Mini drivers were once seen as something of a niche, but now they seem to be everywhere. So, why the surge in popularity?
They are the hybrid mix of a traditional driver and a fairway wood. Designed to be as accurate as a three-wood and as long as a driver, mini drivers are built to strike that perfect balance between control and distance.
For many players, this means they will help to fill a gap in the top of their bag that neither of these golf clubs are able to fill separately.
Across a number of different events on the DP World Tour, in particular, we have seen a sharp increase in the number of professionals using mini drivers.
But is this really surprising?
It was TaylorMade who initially started this producing mini drivers way back in 2014 with the release of the TaylorMade SLDR Mini Driver.
Now a whole host of golf club manufacturers have got in on the act. From Titleist to Callaway, most of the big hitters now have one in production.
Tour players have caught on to there benefits, is it time us club golfers do the same?
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The change on tour
It was recently revealed that 17.3% of golfers at the 2026 South African Open used a mini driver. That is a significant increase on just 6.4% of the field that gamed them in the same event last year.
