In this video, Joel Tadman tests the TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver that sits in between a 3-wood and a driver to see how it performed against a TaylorMade SIM2 driver and SIM2 Max 3-wood. The results are interesting so be sure to watch right to the end.
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00:00 Do you need a tailor-made mini driver? That's the question we're going to try
00:04 and answer in this video. Is this a club that you've never thought to put in your
00:08 bag before but you could actually really do with or is it simply a super niche
00:12 product the vast majority of players just simply don't need? So we're here at
00:16 the beautiful Wellingborough Golf Club we're going to hit some shots with this
00:19 tailor-made mini driver off the tee, off the deck, see how it compares with a
00:23 3-wood and a driver to really gauge if this is a club that could be useful in
00:28 your bag. So what I've tailor-made done with the design of this club well it's a
00:37 throwback from the 300 series of drivers back in 2000 so it's 307 CC's much
00:43 smaller than the 460 CC drivers we see today. It comes in two lofts 11 and a half
00:48 and the 13 and a half degree loft I've got here which is obviously adjustable
00:53 so you can go up or down up to two degrees and interestingly the shaft on
00:57 this driver is 43.75 inches long so much shorter than the 45.7 inch drivers we'll
01:04 see on the Sim 2 drivers but only marginally longer than the 3-woods in the
01:08 Sim 2 range so half an inch longer than that so it's an interesting concept
01:12 it's got twist face it's got the V steel sole here which we see in some of the
01:16 3-woods and it has been put in the bag by Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson so
01:21 clearly some players are finding that it's become useful for them in certain
01:25 courses in certain shots but how does it play for me well before we hit some
01:29 shots with it here on the hole we're down on the 17th is a par 5 and it's a
01:33 super super tight hole so for me that's where I think a club like this might be
01:37 beneficial is on holes where you need to hit the fairway you're not too worried
01:39 about distance you're worried about accuracy and potentially this could be a
01:44 fairway finding option versus a driver but I did hit this driver up against a
01:48 normal Sim 2 driver my custom fitted driver and a Sim 2 match 3-wood on the
01:53 full swing golf simulator at Silvermere to get some launch monitor data and I'll
01:57 flash it up on the screen now and I think you'll agree some interesting
02:00 findings there versus a 15 degree 3-wood this club was actually flying a little
02:06 bit lower as you might expect from the loft but the total distance was a lot
02:10 longer than the 3-wood so while it wasn't carrying much further it was
02:14 giving me a lot more distance but it was nowhere near where I was with my driver
02:17 my fitted Sim 2 driver this was much shorter about 12 yards on average and
02:22 I tested it off the deck and off the tee and the results were fairly similar I
02:26 think obviously off the tee it definitely excelled I think that's the
02:29 position where I'm gonna be excited to try it more can this give me more
02:33 accuracy off the tee versus a driver or a 3-wood so let's hit some shots with it
02:37 and find out. Right so I've got all three clubs my Sim 2 driver my Sim 2 max
02:42 fairway and the 300 mini driver and what's interesting you know down at
02:46 address it has quite a tall face so you see a lot of the face impact even though
02:51 it's a bit stronger in loft versus the 3-wood it looks like it's got more loft
02:55 on it if that makes sense obviously is a little bit larger than that 3-wood and
02:59 obviously tee height is crucial when using this mini driver you have to make
03:03 sure that the ball is hitting the center of the face you don't want to see it as
03:06 low as you would a 3-wood so making sure you get it just right kind of about
03:12 there I would say so it's kind of in between where you would be with the 3-wood
03:15 and the driver so let's hit some shots we're gonna hit two balls with each on
03:19 this really tight hole at Wellingborough see if this mini driver gives me
03:24 potentially the best combination of accuracy and distance
03:29 consistent
03:45 one pretty straight very high though into the wind that's gonna fall a long
03:52 way short much higher than the mini driver
03:57 same line as the mini driver but a lot higher pinch and see how those compare
04:08 let's hit driver now hit that well
04:17 I'll hit that well okay so two pretty good shots with each of those clubs
04:26 let's go see where they finished okay so we're up on the fairway and this is
04:33 where my best shot with the mini driver finished from TaylorMade you see about
04:38 20 yards up there hit a really good one with the driver so that's a good 20
04:42 yards past there then the other shot with the driver hit that tree and
04:46 came down you can see it just in the rough there maybe and then the 3-wood
04:50 shots we're hitting into the wind here and they really did climb quite
04:53 considerably versus the mini driver so they're a long way short of 10 yards
04:56 over there just off the fairway and there's one on the fairway about 10
05:00 yards back from where we are now so the shots or the results of the shots
05:04 clearly kind of match up where we were with the launch one of today's here and
05:07 or what you would expect in terms of the mini driver giving you in terms of
05:10 distance more than the 3-wood less with the driver is it giving you more
05:14 accuracy when the driver I would say probably not obviously it depends on how
