The biggest question about mini drivers | Fully Equipped

Mini drivers are one of the hottest club categories going right now, and it has everyone asking if they should be gaming one.

Fully Equipped’s Wadeh Maroun is a bit of a mini driver “connoisseur,” so to speak. He’s hit all four releases this year from PXG, Titleist, TaylorMade and Callaway, but he is still currently gaming last year’s TaylorMade BRNR Mini Copper with the weight in the front and Fujikura Ventus TR Red 6-X shaft.

For him, it’s a club he uses both off the tee and the deck, but that’s not always the case for the growing number of PGA Tour pros gaming a mini.

“There is a definite separation between the guys that use it as a three wood and use it as a second tee option,” said Johnny Wunder on the latest episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped. “Si Woo Kim uses it like a — he hits it everywhere. He hit it out of the rough. He’ll hit it out of a bunker. He’s an insane person.

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“Then you get somebody like Tommy Fleetwood, that primarily plays it off the tee. Max Greyserman, primarily off the tee. Min Woo Lee off the tee.”

There’s a debate about whether a mini driver is actually easier to hit off the deck than a three wood, and both Wunder and Maroun fail on opposite sides of the argument. Wunder feels like the mini driver, with its added size, is harder to hit off the deck.

Maroun thinks it’s more forgiving.

“But I think a lot of it’s a confidence thing, man,” Maroun said. “I’ve got so much more confidence in that mini driver wherever I’m hitting it from, that it’s going to be successful no matter what. Where I always worry with a three wood or even with a hybrid, is this going to hook left too much for me? I find with the mini driver, the reason why I like it so much is the miss is a power fade more than anything.”

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Maroun said he uses his mini driver probably around 20 percent off the deck. He also no longer carries a fairway wood, going straight from mini driver to a Callaway UW.

This is something I’ve found too in testing the new TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini and the Titleist GT280. Because of the added size, these clubs can be more forgiving, and the designers were also careful to add more forgiveness for shots low on the face.

Every player is going to be different, which is why getting fit for a mini driver before you actually add it to the bag is crucial.

For more from Wunder, Maroun and fellow co-host Kris McCormack’s interview with Pajamas Golf founder Julian Williams, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here or watch it below.

Want to get dialed for a mini driver in 2025? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.