giving up 10-15 yards from my best drives, and accuracy is greatly improved.

Most holes, I'm hitting the same club into greens.

15 yards is not something I am willing to sacrifice. 

[Ger21]

1 minute ago, QuigleyDU said:

15 yards is not something I am willing to sacrifice. 

That's on my best drives. My average distance with the mini has increased, as I'm more consistent with it.

[rsballer10]

2 minutes ago, QuigleyDU said:

15 yards is not something I am willing to sacrifice. 

It's also a weird distance in general. It's enough to matter over time (1 club length on every approach shot for a season adds up) but also doesn't gap with the other clubs well.

[rsballer10]

5 minutes ago, Ger21 said:

That's on my best drives. My average distance with the mini has increased, as I'm more consistent with it.

if you are using it as a driver replacement it makes sense. I'm more confused by the people playing it alongside their driver, but it goes the same length.

[Binson]

There are a few use cases:

1) The high speed player who never hits 3 wood off the deck - replacing 3 wood. This player also typically plays a fade with their driver and wants a club they can draw as their second tee club (or vice versa).  

2) The player who can't hit driver, but can hit a fairway wood pretty well.  A Mini-driver with more loft and a shorter shaft allows them to make more of a fairway wood swing. - replacing Driver.  This is a band-aid, but not everyone has the time or willingness to work on their golf swing and that is ok.  If it gets the job done, then that's all that matters.  

3) The low swing speed player who needs more loft to elevate and spin the ball.  A mini-driver or a higher lofted driver could work here.

4) The half-set minimalist who wants to get down to as few clubs as possible and enjoy a different type of game. 

 

I'd say it's more about your swing speed and impact dynamics than your handicap.  And, it's pretty unlikely that it serves effectively as both your tee club and your longest fairway club unless you are a pretty skilled player in category #4.

Edited July 28 by Binson

[RacineBoxer]

7 hours ago, johnspies said:

Thanks everyone. To clarify, I’m a 17 but can play much better when I’m hitting well off the tee. Hence, looking for something that might keep me in play more often. Shot an 84 at Royal County Down two weeks ago as an example….felt so good that day. The next day? A 93 at Ardglass 😉

 

I’m tinkering with this (with the help of a PGA professional) along with a 4-wood and 7 wood to see what works best for me. My gut says I’ll settle into the Mini and the 7 wood; I very rarely hit a 3/4 wood off the deck and just got the 7 wood as a recommendation from club members who swear by it.

Another motivator, and I understand it might have very little application (if any) is that I used to play a 425 TM Driver that I just loved. 

Thanks for the answers to my question and the description of experiences.

 

Similar to a few others in this thread, I wouldn't necessarily recommend replacing your driver with a mini. I think every single player on the PGA tour plays a driver. I can think of one LPGA player that doesn't play a driver. Sure you might find a few anecdotal cases of people not playing a driver but these are pretty unique outliers.

 

I'd recommend playing a driver that is higher loft and shortened shaft. Ping does a 12* driver with a 3 wood shaft. Essentially, the best of both worlds: forgiveness of a 460cc head and control of a 3 wood shaft. Meet the Thriver – the new ultimate fairway finder from Ping

 

Mini drivers are usually for really good players with a lot of speed. Say you drive the ball 320 and you have a few holes at your home course where you'd like to only drive it 280-290 (say bunkers or OB pinches in at 300-320). And you want the forgiveness of something bigger than a 3 wood. As long as you use it a couple times per round there's a solid case to make that the mini makes sense to add to the bag. 

 

But in your case I'd go 460cc "thriver".