Reasons Why You Might Consider Using A Mini Driver

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In this video, Joel Tadman tests the TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver that sits in between a 3-wood and a driver to see how it performed against a TaylorMade SIM2 driver and SIM2 Max 3-wood. The results are interesting so be sure to watch right to the end.
Transcript
00:00Do you need a tailor-made mini driver? That's the question we're going to try
00:04and answer in this video. Is this a club that you've never thought to put in your
00:08bag before but you could actually really do with or is it simply a super niche
00:12product the vast majority of players just simply don't need? So we're here at
00:16the beautiful Wellingborough Golf Club we're going to hit some shots with this
00:19tailor-made mini driver off the tee, off the deck, see how it compares with a
00:233-wood and a driver to really gauge if this is a club that could be useful in
00:28your bag. So what I've tailor-made done with the design of this club well it's a
00:37throwback from the 300 series of drivers back in 2000 so it's 307 CC's much
00:43smaller than the 460 CC drivers we see today. It comes in two lofts 11 and a half
00:48and the 13 and a half degree loft I've got here which is obviously adjustable
00:53so you can go up or down up to two degrees and interestingly the shaft on
00:57this driver is 43.75 inches long so much shorter than the 45.7 inch drivers we'll
01:04see on the SIM 2 drivers but only marginally longer than the 3-woods in the
01:08SIM 2 range so half an inch longer than that so it's an interesting concept
01:12it's got twist face it's got the V steel sole here which we see in some of the
01:163-woods and it has been put in the bag by Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson so
01:21clearly some players are finding that it's become useful for them in certain
01:25courses and certain shots but how does it play for me well before we hit some
01:29shots with it here on the hole we're down on the 17th there's a par 5 and it's
01:32a super super tight hole so for me that's where I think a club like this
01:36might be beneficial is on holes where you need to hit the fairway you're not
01:39too worried about distance you're worried about accuracy and potentially
01:43this could be a fairway finding option versus a driver but I did hit this
01:47driver up against a normal SIM 2 driver my custom fitted driver and a SIM 2
01:52matched 3-wood on the full swing golf simulator at Silvermere to get some
01:56launch monitor data and I'll flash it up on the screen now and I think you'll
01:58agree some interesting findings there versus a 15 degree 3-wood this club was
02:04actually flying a little bit lower as you might expect from the loft but the
02:08total distance was a lot longer than the 3-wood so while it wasn't carrying much
02:13further it was giving me a lot more distance but it was nowhere near where I
02:16was with my driver my fitted SIM 2 driver this was much shorter about 12
02:20yards on average and I tested it off the deck and off the tee and the results
02:25were fairly similar I think obviously off the tee it definitely excelled I
02:29think that's the position where I'm gonna be excited to try it more can this
02:32give me more accuracy off the tee versus a driver or a 3-wood so let's hit some
02:37shots with it and find out. Right so I've got all three clubs my SIM 2 driver my
02:42SIM 2 max fairway and the 300 mini driver and what's interesting you know
02:46down at address it has quite a tall face so you see a lot of the face
02:50impact even though it's a bit stronger loft versus the 3-wood it looks like
02:54it's got more loft on it if that makes sense obviously is a little bit larger
02:57than that 3-wood and obviously tee height is crucial when using this mini
03:01driver you have to make sure that the ball is hitting the center of the face
03:05you don't want to see it as low as you would a 3-wood so making sure you get it
03:10just right kind of about there I would say so it's kind of in between where you
03:14would be with the 3-wood and the driver so let's hit some shots we're gonna hit
03:18two balls with each on this really tight hole at Wellingborough see if this mini
03:23driver gives me potentially the best combination of accuracy and distance
03:37consistent
03:40I'm pretty straight very high though into the wind that's gonna fall a long
03:52way short much higher than the mini driver
04:00same line as the mini driver but a lot higher pinch and see how those compare
04:08let's hit driver now
04:13hit that well
04:20I'll hit that well okay so two pretty good shots with each of those clubs let's
04:27go see where they finished okay so we're up on the fairway and this is where my
04:33best shot with the mini driver finished from TaylorMade you see about 20 yards up
04:39there hit a really good one with the driver so that's a good 20 yards past
04:43there then the other shot with the driver hit that tree and came down
04:47you can sit just in the rough there maybe and then the 3-wood shots you know
04:51we're hitting into the wind here and they really did climb quite considerably
04:54versus the mini driver so they're a long way short to 10 yards over there just
04:58off the fairway and there's one on the fairway about 10 yards back from where
05:01we are now so the shots or the results of the shots clearly kind of match up
05:05where we were with the launch one of today's here and or what you would
05:07expect in terms of the mini driver giving you in terms of distance more
05:11than the 3-wood less with the driver is it giving you more accuracy when the
