TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Use case

[Drrussell]

I ordered the BRNR Mini Driver 11.5 degree stiff shaft. It should arrive today. Super excited.

 

Curious for a sound off for those of you that have a mini driver in the bag, how are you using it? Driver replacement or strong 3w?

 

Are you using the stock shaft?

 

In my game, driver is my biggest problem. Period. When my driver is going well, I can golf my ball around the course and have moments of looking like a player. When my driver is not cooperating, golf is a non-stop scramble. 
 

Because distance is never my issue, I am planning to use the mini driver as a driver replacement and also as a 2w off ground. The 3w, or 5w will get pulled from my bag to make room. 
 

driver

mini driver

3w, 5w, or 4h (depends on course and conditions)

4-LW

[pdxhak]

5 minutes ago, Drrussell said:

I ordered the BRNR Mini Driver 11.5 degree stiff shaft. It should arrive today. Super excited.

 

Curious for a sound off for those of you that have a mini driver in the bag, how are you using it? Driver replacement or strong 3w?

 

Are you using the stock shaft?

 

In my game, driver is my biggest problem. Period. When my driver is going well, I can golf my ball around the course and have moments of looking like a player. When my driver is not cooperating, golf is a non-stop scramble. 
 

Because distance is never my issue, I am planning to use the mini driver as a driver replacement and also as a 2w off ground. The 3w, or 5w will get pulled from my bag to make room. 
 

driver

mini driver

3w, 5w, or 4h (depends on course and conditions)

4-LW

There is a long thread on this driver with a lot of feedback. FWIW I have he 11.5* turned down to 9.5* heavy weight forward and use it as a driver replacement. I will use it off the deck when in the first cut and the ball is a bit propped up.
 

 

Edited January 11, 2024 by pdxhak

[1puttTUT]

Both, depends on the course...

[Cameaux]

Tee club on a few short/tight holes at my home course.  Will also hit it off the ground as a strong three wood when in the fairway or good lie in first cut.  I game the 13.5, but swapped the shaft for a Ventus Blue 6s.

[Drrussell]

3 hours ago, pdxhak said:

There is a long thread on this driver with a lot of feedback. FWIW I have he 11.5* turned down to 9.5* heavy weight forward and use it as a driver replacement. I will use it off the deck when in the first cut and the ball is a bit propped up.
 

 

Yeah. I saw that thread but there was a bunch of trash comments by people who had never played or tried the club.

 

Using it exactly like you describe has crossed my mind too. However, I also just got a Krank driver and after a quick session on the sim, I can tell that it’s a much better club for off-center hits. Far less prone to the toe hook.

 

Before I ordered the BRNR, I started to test the Krank with a shorter shaft. Truthfully, the shorter shaft with the big face just isn’t as consistent for me. I don’t center it up enough to justify losing the distance. Now, I am thinking about going the other way. Go standard driver length (or maybe even +1”) so I have a bomber setup at 8 degrees…and then add the BRNR with the shorter shaft for everything else. I believe with that setup on 99% of the courses, the BRNR would actually function as my primary driver but on holes that open up or are particularly long, could use the Krank.

 

You are playing it as a driver replacement with the standard shaft/length, or did you swap the shaft? Did you stay with standard length? I am confident that hitting 12 degrees from the deck will big. 

[Drrussell]

1 hour ago, 1puttTUT said:

Both, depends on the course...

I kind of had that thought too. If it’s a second driver/fairway wood, then I could change the loft depending on the course. That’s exactly how I used the hybrid driver last year. I had a 12 degree and a 15 degree. I changed them out depending on the length of the course we were playing. 

 

As an example, I play in one league where they have us on the white tees. From there, it basically takes driver out of my hand for 90% of the course. I would use the 15 degree driver off the tee. At the same time, normally, we are playing close to 7000 yards. For those setups, I put the 12 degree club in the bag and would essentially use it off the tee on anything shorter than 420 yards. It was easier to find fairways and still putting me into wedge distance to green. 

 

My only concern with making the loft changes is that it also changes the club open/closed. 100% I will need to keep the club more open. Anything closed down is not a look I like and doesn’t lead to the ball flight I like to see. Does changing face angle make much difference to you? 

[Drrussell]

10 minutes ago, Cameaux said:

Tee club on a few short/tight holes at my home course.  Will also hit it off the ground as a strong three wood when in the fairway or good lie in first cut.  I game the 13.5, but swapped the shaft for a Ventus Blue 6s.

