I’ve Used A Mini Driver In Every Round For Six Months… Here’s My Verdict

When the TaylorMade R7 Quad mini driver was launched, it struck a chord with me and my 12-year-old self, taking me back to when I got my first ever ‘adults’ driver – the R7 SuperQuad.

The remake came with the same logo and looks, and even had the same red/yellow/black shaft accents I remember very fondly. I knew I had to have it, and I thought it would work well for my game, too.

Well, six months on and I feel like I am comfortable in giving my mini driver verdict. When I wrote about using a mini driver for the first time, I said I’d report back in 2026 and I now feel qualified to after playing it for over 20 rounds.

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I was full of praise for it in the early stage and felt like me and the R7 Quad were firmly in the honeymoon stage. I still remember my first shot struck with it well, a fairway finder that travelled some 280 yards – albeit slightly downhill.

I wrote about how I was shocked by how far it went, even with it lofted up from 11.5 to 13.5 degrees, and that it was far easier to hit straight than my ‘big’ Titleist TSR4 driver. Despite the early success from the tee, I was finding it difficult to hit from the fairway.

So, what has changed? And what hasn’t?

I’ll start with distance. I am obviously no longer ‘shocked’ at how far the mini driver goes as I have grown to know it very well, and its strong distance has allowed it to become my primary club of choice off the tee.

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I am a golf club member so tend the play the same course every week, and I now use the mini from the tee more often than the big stick. It works well on many of the holes at my club, particularly the 1st.

My strike rate of hitting the fairway on the opening hole has significantly increased with the mini driver. I would usually push slice it into the right trees or occasionally pull it left and out of bounds.

It’s so much nicer hitting the mini driver with my first swing of the day, when I’m usually pretty rusty, vs the big driver. And because of how far it goes, it puts me in a perfectly fine position to find the green and get off to a good start.

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Moving on to accuracy and this is where my view has slightly changed.

(Image credit: Future)

The pro for the mini driver, with its shorter shaft compared to a driver and head size twice that of a 3-wood, is that it strikes a very nice balance when it comes to finding the middle of the clubface.

Because of this, extreme toe and heel strikes are rare compared to my longer shafted driver and that results in fewer snap hooks and big blocked sliced shots.

So the ‘V’ of the mini driver is definitely tighter than driver, but that doesn’t translate to hitting every single fairway.

My course is extremely tight and treelined on every hole so being off by just a little bit is still costly, and that means the mini driver isn’t a miracle worker. Especially when I’m not swinging my best and lacking confidence.

Overall, though, I am definitely more accurate with it than driver, and it inspires more confidence off the tee so I feel like I have more control with it.

(Image credit: Future)

Due to the instant success I found with the mini driver, I went out and purchased a 5-wood for the first time ever. I went for an 18 degree TaylorMade Qi10 fairway, the club that was in the bag for all four men’s Major wins last year and plenty of other free agents.

This is where tour player marketing clearly works. If every pro and their dog had one in their bag, surely it is a great club, right? That’s the thought I had, anyway. I picked it up second-hand and so far I’m liking it.

But that did create a sizeable gap in the bag from my 13.5 degree powerhouse mini driver to the 18 degree 5-wood, which has meant the mini has been getting plenty of use off the deck.

I initially struggled with the occasional topped shot, but those thankfully are now few and far between.

I am able to grip right down and squeeze out 220-230 yard cuts or hit full fairway shots from 250+ yards out. I’m absolutely fine hitting it from the fairway now and I’d say it has been able to plug the gap nicely.

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It’s the same from the tee, too. I can grip down, tee it low and hit a cut out there or tee it a little higher and swing free for a full shot.

This versatility from the tee and fairway has made it a staple of my bag as a very useful club that gets used time and time again.

I still hit driver on two or three holes at my club, where there are bunkers I can’t always carry with the mini driver, and sometimes a little more when the wind is howling.

So I wouldn’t say it has replaced my driver and both clubs have their use-cases.

It has definitely replaced my 3-wood and will continue to stay in the bag until something changes. But I genuinely can’t see that happening anytime soon.

After six months of use, it has become my go-to from the tee and quite possibly my favorite club in the bag. It has great distance, inspires confidence, is easy to shape and works from both the tee and fairway.

This certainly isn’t a sales pitch for a mini driver as I’m aware they aren’t for everyone. I’ve never been a great 3-wood player so that is likely a reason why I love my mini driver so much. I look forward to many more months and seasons armed with it.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Have you tried a mini driver? Let me know in the comments section below.