05:18 confident you are with a driver versus the 3-wood or a club like this but for
05:21 me there's no gain in accuracy with the mini driver versus a driver obviously I
05:27 was fitted for my driver and I wasn't fit for the mini driver and that's gonna
05:30 have a really big impact on your ability to square the clubface and the accuracy
05:34 that results from that so inconclusive really but for me mini driver not really
05:40 delivering me any more accuracy versus a driver okay so we've seen how the 300
05:45 mini driver fares off the tee let's see how it fares off the deck Taylor May
05:49 claiming this is a club that is playable off the deck so let's see hit some shots
05:53 into this flag we've got flag down there about 230 yards away into fairly strong
05:58 breeze so it's a perfect shot to see how this compares with the 3-wood could it
06:01 be a useful asset into shots or into par fives like this we need to get the ball
06:05 up by the green to give you a chance at birdie let's find out
06:10 oh
06:12 right so here we are up by the green these are the three shots that I hit
06:31 with the mini driver actually you could throw a pretty small blanket over them
06:34 they're all pretty consistent they're just past the pin my shot with the 3-wood
06:38 is actually just short of the pin over in that gully behind that mound so in
06:42 terms of distance it's actually pretty similar versus the two clubs I think the
06:47 reason for that is you're not getting as much carry distance with a mini driver
06:51 as you are a 3-wood so in terms of how the ball lands in the grass you're not
06:55 going to get as much disparity in terms of the where the ball is finished but the
06:59 fact that these three mini driver shots missed to the right versus the 3-wood
07:02 that missed to the left I think is a result of the fact that you feel like
07:05 you need to kind of trap it a bit more get steeper into it a bit more across
07:09 the line to get the flight and the strike with the mini driver and that's
07:12 why they've curved a bit more to the right versus and the wind hitting into
07:17 the wind has definitely accentuated that so in terms of playability off the deck
07:21 I don't think there's a great amount of difference and I did feel like the 3-wood
07:24 was a little bit easier to flight but if you are hitting a longer shot maybe
07:28 into the wind on a par 5 the mini driver actually found it surprisingly easy to
07:33 strike these were all pretty good hits so I wasn't missing them pretty
07:36 significantly so in terms of the ease of strike I felt like it was easy to
07:40 achieve but I don't think it was any better necessarily than a 3-wood.
07:45 So the answer to the question we asked at the start this video do you need a
07:49 tailor-made 300 mini driver I would say probably for the majority of players no
07:54 I'd say most players were better off using a driver and then a 3-wood but
07:59 there are situations I would say where a club like this could actually come in
08:03 handy the first while it wasn't necessarily the case for me I think over
08:06 a longer period of time a longer number of shots the shorter shaft versus a
08:11 driver will give you more control of the clubface yes you might not swing it
08:16 quite as fast but this is definitely giving you a bit more speed and a
08:20 stronger flight than a 3-wood and especially if you play into the wind if
08:24 you hit a lot of shots in the wind you want to fight the ball down and you
08:27 struggle with driver if you struggle to control the driver a club like this I
08:31 think could give you more control so if you play a lot of links golf exposed
08:34 golf courses you need to keep the ball down if you play a lot of long par 5s
08:37 long par 4s that maybe you struggle to reach this club could help you hit those
08:42 greens a bit more often versus a 3-wood that maybe balloons spins too much and
08:46 you don't get the carry that you want obviously the larger head versus a 3-wood
08:50 does inspire a bit more confidence over the ball off the deck I don't think it's
08:55 necessarily any easier to hit off the deck and you might actually be
08:57 sacrificing a little bit of playability but if you do practice with it and you
09:01 work out how to hit it cleanly I found it actually surprisingly easy to hit
09:05 cleanly off the deck you do get more carry distance off the deck so if you
09:09 again if you're getting into the wind it could be an option to add into your bag
09:13 along with a driver or along with maybe a five wood it's basically like it's just
09:17 a strong 3-wood gives you a bit more distance versus a traditional 3-wood
09:21 that some people find too intimidating to hit so it's definitely food for
09:25 thought there and there will be some golfers where the makeup of the bag
09:28 calls for a club like this all the course they play all the conditions they
09:31 play I think they're relatively niche but there's definitely a need for it
09:34 would I put it in my bag probably not because I quite like the driver I've got
09:38 at the moment but if you struggle with the driver and you're not confident with
09:42 your 3-wood it could be a really exciting option to try hopefully this
09:46 video has given you a really good insight into what this Taylorway 300
09:49 mini driver is all about and whether it could be right for you do like the video
09:52 if you like what you're watching and comment on the video is this something
09:55 that you'd be considering putting in the bag I'd love to hear from you but that's
09:58 all for me from Wellingborough Golf Club I'll see you next time
10:03 you
10:06 you
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