I was researching the Ventus line of shafts today. I usually would opt for Ventus black, but in this case, because I am considering hitting the BRNR more like a 3w, I think the Ventus blue is probably the better fit. 

 

I also have several other shafts here, but I don’t have the right adapter for Taylormade or for Krank. . .it’s a never ending search for best setup. 

[1puttTUT]

32 minutes ago, Drrussell said:

I kind of had that thought too. If it’s a second driver/fairway wood, then I could change the loft depending on the course. That’s exactly how I used the hybrid driver last year. I had a 12 degree and a 15 degree. I changed them out depending on the length of the course we were playing. 

 

As an example, I play in one league where they have us on the white tees. From there, it basically takes driver out of my hand for 90% of the course. I would use the 15 degree driver off the tee. At the same time, normally, we are playing close to 7000 yards. For those setups, I put the 12 degree club in the bag and would essentially use it off the tee on anything shorter than 420 yards. It was easier to find fairways and still putting me into wedge distance to green. 

 

My only concern with making the loft changes is that it also changes the club open/closed. 100% I will need to keep the club more open. Anything closed down is not a look I like and doesn’t lead to the ball flight I like to see. Does changing face angle make much difference to you? 

 

I found an evenflow blue that was perfectly halfway between driver and 3 wood length for $60 on ebay and just went with that (I bought my 300 mini as a head only).

 

I don't adjust mine based on whether it's replacing driver or 3 wood that given day. I have an 11.5° turned up to 12° and it's pretty forgiving and produces a nice medium flight. I find I have the most success setting up to it like it's a strong fairway wood vs a driver.

[NRJyzr]

4 hours ago, Drrussell said:

Curious for a sound off for those of you that have a mini driver in the bag, how are you using it? Driver replacement or strong 3w?

 

Are you using the stock shaft?

 

300 Mini here.  Using as a driver replacement, though I have hit it off the turf a couple times.

 

Not using stock shaft.  Have messed with NV75, Tour Blue 85, and RIP Alpha 80, thinking about NV85.  (like heavy driver shafts)

 

[Drrussell]

32 minutes ago, 1puttTUT said:

 

I found an evenflow blue that was perfectly halfway between driver and 3 wood length for $60 on ebay and just went with that (I bought my 300 mini as a head only).

 

I don't adjust mine based on whether it's replacing driver or 3 wood that given day. I have an 11.5° turned up to 12° and it's pretty forgiving and produces a nice medium flight. I find I have the most success setting up to it like it's a strong fairway wood vs a driver.

Thanks. It just arrived. I regripped it and realized, as it sits, it’s basically the same as my driver. My driver is 44”. I will test it as it is now, but I suspect I will end up cutting it down to 33”. At 33”, I would expect clubhead speed to be between 102-108, so that will be plenty regardless. 

 

I did swing it a few times before throwing the new grip on and initial reaction is that the stock shaft is super whippy. I probably need to see the swing characteristics before I make any changes, but super excited to be part of the mini driver club. 🙂

[Drrussell]

24 minutes ago, NRJyzr said:

 

300 Mini here.  Using as a driver replacement, though I have hit it off the turf a couple times.

 

Not using stock shaft.  Have messed with NV75, Tour Blue 85, and RIP Alpha 80, thinking about NV85.  (like heavy driver shafts)

 

Which shaft did you settle on? What kind of swing speed are you getting? 

[boggyman]

Fleetwood seems to really like his!

[cg0rd0noo7]

I have the 13.5º head and I use it with a shorter shaft as a fairway finder and as the longest off the ground club i have. I opted for the 13.5º head because it is not a driver repalcement for me. I think I will only opt for the 11.5º if it was a driver replacement as I think it would be too close to driver and a little too strongly lofted to reliably hit off the group. I do not use the stock shaft. I replaced it with a VA Composited Drag0 85 X flex.

Edited January 11, 2024 by cg0rd0noo7
typo

[Glock917]

5 hours ago, Drrussell said:

how are you using it? Driver replacement or strong 3w?

 

Are you using the stock shaft?

Like a bonified 2 wood essentially. 

 

Got it when it first came out and was able to do customizations. Didnt want to pay for an upcharge shaft so went to hzrdus blue 70g 6.5 tipped 1"

45 minutes ago, Drrussell said:

but I suspect I will end up cutting it down to 33”

you mean 43" right? stock is 43.75"

[NRJyzr]

58 minutes ago, Drrussell said:

Which shaft did you settle on? What kind of swing speed are you getting? 

