There may not be a hotter club in top-level championship golf right now than the mini driver.
As players hit it farther and farther, some prefer to have a club behind their driver that fits into a spaced window for tighter, shorter holes that their driver just can’t find.
US Amateur Champion Jose Luis Ballester, that brought Hazeltine to her knees two weeks ago, with a couple of drives of 320 meters, he is exactly the player who fits the category.
Ballester employed a mini driver on his way to victory with quite an interesting story as he told GOLF Subpar co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on this week’s episode. The driver came from Ballester’s compatriot Sergio Garcia and his father Victor.
TaylorMade BRNR Mini Copper Driver
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Taking inspiration from the iconic ’90s Burner™ drivers, the all-new BRNR Mini Copper offers a contemporary twist on a timeless design. Its distinctive copper styling, retro logos and meticulously crafted components combine heritage and modern innovation. FORGIVENESS AND REGULARITY A combination of carbon fiber, titanium and steel creates the foundation for the BRNR Mini’s outstanding sound, feel and performance. The split weights allow players to switch between the standard setting (13g on the back) for an easy launch and the low spin setting (13g on the front) for a punchy trajectory. PRECISE TRIRUN INTERACTION The K-SOLE design helps the club glide smoothly across the turf while reducing drag and promoting a consistent shot. This allows players to have distance “off the deck” with the consistency of higher fairway woods. PROVEN TOUR TECHNOLOGIES Twist Face®, Thru-Slot Speed Pocket™ and four-step loft sleeve provide the latest package of technologies. The Twist Face helps players overcome natural mishit tendencies for straighter shots, while the Speed Pocket is designed to maximize ball speed and add forgiveness on low-face shots. The four-step loft sleeve allows players to fine-tune the loft and face angle for optimal flight.
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Garcia, one of the greatest players from Spain in the last 25 years, has been a major influence on Ballester for the last seven or eight years.
The special mini driver Ballester used at Hazeltine was placed alongside a Victor head and a Sergio shaft inscribed with the results from his 2017 Masters victory. Ballester said the conversation started when he was beaten in a match by a player other using a mini driver.
“And I mentioned that to Victor and he said, ‘OK, let me think about it,'” Ballester said. “And he gave me his head … and then he actually pulled this (axle).”
Ballester was initially skeptical because of Garcia’s history of playing in counterbalanced clubs. But then he took a swing with the club.
“The first two shots I hit, it just came out like that,” he said, making a motion as if the ball was going off his face. “And I’m like, look at Victor and I’m like, ‘Damn, that’s cool.'”
Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini Driver
$449.99
The Ti 340 Mini Driver offers driver-like action with the release of a fairway wood. Titanium construction and intelligent face It provides exceptional ball speed with tight distribution. The Mini Driver will give players a higher ball flight and softer landing off the tee, resulting in improved distance consistency on challenging tee boxes that require precision. The world’s first Ai Smart Face created using real player data The new Ai Smart Face optimizes driver performance using movement dynamics from thousands of real players. These swing dynamics, or Swing Code, consist of swing speed, club delivery, and face orientation just prior to impact. This promotes optimal launch conditions and tight distance distribution, optimized precisely for the Mini Driver. Micro-deflections create multiple sweet spots With Ai Smart Face technology, micro-deflections are activated after impact helping to optimize launch and spin on off-center shots. The result is sweet spots not only in the center, but all over the face. Front and Back Weighting for Optimal Launch Using a front/back weighted screw design, players can further select their optimal launch and spin numbers. A 4g front weight and 12g rear weight can be flipped to reduce spin and encourage a more penetrating ball flight.
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Ballester even said he thinks having the mini driver helps him hit his regular driver better, just from a confidence standpoint. It was also a better fit for his bag than the 5-wood it replaced, especially considering his length off the tee.
“The way the courses are designed, they’re not designed for a guy to hit 350. So I feel like, especially in college, on a lot of courses, I had to go straight from driver to 3-iron because the I did not want to hit the 5-wood off the tee,” he said. “I was losing my distance advantage compared to the other field. So now I have this club that goes 20 yards short of my driver, and then I can be confident enough, confident enough that I’m going to put it into the fairway farther than my three iron.
You can watch the full interview with Ballester below.