05:14driver I would say probably not obviously it depends on how confident
05:18you are with a driver versus the 3-wood or a club like this but for me there's
05:23no gain in accuracy with the mini driver versus a driver obviously I was fitted
05:28for my driver and I wasn't fit for the mini driver and that's gonna have a
05:31really big impact on your ability to square the clubface and the accuracy
05:35that results from that so inconclusive really but for me mini driver not really
05:40delivering me any more accuracy versus a driver okay so we've seen how the 300
05:45mini driver fares off the tee let's see how it fares off the deck
05:48TaylorMade claiming this is a club that is playable off the deck so let's see
05:53hit some shots into this flag we've got flag down there about 230 yards away
05:56into fairly strong breeze so it's a perfect shot to see how this compares
06:00with the 3-wood could it be a useful asset into shots or into par fives like
06:04this where you need to get the ball up by the green to give you a chance at
06:07birdie let's find out
06:10right so here we are up by the green these are the three shots that I hit
06:31with the mini driver actually you could throw a pretty small blanket over them
06:34they're all pretty consistent they're just past the pin my shot with the 3
06:38wood is actually just short of the pin over in that gully behind that mound so
06:42in terms of distance it's actually pretty similar versus the two clubs I
06:46think the reason for that is you're not getting as much carry distance with a
06:50mini driver as you are a 3-wood so in terms of how the ball lands in the grass
06:55you're not going to get as much disparity in terms of the where the
06:57ball is finished but the fact that these three mini driver shots missed to the
07:01right versus the 3-wood that missed to the left I think is a result of the fact
07:05that you feel like you need to kind of trap it a bit more get steeper in
07:08to it a bit more across the line to get the flight and the strike with the mini
07:12driver and that's why they've curved a bit more to the right versus and the
07:16wind hitting into the wind has definitely accentuated that so in terms
07:20of playability off the deck I don't think there's a great amount of
07:23difference and I did feel like the 3-wood is a little bit easier to fly
07:26but if you are hitting a longer shot maybe into the wind on a par 5 the mini
07:30driver actually found it surprisingly easy to strike these are all pretty good
07:34hits so I wasn't missing them pretty significantly so in terms of the ease of
07:39strike I felt like it was easy to achieve but I don't think it was any
07:42better necessarily than a 3-wood so the answer to the question we asked at the
07:48start this video do you need a tailor-made 300 mini driver I would say
07:51probably for the majority of players no I'd say most players were better off
07:57using a driver and then a 3-wood but there are situations I would say where a
08:02club like this could actually come in handy the first while it wasn't
08:05necessarily the case for me I think over a longer period of time a longer number
08:08of shots the shorter shaft versus a driver will give you more control of the
08:14clubface yes you might not swing it quite as fast but this is definitely
08:18giving you a bit more speed and a stronger flight than a 3-wood and
08:22especially if you play into the wind if you hit a lot of shots in the wind you
08:26want to fight the ball down and you struggle with driver if you struggle to
08:29control the driver a club like this I think could give you more control so if
08:33you play a lot of links golf exposed golf courses you need to keep the ball
08:35down if you play a lot of long par fives long par fours but maybe you struggle to
08:39reach this club could help you hit those greens a bit more often versus a 3-wood
08:45that maybe balloons spins too much and you don't get the carry that you want
08:48obviously the larger head versus a 3-wood does inspire a bit more confidence
08:52over the ball off the deck I don't think it's necessarily any easier to hit off
08:56the deck and you might actually be sacrificing a little bit of playability
08:59but if you do practice with it and you work out how to hit it cleanly I found
09:03it actually surprisingly easy to hit cleanly off the deck you do get more
09:07carry distance off the deck so if you again if you're getting into the wind it
09:11could be an option to add into your bag along with a driver or along with maybe
09:15a 5-wood it's basically like it's just a strong 3-wood gives you a bit more
09:18distance versus a traditional 3-wood that some people find too
09:22intimidating to hit so it's definitely food for thought there and there will be
09:25some golfers where the makeup of the bag calls for a club like this all the
09:30course they play all the conditions they play I think they're relatively niche
09:33but there's definitely a need for it would I put it in my bag probably not
09:37because I quite like the driver I've got at the moment but if you struggle with
09:40the driver and you're not confident with your 3-wood it could be a really
09:44exciting option to try hopefully this video has given you a really good
09:47insight into what this Taylorway 300 mini driver is all about and whether it
09:51could be right for you do like the video if you like what you're watching and
09:53comment on the video is this something that you'd be considering putting in the
09:57bag I'd love to hear from you but that's all for me from Wellingborough Golf Club
10:00I'll see you next time