Mini – Golfing Networks

The sneaky benefits of a 15-degree mini driver, explained

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 20:13:59 +0000

Earlier this year, TaylorMade quietly added a new loft option to its R7 Quad Mini Driver: 15.5 degrees.

That was significant because modern mini drivers had settled into both 11.5˚ and 13.5˚ options, with 13˚-13.5˚ being the most common for golfers to find a suitable club to replace their 3-wood and give themselves a true secondary option off the tee.

And if the modern 3-wood sits between 14˚ and 16.5˚, what is the purpose of a 15.5˚ mini driver? On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow discussed this topic.

In the episode, as Morrow and Wunder explained recent changes they’ve made to their bags in the last few months, Morrow noted he’s playing a TaylorMade R7 Quad 15.5˚ Mini driver.

“I don’t understand it,” Wunder said. “I don’t know what universe that has benefits for anybody.”

But Morrow explained that the 15.5˚ loft solves a simple problem.

TaylorMade R7 Quad Custom Mini Driver

PERFORMANCE FOR THE MODERN PLAYER
Inspired by one of the most iconic models in TaylorMade history, the R7 Quad Mini Driver pays homage to what’s come before, while creating its own modern identity in the same breath. It’s that very modern design that incorporates proven TaylorMade technologies to give golfers versatility and playability.
R7 QUAD WEIGHTING SYSTEM
The new quad weighting system features four movable weights (13g x2, 4g x2) that provide the ultimate in spin management and shot shape control. Forward CG creates a penetrating flight best suited for maximizing distance whereas rear CG helps prioritize control and ease of use from the deck. Shot shape can also be fine-tuned helping create the most optimal flight. Additional weights can be purchased for a wider range of adjustability.
INFINITY CARBON CROWN
A new satin Infinity Carbon Crown has been added to the R7 Quad Mini Driver chassis creating a stunning look while saving weight for better mass optimization. The cosmetic package is clean, elegant, and confidence-inspiring.

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, TaylorMade

Many players agree that the R7 Quad sits slightly shut at address, and many players loft down the club to help solve for that. But then you’re playing with less loft than you want simply for optics’ sake.

With a 15.5˚ mini, you can loft the club all the way down on TaylorMade’s 2˚ FCT adapter and play the club at a 13.5˚ loft with a square or even open face angle.

“It’s literally built so you can put the adapter in the lower position and have a square face,” Morrow said. “It’s a square-faced, 13-and-a-half-degree mini driver. That’s what it really is.”

This setup works well for Morrow because if he’s going to play his mini driver, he doesn’t want it to go more than 260 yards. While you might want to set up a driver to go as far as possible, the mini driver is more of a position club. That’s also why Morrow’s mini driver is just over 42 inches long.

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Callaway Quantum Mini Driver Testing

admin — Sun, 17 May 2026 12:07:02 +0000

True Spec Golf, the premium brand-agnostic club fitting company, took the Callaway Quantum Mini Driver straight into the bay to see what it can really do. Same head, two setups. Heavy weight back for stability and forgiveness, then flipped forward to chase speed and lower spin. Then it was put it to the real test… off the deck. Ball speed, launch, spin, versatility. Let’s see which setup actually wins.

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Titleist GTS300 mini driver arrives on Tour in Charlotte

admin — Mon, 11 May 2026 12:13:59 +0000

Titleist’s new mini driver hits the PGA Tour this week at Quail Hollow. Here’s what we know.

The Titleist GTS 300, a yet-to-be-released mini driver, was added to the USGA’s Conforming Driver Head list on Monday, and Titleist is debuting the club this week at the PGA Tour’s Truist Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. It arrives as the next evolution in a club category that has quietly gained traction among serious players over the past several seasons.

Titleist hasn’t announced a price, a consumer release date or spelled out exactly what separates the GTS300 from its predecessor, the GT280 mini driver, but the name tells us something. If the GT280 was 280 cubic centimeters in volume, the GTS300 is almost certainly 300 cc, which is still well below the 460 cc limit for drivers but significantly larger than a typical 3-wood, which runs between 190 and 200 cc.

And when it comes to metalwoods, size matters. A lot.

