Mini Drivers: Inside the Niche History & Surging Future

Even though the name mini driver could literally not be any more descriptive, it’s OK to wonder "what is a mini driver?"

Yes, it’s smaller than a driver and bigger than a 3-wood, but that doesn’t fully answer the question. Mini drivers typically have a head shape that more closely resembles a traditional driver’s footprint – including a taller face than a typical fairway wood – yet a scaled-down size.

Since mini drivers are such a niche club, there’s no exact standard, but here’s a quick look at the specs you could expect for a mini driver:

• Club head size: 235-340cc
• Length: 43-44.5 inches
• Loft: 11.5-14 degrees

One of the most common uses for a mini driver is to provide an option for players looking for an alternative to driver or 3-wood off the tee, so here’s how mini driver compares to driver and 3-wood.

*Distance and accurace data provided by Shot Scope and represents the average 10-handicap golfer. Distance figure is Performance-Average, a representation of how far a player hits the ball with a good strike, removing short and long outliers from the true average.

Being such a niche club, mini drivers invoke countless questions. Here are the answers to the most common mini driver questions.

One of the most common uses for mini driver is indeed off the tee. 

When hitting mini driver from the tee, you don’t need to tee the ball up as high as you would with your normal driver. Teeing it up slightly higher than you would tee up your 3-wood should be ideal. Of course, you should log enough practice with your mini driver to find your optimal tee height before you pull it out on the course.

Yes. 

One of the perks of a mini driver is that it’s more versatile than your normal driver, and it is designed to be played from various lies. This includes off the tee and from the fairway.

Sometimes. 

You don’t want to pull mini driver when your ball is buried in thick rough, but the sole of a mini driver is designed to glide through turf, and if you have a decent lie in the rough, mini driver can be an option.

Usually, when you buy a new club, there’s a one-for-one tradeoff. You replace your old putter with a new putter, or your old wedges with new wedges. 

Since you’re probably not already gaming a mini driver, you’ll have to choose which club comes out of the bag when the mini driver goes in. Ultimately, the best club to remove is the one you either hit the least often, or perform the worst with (unless that’s your putter!). 

Generally speaking, the most obvious choice would be to remove your 3-wood. It’s probably overkill to carry a driver, mini driver, and a 3-wood. Add in the fact that 5-woods are so long and easy to hit these days, and it makes sense to go driver, mini driver, 5-wood at the top of the bag. 

Alternatively, if you have a four-wedge setup and either don’t use one of them often, or have too much overlap between two of your wedges, it could make sense to remove one of those wedges to make room for a mini driver.

If you’re adding a mini driver because you’re struggling mightily with your driver and it’s on a long-term timeout, you could replace it with a mini driver, but ideally you would keep both in your bag.

You should expect a mini driver to go anywhere from 5-25 yards shorter than your normal driver. There are a lot of variables here, so we’ll explain.

The TaylorMade r7 Quad mini driver is the most recent addition to the mini driver market, so that’s the one we’ll use as an example here. 

That r7 Quad mini comes in two loft options, 11.5 degrees and 13.5 degrees. With loft adjustability up or down 2 degrees, that club can check in anywhere from 9.5 degrees to 15.5 degrees. The loft you choose has a massive impact on how far you hit it.

Additionally, there are interchangeable weights that alter the spin characteristics and ultimately, distance. 
Move the heavy weights to the back for a higher-launching, more forgiving mini driver. Swap those heavy weights to the front and that mini driver becomes lower-spinning, and you’ll squeeze out more distance.

Considering the combination of those two variables, if you have a mini driver turned down to 9.5 degrees in the low-spin setting, there’s a good chance you’ll hit it pretty close to the distance you hit your driver, especially if that driver is acting up. 

Alternatively, if your mini driver is set to a higher-launching, more forgiving setting, you can expect it to go farther than your 3-wood, but not as far as your driver.

A mini driver has a much shorter shaft than a standard driver. It’s comparable to a standard 3-wood shaft, yet it has a much larger head and taller face than a 3-wood. Considering these elements, you should find a mini driver easier to hit than both of those other clubs. 

That said, every player and every swing is different, so you’ll have to hit the mini driver and compare it to hitting driver and 3-wood to find out if it’s easier to hit for you.

The best way to correct a slice is to improve your swing mechanics. 

However, if you suffer from a slice with your driver, the characteristics of a mini driver could help. With a smaller head than a driver, a mini driver’s closure rate (how quickly the club head returns to square through impact) is quicker than that of a 460cc driver, which will result in straighter shots. 

Add in some additional loft, which can also promote straighter shots, and a mini driver can certainly get you closer to the fairway. But if you have a slice, and instead of improving your swing, you add a mini driver, you’re still going to have a slice.

You should expect tighter dispersion (more accuracy) with a mini driver than with a standard driver.

One of the biggest selling points of a mini driver is that it’s more accurate than driver yet churns out nearly as much distance. It’s impossible to say how you will perform with a mini driver, but the characteristics of the club (shorter shaft and more loft than driver, larger head than 3-wood) certainly promote accuracy. 

Considering that the current crop of mini drivers offer the same adjustability as their big brothers, you can and should fine-tune your mini driver to fit your needs, including maximum accuracy.