Yuna Nishimura snagged her first-ever LPGA Tour title in serious style this past Sunday. She cruised over the line, claiming a massive five-shot victory at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, tying the tournament scoring record at 21-under par.
While winning your first LPGA Tour is newsworthy in its own right, the purpose of this article is more to highlight one of the clubs I spotted in her bag en route to that win – the Callaway Quantum Mini Spinner.
The Callaway Quantum Mini Spinner
(Image credit: Future)
This marks the very first win for the club on a major professional tour, having only been released at the end of July. While offered in a few lofts, Nishimura had the Mini Spinner 7-wood in the bag, and one of the coolest parts of this story is the fact that the LPGA Tour star had a big influence in the development of this club, giving the Callaway R&D team valuable feedback throughout the process.
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Nishimura told Callaway she needed something with more spin and a steeper landing angle for those tricky, long approaches into par 3s and 4s.
Yuna Nishimura helped give feedback on the Mini Spinner throughout the testing phase
(Image credit: Callaway Golf)
Speaking about the breakthrough victory, Nishimura had high praise for the Quantum Mini Spinner:
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“I’m incredibly happy to win with a club that I was involved in developing from the very beginning. It delivers everything I’m looking for in a club—the right amount of spin, the trajectory I want, and the workability I need. The short wood is a key club for me, and the Mini Spinner makes it so much easier to hit the shots I visualise. That’s the Mini Spinner’s strength, and why it’s one of my favourite clubs.”
Yuna Nishimura hitting the Callaway Quantum Mini Spinner
(Image credit: Callaway Golf)
Like I mentioned in my recent review of the Mini Spinner, finding a reliable club for long approach shots is tough for a lot of amateur golfers. Striking even the most forgiving long irons consistently well is a tough feat, and even some of the best hybrids can look pretty intimidating behind the ball.
The Quantum Mini Spinner is built specifically to inspire confidence at address and is the perfect bridge for many golfers between their irons and longer woods. Nishimura’s recent result is the ultimate proof of concept.
The Mini Spinner at address
(Image credit: Future)
After throwing the 7-wood into her tournament setup, the Japanese star said she saw a jump of about 600 to 700 rpm in spin, along with a higher peak flight that gave her the exact stopping power she needed on firmer greens.
This almost backs up exactly what I saw when putting this club through its paces before writing my review. The ‘secret sauce’ here is the internal weighting. Callaway utilized a lightweight carbon sole to reposition the mass higher in the head, and then matched it up with an Ai-optimized high-spin face.
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When testing the 21° Mini Spinner against a Callaway Quantum Max 22° 5-iron, the fairway wood produced 10 mph more ball speed, launched 5 degrees higher, and spun almost 1,000 rpm more to hit a towering 131-foot peak height. It did exactly what I wanted it to do and was even more consistent on miss-hits.
Sam De’Ath testing the Callaway Quantum Mini Spinner
(Image credit: Unknown)
The Mini Spinners are built with a slightly shorter shaft than what you would expect from that lofted wood, measuring 0.75 inches shorter than a standard Quantum Max 7-wood. That makes it far easier to make center contact and promotes a slightly steeper angle of attack – another key to producing more spin on the ball.
Given how easy it is to launch, it’s no surprise that the Quantum Mini Spinner has already become the #1 selling fairway wood over in Japan.
The Callaway Quantum Mini Spinner is worth looking at if you’re after more height and spin with your long-range approach shots
(Image credit: Future)
Judging it based on my testing, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it gradually creep into more bags across Europe and the US and firmly establish itself as one of the best fairway woods.
If you’ve been thinking of ditching your long irons for a lofted fairway wood, then this story should be all the motivation you need!