 

I actually haven't settled, but the shaft I'm currently using is the RIP Alpha 80.

 

My swingspeed is around 97-100 these days.  

 

FWIW, prefer playing mine at 43" to 43.25"

 

Edited January 11, 2024 by NRJyzr

[jasona93]

Have one as a driver replacement, fixes my negative AOA problem, every time a chase ascending for one club, everything else gets wonky. I’ve put a DI in it, and that made it come alive. It keeps up with a well stuck normal driver and the usual distance of my normal playing partners, sometimes better due to quality of strike. If you like it off the deck, you can probably take out 3w. 

[Cameaux]

2 hours ago, Drrussell said:

I was researching the Ventus line of shafts today. I usually would opt for Ventus black, but in this case, because I am considering hitting the BRNR more like a 3w, I think the Ventus blue is probably the better fit. 

 

I also have several other shafts here, but I don’t have the right adapter for Taylormade or for Krank. . .it’s a never ending search for best setup. 

 

 

I have a ventus blue 7s in my next fairway, which was the rationale for putting one in the BRNR

[LafertyDaniel]

I bought the 13.5 more as a degenerate purchase, but I find that I can elevate it off the ground more easily than the Sim2 TI Rocket I also have. Perfect for the infrequent, exceptionally long par 5, though 90% of par 5's I go for in 2 require less than the mini.

 

Carry: 

 

Driver: 290

Mini: 260(deck) - 280 (tee)

5W: 230-255 

4I: 225

5I: 210

 

 

I also played a round with a 5w length shaft in the mini (after American broke my driver and 3w shafts, RIP) on a 7,000 yard course that calls for tee shots of certain distances. I found it to be a really nice club to ensure I wasn't running through doglegs. Lastly, I prefer hitting slightly down on it than up (off the tee, too), but that may be different with an 11.5 head.

[Drrussell]

23 minutes ago, boggyman said:

Fleetwood seems to really like his!

 

So does Dechambeau. Of course, for Bryson, he still hit it over a par 4…with 190mph ball speed. 🙂

[Drrussell]

1 hour ago, Glock917 said:

Like a bonified 2 wood essentially. 

 

Got it when it first came out and was able to do customizations. Didnt want to pay for an upcharge shaft so went to hzrdus blue 70g 6.5 tipped 1"

you mean 43" right? stock is 43.75"

Ha! Yes. 43. 

 

I just hit it for the first time with the stock shaft. It’s hot. At 11.5 degrees and weight in back, I was getting over 150mph ball speed. Going to be interesting to mess with it and see where it goes. If I can get 150mph ball speed plus with 11.5 degrees and tee it up low to hit it like a fairway wood, I have no doubt that this will end up being my primary driver and I will extend the Krank driver as a specialty driver for long par 5’s or really open shots. 

 

It very well could end up reversed of what I originally planned. 

 

Original thoughts: alternative driver/3w replacement. Use on tight holes or shorter holes. 

 

Now: primary driver/3w replacement. Use on most holes. . .Krank alternate driver, use for really long holes that are wide open. 

 

The reality is, if I can get a driver to play 250y in the fairway, it’s going to make a world of difference. With the mini driver, I am going to be flying it 240-250 and likely ending up 270-280 most of the time. I know there’s more in it by turning down loft or by moving the heavier weight forward. But if it’s more forgiving and I can get the distance I want with the weight in back…geesh. 

 

Speed is what I was thinking with the stock shaft, club head speed is still 102-110. Just depending on how I am going after it. However, the ability to try and hit down more like a fairway wood makes a massive difference in my confidence. She’s a keeper. 

 

 

[Tree Levino]

20 minutes ago, Drrussell said:

Ha! Yes. 43. 

 

I just hit it for the first time with the stock shaft. It’s hot. At 11.5 degrees and weight in back, I was getting over 150mph ball speed. Going to be interesting to mess with it and see where it goes. If I can get 150mph ball speed plus with 11.5 degrees and tee it up low to hit it like a fairway wood, I have no doubt that this will end up being my primary driver and I will extend the Krank driver as a specialty driver for long par 5’s or really open shots. 

 

It very well could end up reversed of what I originally planned. 

 

Original thoughts: alternative driver/3w replacement. Use on tight holes or shorter holes. 

