TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver Review

TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver Review – Go back thirty years and a ‘mini driver’ would have been known simply as a ‘driver‘, because every single head was that size. Nowadays, pretty much every driver head is 460cc and this provides golfers with a more forgiving option, which means that they can swing faster and achieve easy launch and distance.

TaylorMade 300 Series Mini Driver Review
TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver

I first remember the shift in size occurring in the late 1990s, when the Callaway Great Big Bertha was released, and drivers seem to have grown bigger and bigger ever since.

The Mini Driver first came to our attention when Phil Mickelson adopted the strategy of having two different drivers in his bag – a fairway finder and one to ‘hit bombs’.

Unsurprisingly, Mini drivers have smaller heads, slightly more loft and a shorter shaft, so they are more like what I would have traditionally called a 2 Wood.

Earlier this summer, TaylorMade brought out the 300 Mini Driver, which is the follow up to their Original One of 2019 and pays homage to the 2001 300 Series Driver which I gamed as a junior. Time to roll back the years, this should be an interesting one…

What’s It All About?

Described by TaylorMade as mini and mighty, this club is said to be suitable for both tee shots and shots off the deck. The brand also say that it is more forgiving than a standard fairway wood, and I assume that this is down to the size of the head, as much of the technology is very similar to that of a fairway wood.

The head size is 307cc (so not exactly 300!) and it features plenty of the same technologies that you see in TaylorMade’s other wood products.

Forgiveness comes via the Twist Face, which is designed to help correct shots which are struck from the toe or the heel and get them moving back towards the target.

TaylorMade 300 Series Mini Driver Review
TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver

The Thru-Slot Speed Pocket technology powers the club, as it enhances sole flexibility at impact to add ball speed, while also improving forgiveness on strikes low on the face which is a common pattern with woods off the deck.

TaylorMade 300 Series Mini Driver Review
TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver

The head is made of carbon, allowing engineers to lower the CG in order for the ball to launch higher off the tee and ground.

TaylorMade 300 Series Mini Driver Review
TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver

Another piece of technology that has transferred over to the Mini Driver from TaylorMade’s fairway woods is the V-Steel Sole, which was present on TaylorMade’s older woods and has been reincarnated. The 54g plate has been redesigned to provide the best possible turf interaction and launch the ball high with low spin.

TaylorMade 300 Series Mini Driver Review
TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver

The 300 Mini Driver is available in either 11.5 or 13.5 degrees, and these lofts can be adjusted by 2 degrees up or down thanks to the brilliant TaylorMade loft sleeve.

The Test

I took the Mini 300 Driver to Mercedes Benz, Stockport to hit some shots inside on the Trackman 4 simulator. I used Titleist Pro V1x’s to compared it against the previous TaylorMade Original One Mini Driver and my own current 3 wood.

You can watch my full review via the Golfalot YouTube channel here: