My journey to playing with a mini driver all began with a MacGregor persimmon 3-wood from the 1970s.
I learned the game of golf from my grandpa. We were perfect playing partners: I was twelve, and he was in his seventies. We both drove the ball about the same distance. And we both had work to do on our short games and putting.
One day years later, he called me into his shop. He realized that most of his old playing partners either could no longer get around the course, or they were soon heading off to college. He no longer had a need for all of his golf equipment. So he handed it all down to me.
In his golf equipment was a full set of MacGregor persimmon woods. They were near mint condition, but they were 30 years old at that point. I left them at my parent’s house as I went away to college. After a short 5 years later, I picked them up along with all the other stuff I had stashed away back home. The persimmon woods moved with me many times as I switched jobs and finally settled down.
Then, this past season, I saw them in my closet as I headed out for a round. I don’t play with a 3-wood in my bag and I’d been thinking about getting one. So that is the club I grabbed. I figured we’d all have a good laugh as this now 40-year-old club tried to keep up with our modern clubs.
A Joke That Turned Into a Fairway Machine
I waited for a few holes before taking off the cover and stepping up to the tee. Before I could hit the ball, my friends stopped me to see what I was up to. They all started laughing when I showed them what I had brought out to the course.
We all thought it would be a complete bust. It might not even stay in one piece given its age and my swing speed.
I teed it low and stood over the ball. I felt confident looking down at the clubhead behind the ball. The smaller clubhead meant I’d need to have a more controlled swing to make solid contact. The shorter shaft though would make it easier for me to make that controlled swing.
I put a good swing on the ball and gave it a ride. We all stood with our eyes wide and mouths open as we watched it fly high and straight. It bounced past my buddy’s ball that he had just hit with a new 9-degree Titleist driver and settled in the middle of the fairway.
We all laughed it off. That had to just be a fluke. “That club had one good hit left in it.”
But I hit nine more fairways that day. I had more fun during that round than any round in the five years prior. The “joke” persimmon 3-wood stayed in my bag for the rest of the season.
Over that season, I started using the 3-wood more and more off the tee. Like any 15 handicap, I had occasional complete mishits. Mostly though I hit it straight and far. I started to hit all of my drives exclusively with the 3-wood and could have left my driver at home.
Then, one day, I hit the 3-wood and it didn’t sound right. To my horror, I saw that the clubface was cracking. Were my days of hitting fairways over?
What are Golf Mini Drivers?
Mini drivers are clubs that fall between a conventional driver and a 3-wood. They have a smaller head and shorter shaft than conventional drivers. This allows for players to have a more controlled swing.
They design mini drivers to be hit off the tee though, unlike 3-woods that are designed primarily to be hit off the ground. Some players find 3-woods difficult to hit off the tee because they just weren’t designed for that task. Mini drivers are packed with modern driver technology though, and they design the head shape to be hit off the tee.
After I deemed my persimmon wood unplayable, I headed to Google just to see if there were any modern clubs with similar characteristics. A smaller head, a shorter shaft, and easier to swing than a big driver. I was pleased to find that TaylorMade had released the Original One Mini Driver earlier in the year. It seemed like it was the driver for me.
Who are Golf Mini Drivers For?
Mini drivers are ideal for players that struggle to consistently hit their driver or 3-wood off the tee. Mini drivers offer all the modern technology of larger drivers, but in a more compact size that is easier to hit off the tee than a 3-wood.
As Tomo Bystedt, TaylorMade’s senior director for product creation says, “This is a club for a player who wants something more forgiving and easier to hit off the tee than a 3-wood, but something you can still potentially hit off the deck when you need to.”
For me, the driver has always been one of the weakest clubs in my bag. I’ve had a slice of varying severity my whole golf career. Some times I hit more of a slight fade. Other times it was a massive slice. But always my ball flight was high and to the right.
I rarely hit fairways. I would aim left of the fairway and hope to fade the ball back to the middle. As players that use the same strategy know, playing like this is a recipe for disaster. What do you do on dogleg lefts? And if there is water or sand somewhere on the hole, you often find it. And what happens when you aim left and hit it dead straight? You end up in trouble more times than not.
My Experience With a Mini Driver
I ordered the TaylorMade Original One Mini Driver and couldn’t wait to take it on the range to see how it compared with the old 3-wood in finding the fairway. My first swing with it was high, straight, and deep. That was just a taste of what I had to look forward to.
After about 15 balls that had a similar ball flight, I knew that this club was perfect for me. I scheduled a tee time with Randy so I could show off my new fairway machine. The round went well, and it surprised him I was producing such a straight ball flight off the driver.
My previous driver was a 9-degree, and the mini driver is an 11.5-degree. Regardless of this loft difference, I have lost no distance. If anything, I now hit the ball further than before. I’m not sure how to explain this yardage gain. Maybe I’m hitting the center of the clubface more often because I’m swinging in a more controlled manner. Or that sideways distance that I was losing on my fades is now going forward and adding more distance. Or maybe it’s a combination of both. Either way, I’ve added about 10 yards to my total driving distance.
It’s also been fun to find that a “lower tech” solution works better for my golf game. The world always seems to race towards solutions that are bigger, faster, and more advanced. I never could have guessed that me bringing out that 40-year-old persimmon wood would help me find the solution to hitting more fairways. It opened my eyes to a possibility that I never would have otherwise considered.
Closing Thoughts on Mini Drivers
Mini drivers have unlocked a part of my game that I have never had before. I now routinely hit straight and long tee shots. I’m finding more fairways off the tee than I ever have before. Now I feel confident when I’m standing on the tee box and there are hazards to the left and the right.
If you have tried different drivers and still can’t consistently find the fairway, consider trying out a mini driver. Or if you’ve always had a slice (or hook) and just thought you would always have one, try out a mini driver to see if it corrects it.
It’s a great feeling to stand on a tee box and feel confident that the ball will go where you are aimed. And quite frankly, it’s a feeling that I’m still getting used to.
