Why Mini Drivers Are the Newest Club in Every Pro Golfer’s Bag

One moment from the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome seemed almost engineered to demonstrate why mini drivers have become so popular with pro golfers in the past few years. Team Europe’s Tommy Fleetwood had reached the 16th hole of the course at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, a 303-yard par 4. By modern standards this is a short hole, what’s called a drivable par 4, because it can be reached with a driver, the longest club in every player’s bag and the one that hits the ball the farthest. It was meant to tempt the pros into going for it—and they usually did. Just before Fleetwood stepped up, Team USA’s Rickie Fowler used his driver to launch a ball into the water to the right of the hole.

But Fleetwood pulled out his mini driver, a Frankensteinian creation that blends the length of a driver with the workability of a 3-wood. (That’s the second-longest club in a player’s bag. It sends the ball 20 to 40 fewer yards but is easier to control.) His ball finished a little more than 2 feet from the hole.