 

Now: primary driver/3w replacement. Use on most holes. . .Krank alternate driver, use for really long holes that are wide open. 

 

The reality is, if I can get a driver to play 250y in the fairway, it’s going to make a world of difference. With the mini driver, I am going to be flying it 240-250 and likely ending up 270-280 most of the time. I know there’s more in it by turning down loft or by moving the heavier weight forward. But if it’s more forgiving and I can get the distance I want with the weight in back…geesh. 

 

Speed is what I was thinking with the stock shaft, club head speed is still 102-110. Just depending on how I am going after it. However, the ability to try and hit down more like a fairway wood makes a massive difference in my confidence. She’s a keeper. 

 

 

 

Logically, if driving is the weakness of your game, building a super long driver that you can really go after on only a couple of holes makes very little sense to me. 

[Drrussell]

1 hour ago, NRJyzr said:

 

I actually haven't settled, but the shaft I'm currently using is the RIP Alpha 80.

 

My swingspeed is around 97-100 these days.  

 

FWIW, prefer playing mine at 43" to 43.25"

 

I have a bunch of other shafts here, but they all have Cobra adapters. Not sure if it would be better to simply sell what I have and order with the right adapter, or if it would be better to order the adapters and have them swapped out. I have the same issue with the Krank driver. I was thinking about switching that one to the Hzrdus black…

[Drrussell]

7 minutes ago, Tree Levino said:

 

Logically, if driving is the weakness of your game, building a super long driver that you can really go after on only a couple of holes makes very little sense to me. 

You are probably right. Actually, I know you are right. But I just got the Krank driver too. 🙂 That driver appears to be much straighter than what I am used to. I am going to have to spend some time on the launch monitor and get the numbers and shot dispersion for both. I think the biggest difference is that with the Taylormade, I don’t have to mess with trying to level out my swing or trying to hit up on it…I can just hit down on it with the ball forward it’s only 1-3 degrees down and that’s never going to hurt me with that club. On the driver, I tend to get way to down on it…last year I was constantly seeing closer to 5 degrees down…and 110mph club speed I was losing about 30 yards of carry.  

 

I suspect that it would come down to the match type. Stroke play vs match play for example. There’s no doubt that if I can hit this thing 250 and be in the fairway, there’s very little reason to ever hit anything else. Hell, last year, on long par 5’s I just went in expecting a 3 shot hole and generally would hit my hybrid off the tee, hybrid second shot…wedge. This club is going to be about the same off the tee, but I think it’s probably easier to hit off the fairway that the hybrid-driver. 

Edited January 12, 2024 by Drrussell

[Drrussell]

1 hour ago, jasona93 said:

Have one as a driver replacement, fixes my negative AOA problem, every time a chase ascending for one club, everything else gets wonky. I’ve put a DI in it, and that made it come alive. It keeps up with a well stuck normal driver and the usual distance of my normal playing partners, sometimes better due to quality of strike. If you like it off the deck, you can probably take out 3w. 

Buddy, that’s me to a tee. When I start working on trying to hit up on the ball, I just struggle. When I get the angle of attack right, I really struggle to center it. My plan with the Krank driver was not to worry about hitting up on it so much, but instead, just focus on leveling it out no more than 1 degree down (vs the 5 degrees down I typically get). But this damn BRNR is plug and play. Don’t have to change anything and can get it out there pretty well. 

[jasona93]

28 minutes ago, Drrussell said:

Buddy, that’s me to a tee. When I start working on trying to hit up on the ball, I just struggle. When I get the angle of attack right, I really struggle to center it. My plan with the Krank driver was not to worry about hitting up on it so much, but instead, just focus on leveling it out no more than 1 degree down (vs the 5 degrees down I typically get). But this damn BRNR is plug and play. Don’t have to change anything and can get it out there pretty well. 

I’m pretty sure I did it to myself carrying an RBZ 3w forever and not even pulling driver because if it, but it’s now just easier for me to play a FW wood type swing.
 

Glad this was released, I had never considered the earlier minis - well I hit an SLDR way back in the day in the store and it was immediately not something to pursue further.

 

Side benefit: it’s also nice to look at all these drivers coming out and not give a care in the world. It may also simplify the top of the bag, where I had traditional driver-4w (mostly a safety driver)-7w, I might be able to take those out and just put a 5 wood in and call it a day. 
 

Enjoy the point and shoot, may it last!

