TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver

In this TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver review article and video, Joel Tadman tests it on the launch monitor and golf course to see if it deserves a spot in your bag

TaylorMade 300 Mini Driver Review

The TaylorMade 300 Mini driver has already found its way into the bag of Tour professionals Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, but can it be a useful asset for an amateur golfer too?

Joel Tadman tests the 300 Mini Driver out on the golf course

Starting with the specifications of this driver and the main headline is that the head is just 307cc, much smaller than the 460cc driver heads that make up the best drivers on the market.

Also interesting is that the shaft is just 43.7" long, much shorter than the 45.75" stock shafts in the TaylorMade SIM2 driver, but only half an inch longer than the SIM2 three woods.

The 300 Mini driver is designed with TaylorMade's Twist Face technology and it also comes with the iconic V-Steel sole so, despite this being a throwback design, you're still getting the most up-to-date TaylorMade technology in this smaller driver.

It comes in two lofts, 11.5° and 13.5°, both of which are adjustable up or down by up to 2° and is aimed at the golfer who perhaps wants a more accurate and controllable driver versus the current 460cc sized models geared towards maximum distance.

Down at address it has quite a tall face so, despite the fact its lofted stronger than a conventional three wood, you can see a lot of the face from address which certainly inspires confidence.

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We tested the 13.5° 300 Mini driver on the Full Swing Golf Simulator and compared it with a 15° SIM2 Max three wood and a custom fitted SIM2 driver before hitting shots with them all side by side at Wellingborough Golf Club both off the tee and off the deck.

While we didn't find much carry difference between the three wood and the 300 Mini driver, we did find a significant increase in total distance versus a 15° three wood as well as a lower flight.

When compared to the SIM2 driver we found a significant decrease in both carry and total yardage and, when comparing the dispersion off the tee, there really wasn't much difference between the SIM2 driver and 300 Mini driver.

On the shots we hit, we found that the 300 Mini driver really didn't seem to offer any more control off the tee than a conventional 460cc driver - the shorter length is offset by the les forgiving head - and there is a notable drop in total distance too.

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Hitting the 300 Mini driver off the deck was surprisingly comfortable though for a competent player and the larger head is certainly confidence inspiring.

Without a doubt it felt as comfortable as hitting a three wood off the deck, but if anything a three wood is slightly easier to flight and we found it was easier to lose the 300 Mini driver to the right on approach shots because of the steeper approach required to achieve a clean strike.

Distance wise, there was again very little difference off the deck with the 300 Mini rolling out slightly further.

As solid as this club is, it's hard to see where this club could fit into the bag and most amateur golfers would probably be better off simply sticking with a forgiving full volume driver and higher-launching three wood combination.

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