Think of club head volume like the wheelbase on a car. The bigger the wheels, the more stable the ride. A larger head typically has a higher moment of inertia (MOI) and is harder to twist on off-center hits, which means more consistent ball speed when you miss the sweet spot. Compared to a 3-wood, the GTS300 should be significantly more forgiving, while still being easier to control than a full-sized 460cc driver.

That’s the whole point of the mini driver category. It lives in the space between a driver and a 3-wood. Longer and more forgiving than a fairway wood, shorter and more manageable than a driver. For certain players, those who use their 3-wood exclusively off the tee and almost never need it from the fairway, a mini driver can be a revelation. It fills a distance gap while also offering more reliability off the tee.

The GTS300 has two interchangeable weights in the sole: an 11-gram and a 3-gram, like its predecessor. Where those weights sit should change how the club behaves.

In the standard setup, the heavier 11-gram weight sits in the back, pushing the center of gravity (CG) rearward to promote a higher launch angle and slightly more spin.

Move the 11-gram weight forward, put the 3-gram to the back, and the club’s personality should change. The CG will shift toward the face, the launch drops and spin rates should decrease, and the GTS300 will likely create a flatter, more piercing trajectory. That flexibility, paired with the SureFit adjustable hosel, should allow players and fitters to fine-tune the distance and trajectory the GTS300 produces.

Cameron Young and Justin Thomas helped shape the design, and now the game’s best players are free to put it in their bags. No word yet on when the rest of us can get our hands on one, but based on history, look for it this summer.

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Callaway Quantum mini driver offers control with driver-like speed

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:40:29 +0000

Smaller than a driver, bigger than a 3-wood, the Quantum Mini is designed to tighten dispersion off the tee without sacrificing too much distance.

Gear: Callaway Quantum Mini Driver

Price: $519.99

Specs: Titanium chassis with multimaterial face, adjustable weights and adjustable hosel system. Lofts: 11.5 and 13.5 degrees. Length, 43.75 inches

Available: April 29 (in stores)

Who it’s for: Golfers who want a reliable option off the tee that prioritizes accuracy and control.

What you should know: The Quantum Mini Driver uses Callaway’s newest face technology and sole design to blend driver-like ball speed with fairway wood-like control in a head that is sized between a driver and a 3-wood.

The Deep Dive: Over the last five years, mini drivers have carved out a place in golf bags for two different types of players. The first is obvious, because we see them on the PGA Tour. Fast-swinging, elite golfers often like mini drivers because for them, a 3-wood is an off-the-tee club that enhances accuracy and without sacrificing too much distance. They almost never reach for a 3-wood from the fairway because with their power, par 5s are reachable with shorter clubs on the second shots. The other group of players adopting mini drivers is recreational golfers who struggle to hit their driver well, but who find hitting fairway woods off the tee much easier. For them, mini drivers are just a bigger, more forgiving version of their favorite club.

The Quantum Mini Driver is Callaway’s latest offering, designed to please both of these types of players.

From a size standpoint, the 340cc head makes this club unique. It is about 35 percent smaller than a modern driver, but about 70 percent larger than a traditional 3-wood. The result is a club that sits behind the ball and inspires confidence, but that does not feel unwieldy, particularly for players who prefer a more compact look at address.

At the same time, it has the distance-enhancing technologies and features that Callaway debuted in the standard Quantum drivers that were released in January. The most impactful feature is the Tri-Force face. It combines ultra-thin titanium with Poly Mesh and carbon fiber, forming a layered structure designed to preserve ball speed when contact is made away from the center. That should mean more consistent distance on the shots hit outside the sweet spot.

The addition of the Step Sole, found in Quantum fairway woods, is another interesting move. By reducing how much of the sole interacts with the turf, the Quantum Mini should skim more cleanly over the ground, which matters if you’re using the club off the deck.

With a smaller head fitted to a shorter shaft, the Quantum Mini won’t keep up with the standard Quantum driver from a speed perspective, but the shorter shaft should enhance control and tighten dispersion. At the same time, adjustable front-to-back weights allow golfers and fitters to fine-tune the spin rate and launch angle to create a more penetrating flight. If the 11.5 or 13.5 degrees of loft are not ideal, adjusting the weights and the eight-position hosel can increase the launch angle, boost spin rates and enhance forgiveness.

Compared to a standard 3-wood, the Quantum Mini Driver should produce more ball speed and a stronger flight, especially off the tee, while also being more forgiving because the club’s larger size gives it a higher moment of inertia (MOI).

In the end, the Quantum Mini is built for golfers who use their 3-wood exclusively off the tee or who struggle with hitting a driver. If you are comfortable with your driver and need your 3-wood in the fairway routinely, it may not be for you. But if finding fairways is a priority, or if your 3-wood feels like it lacks pop, the Quantum Mini could be a useful alternative.

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Cobra King TEC Mini driver blends control and versatility

admin — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 06:29:09 +0000

Cobra’s King TEC mini driver pairs a 303cc head with a 3-wood shaft and extensive adjustability for golfers seeking more control off the tee.

Gear: Cobra King TEC Mini Driver

Price: $479 with Mitsubishi Kai’li shaft and Cobra Lamkin Crossline grip

Specs: Titanium body with carbon fiber crown, variable-thickness titanium face insert, two interchangeable sole weights and 33-position adjustable hosel. Loft, 13.5 degrees. Length, 43.75 inches.

Available: Jan. 12 (pre-sale), Jan. 16 (retail)

Who it’s for: Golfers who want a more controllable option off the tee than a standard driver and golfers who use their 3-wood almost exclusively off the tee.

What you should know: By pairing a strongly-lofted fairway wood head that is about 40 percent larger than a standard 3-wood with a fairway-wood-length shaft and extensive adjustability, Cobra is offering a mini driver that can produce driver-like distance with enhanced accuracy.

The Deep Dive: Whether it is caused by the length of the shaft or a shortcoming in their swing, there’s always been a group of golfers who struggle to hit their driver consistently well. These days on Tour, more and more players are also using a 3-wood almost exclusively off the tee. For those reasons, we’ve seen meaningful growth in number of players opting for mini drivers since 2020. Now, with the King TEC-MD, Cobra is betting that a highly-adjustable mini driver can be a solution for even more recreational golfers.

At 303cc, the TEC-MD dwarfs a standard 3-wood (typically around 200cc in volume) but is much smaller than a standard 460cc driver. It also comes standard at a shorter finished length, 43.75 inches, which is about 2 inches shorter than most drivers. That should make it easier for recreational golfers to control the head, hit solid shots and tighten dispersion off the tee.

From a construction standpoint, the King TEC-MD has a lot more in common with drivers than it does fairway woods. Cobra gave it a titanium body and a lightweight carbon crown that lowers the center of gravity (CG) and reduces overall weight. The variable-thickness PWRSHELL face insert has a series of thicker and thinner areas that are designed to broaden the sweet spot and protect ball speed in areas where golfers tend to mis-hit shots, which means high in the toe and low in the heel.

To fine-tune the ball flight and spin rate, designers added two interchangeable weights to the sole, one in the back and the other in the front behind the leading edge. With a 12-gram weight in the front and a 2-gram weight in the back, the Cobra King TEC Mini driver produces a lower launch, more ball speed, and less spin. With the heavier weight in the back, the launch angle and spin rates rise, and the club’s stability increases. It is a simple system, but one that gives fitters and players meaningful control over how the club behaves.

The most significant fitting lever, however, is Cobra’s FUTUREFIT33 hosel. With 33 independent loft and lie combinations, it allows adjustments of up to 2 degrees in any direction without forcing one change to compensate for the other. In practical terms, that means a player or fitter can tweak launch, face angle, and lie angle independently or in conjunction with other things to personalize the flight or hit a specific distance.

Can you hit the Cobra King TEC Mini driver off the turf if you need to reach a long par 5 in two? Yes, but with just 13.5 degrees of loft and a deeper face, it could be more challenging to hit the shot high in the air than it would be using a standard 15-degree 3-wood.

The King TEC-MD is not meant to replace a driver for every golfer. And if you are a golfer who uses a 3-wood a few times a round from the turf, it might not be the easiest club it play. But if you are one of a growing number of players who use a 3-wood almost exclusively off the tee as an alternative to your driver and you want more distance without sacrificing control, Cobra’s King TEC-MD offers a compelling alternative that fits neatly into how today’s modern game is actually being played.

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