In our forums, our members have been discussing using TaylorMade’s 300 Mini Driver in place of any fairway woods. WRXer ‘Dufner’s Waggle’ is considering implementing the strategy and says in part:
“My whole bag is now built around giving me strong options off the tee to get it in play, but based on a very limited sample size, the mini is a par 5 killer off the deck too! I’ll hit whatever club is in that 2nd spot in my bag a max of about 5 times per round off the tee, so why not go for something with a larger head, twist face, great ball speed, etc.?”
And our members have been sharing their thoughts on the idea in our forum.
- Related: Deeper faced fairway woods to use 70% off the tee and 30% off the deck – GolfWRXers discuss
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- uglande: “Agree with all of the above. I am considering the mini as my only fairway one, but I need to do some testing with my new irons and also with some of the utilities that are on the market. I’m also intrigued by the UW. So, more to come, but I could definitely bypass fairway woods. The mini is fantastic, and it’s really interesting that you say that you hit a cut when you hit it off the deck. That’s my experience as well. Off the tee it wants to go a little bit left, and off the turf it wants to go a little bit right. But a very stable and powerful club overall that is a lot more versatile than people think. I have abandoned the idea of a two iron, in part because I can just hit low stingers with the mini and accomplishes the same goal.”
- Poor Mans Ty Webb: “Sorry if this isn’t helpful/relevant, but I cut down an old 320 Ti to 43.5” (10.5*) and play that in a 7 club bag. I get 230-250 off the tee with plenty of control and have very little trouble getting it up off the deck. It doesn’t fly very high, and it wants to go right in the worst way, but I can comfortably carry 190 with it off the deck, and it has a chance to roll out well past 220 with the trajectory. I know it’s not the same, but the philosophy is still there. I did it intentionally so I wouldn’t need to carry two clubs at the top of the bag because I typically only use 3w on Par 5s. And for the hell of it. Because we don’t know what we’re made of until we do stupid things. So yeah, I’d say it’s possible with a newer, more forgiving club for sure.”
- kthomas: “Interesting this has come up. I’ve been thinking that the higher lofted 300 mini driver would make a perfect driver/3W replacement for those with minimalist setups. If I was to incorporate it, it would get me from 10 clubs down to 9.”
Entire Thread: “Using a 300 Mini Driver as your only fairway wood – GolfWRXers discuss“