Edited January 12, 2024 by jasona93

[Tree Levino]

36 minutes ago, Drrussell said:

You are probably right. But I just got the Krank driver too. That driver appears to be much straighter than what I am used to. I am going to have to spend some time on the launch monitor and get the numbers and shot dispersion for both. I think the biggest difference is that with the Taylormade, I don’t have to mess with trying to level out my swing or trying to hit up on it…I can just hit down on it with the ball forward it’s only 1-3 degrees down and that’s never going to hurt me with that club. On the driver, I tend to get way to down on it…last year I was constantly seeing closer to 5 degrees down…and 110mph club speed I was losing about 30 yards of carry.  

 

I suspect that it would come down to the match type. Stroke play or match play for example. There’s no doubt that if I can hit this thing 250 and be in the fairway, there’s very little reason to ever hit anything else. Hell, last year, on long par 5’s I just went in expecting a 3 shot hole and generally would hit my hybrid off the tee, hybrid second shot…wedge. This club is going to be about the same off the tee, but I think it’s probably easier to hit off the fairway that the hybrid-driver. 

Im scratch and played the mini for a bit last year. I hover between 165 and 170 ball speed so I’m quick but not super quick. Our course is 7000 yards and only has 3 par 5s, one of which I can’t hit driver on as there is water that cannot be carried (350+ to cover) so you have to hit 3w 3w to get on the green. All of our par 4s except for one are placement holes, meaning I can get through 11/14 holes on the course without hitting a driver no problem. The mini seemed like the perfect solution to me. In practice, I found that I enjoyed hitting 3 wood into the 3 par 5 greens much more than the mini - I was getting caught in between mini and 5w too often and didn’t want to ditch my hybrid, nor did I want to drop a wedge. Most importantly, I think some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten is “would you rather be long and in the s**t or short and in the s**t?” I feel like more ams - even those with speed- should be copying LPGA bags more than PGA bags. The real way is to find a driver you’re genuinely comfortable hitting and then work on your swing to make your driving suck less.

[Drrussell]

Well that was 100% my plan for this year. I have been hovering around a 3 the last two years and 100% the thing that stops me from being scratch is my driver. That’s why I bought the Krank driver. When I get into good stretches with the driver, I can shoot under par. But, when my driver isn’t cooperating, it’s just miserable. All of my regular money games are 7000 yard tracks and two of the tracks (Nicklaus and Player courses) both require well placed drives if you are going to score. 

 

I have been seeing 160’s ball speed with the Krank and I definitely see that the toe misses were much straighter than what I was getting with my Cobra drivers. That was the real reason I wanted to try that driver. However, even if I am playing 7000 yards, a 250 yard drive in the fairway is never going to hurt me. I will be able to play good golf from there. With the BRNR no tweaks seeing the ball fly 250 is exactly what I am looking for. I will spend some time on the sim this weekend and see how the numbers look. I also ordered another Mitore shaft for the BRNR. I think that shaft will help too. 

 

 

[Streuner]

I still have an old Aeroburner Mini TP driver in my bag. Because it is the TP version, the shaft that was used is on the better side. That for the TP version was a bit more expensive. The TM standard shafts mostly are on the very cheap side, can fit you, but probably there are better ones out there. 
the Aeroburner was the last one with bonded hosel, no adapter to swap shafts. This is the only one down side. If I can catch a good bargain on a newer version of the Mini I would probably buy it. 

[Drrussell]

I have gone through my first stage of testing with the BRNR, heavy weight in back. I used a really low tee and added a slightly shorter MITORE shaft. I would have 0 problem gaming  right now, but I know there is more in it. I am seeing a 240-250 carry off the deck and just slightly longer with the ball just barely teed up (I didn’t have the correct size tee so I ordered some). I am seeing ball speed in the mid 150’s with heavy weight in back and 11.5 degrees loft. 

 

Honestly, I was shocked to see mid 150’s-159mph with 11.5 degrees loft. 

 

Club speed was 105-110mph, but had best ball speed of 159mph. There’s definitely more in it. I think this club just fits my eye and makes me feel like I can make the same swing I would make with an iron (vs. trying to hit up on the ball).

 

The next variable is that I just got some new shafts for the Krank driver too. I was getting clubhead speed in the 112-115mph. I might end up cutting the BRNR down another inch to see if I can maintain the 250y carry with more consistency. The Krank driver I saw more straight shots than I have ever seen. 

 

Regardless, I think these two clubs are going to make this a really fun year.