Callaway Elyte Mini Driver?

[BirdieBob]

 

[PowerCobra98]

This mini is very good.  Solid upgrade from the Ai Smoke version which I absolutely loved.  Sound is so much better and that alone is worth it to me.  Put a 14g weight in the front port and bought a 5g weight for the rear.  

[ilikegolf26]

On 4/28/2025 at 4:44 AM, TurboFade said:

Callaway missed a major opportunity for marketing this mini driver as an old school Biggest/Great Big Bertha driver, looks and all. With the old school finish I would have bough t** in a heartbeat. 

Do you know if the Great Big Bertha headcover would fit the mini driver? 

[ilikegolf26]

Does this sit more or less open than AI Smoke mini?

[TurboFade]

 

15 hours ago, ilikegolf26 said:

Do you know if the Great Big Bertha headcover would fit the mini driver? 

I'm not sure as I have not tried putting one on.

[PowerCobra98]

On 5/11/2025 at 9:49 PM, ilikegolf26 said:

Does this sit more or less open than AI Smoke mini?

 

They sit identically.  I'm looking at both right now and see no differences.

[halfsumo]

Loving mine. Hoping to get it on a monitor this week and check spin. If it's a little high I may pick up some aftermarket weights from billy bob's and get a heavier one for the front port. They have both the round and back weights available. 

[PowerCobra98]

19 minutes ago, halfsumo said:

Loving mine. Hoping to get it on a monitor this week and check spin. If it's a little high I may pick up some aftermarket weights from billy bob's and get a heavier one for the front port. They have both the round and back weights available. 

 

That's what I did.  Already had the round weights but picked up a cheap 5g weight from Amazon for the rear.  Much cheaper than Billy Bob's.

[halfsumo]

Finally got mine on a GC Quad. at 13.5 standard draw setting I am living around 4000 rpm. I lofted down to -1 Draw and it dropped to about 3500 rpm.  Ballspeed and direction are tremendous. I'm thinking a little weight swap might be a good thing to drop the spin a few more hundred. 

[Howie]

On 4/4/2025 at 6:15 PM, bannermannn88 said:

13g stated on the back weight 

 

I've read 13g is the standard heel (back) weight included. I just checked mine and it has a "12" on the bottom so perhaps they select between 12g and 13g to refine swingweight or perhaps it's random at the factory?

[LeftDash14]

1 hour ago, Howie said:

 

I've read 13g is the standard heel (back) weight included. I just checked mine and it has a "12" on the bottom so perhaps they select between 12g and 13g to refine swingweight or perhaps it's random at the factory?

Mines only 7.3 (including screw). 1k black 13.5 loft. I like lighter sw tho. Best club in my bag. Point and shoot 285-290 in the air off the tee 

[CHM 12]

Do you guys use aftermarket fairway wood chairs vets, or driver head covers on these bad boys?  I’m about to trade some stuff in and get one on callaway’s website. 

[GoldenEagle69]

42 minutes ago, CHM 12 said:

Do you guys use aftermarket fairway wood chairs vets, or driver head covers on these bad boys?  I’m about to trade some stuff in and get one on callaway’s website. 

Go with driver HC. 

[vietnameeh]

I am still having some spin issues with mine.

 

I may have to throw in something heavier/stiffer and a strong COG

 

I changed front weight to 10g and rear weight 5g. which helped bring 4k+ rpm spin down to 3500.

 

still using the project x denali black 70g 6.5 

 

Rear weight on toe, set to -1

 

I don't mind spinny but this thing has some left bias in it for me. So its a floaty left miss

 

I like how fast it is 179-182 ball speed 

 

I may swap out the to a strong cog to least get the face little more open

[PitchPlease]

On 4/22/2025 at 7:11 PM, youngunz5840 said:

Was on vacation last week and got two rounds in. First round the Elyte was solid with my miss being a push from my back being stiff from getting dad duty on the pull out couch bed in the hotel. No crazy miss even with the swing being stiff. 

Second round I wasn’t stiff and the Elyte mini was a fairway finder. The course I was playing was not long so I only hit driver 4-5 times on the par 5s mainly. 

 

Mini was 15-20 yards shorter than my driver which is what I want to stay out of trouble or get myself to a 100yd-120yd second shot. 
 

I did end up selling it and will regret it. I am just a big TM fan and went with the r7 quad especially with my qi35 7 wood becoming my new favorite club. 
 

Anyone wanting a reliable tee club going with the Elyte in 13.5 is a strong choice. I played mine at 43.5” with diamana bb 73. 
 

 

Wanted to check back in on this now that you've had some time. I have a gift card burning a hole in my wallet and am going to go demo Elyte Mini and R7 Quad. Any long term feedback here?

 

This is a total luxury purchase for me, but I do think this club will give me a lot of utility. My standard driver is 280-290 and there are 4-5 holes on my home course where ~260 is the ideal play. Won't need this off the deck. I'm also curious to see what shafts give me the best numbers. I have a Ventus Blue Velo 8X I can repurpose for this, but some of those no upgrade shafts have worked well for me in the past.

 

[Mookieb10]

This is a useful club for me. I swing the driver about 109 mph on course but struggle to have a positive aoa and can never hit a draw. I have this club turned up one degree (14.5*) and have the weight in the heel. It launches great and is reliably a draw club. One out of 20 balls I’ll toe a ground ball, but I never hit snap hookers. I have the Kalai Red 6x in there… I think I could go with something heavier and stiffer as the club launches fine. 
 

Off the deck is a non starter for me. I have no ability to do that. I mean, I can hit a screaming cut, but I don’t need that shot often. 

[lil'mike]

Thinking about one again too.  Can you put a 3wd shaft in the mini or should you cut down a driver shaft?  Seems like I read that some use a 3wd shaft so I wondered how well that would work or NOT work!  lol

 

Thx.

 

[PitchPlease]

31 minutes ago, lil'mike said:

Thinking about one again too.  Can you put a 3wd shaft in the mini or should you cut down a driver shaft?  Seems like I read that some use a 3wd shaft so I wondered how well that would work or NOT work!  lol

 

Thx.

 

 

The Ventus Blue I have is in my Ai Smoke 3 wood. My assumption is that I can swap the driver tip for it. It does play at 42.5", so I think it would be ~1.25" short. If I can get swing weight right, I don't think this is a bad thing. Many people have been saying that there isn't a huge gap between the mini and standard driver. I'm hoping to achieve a 30-40 yard gap so the shorter shaft might help take some distance off and hopefully better control. I figure it is worth the experiment because I can always pop the fairway tip back on.

[14mh]

19 hours ago, lil'mike said:

Thinking about one again too.  Can you put a 3wd shaft in the mini or should you cut down a driver shaft?  Seems like I read that some use a 3wd shaft so I wondered how well that would work or NOT work!  lol

 

Thx.

 

Callaway mini uses a driver tip not a fwy tip. 

[PitchPlease]

Finally was able to demo these at the PGA SS near me. Ended up with the 13.5* R7 Quad with Tensei 1K Black 75X. Really good launch and spin numbers for me and just a consistent baby draw that carried 255-260 and ran out to ~270. Just what I needed.

 

Elyte Mini was good too but was missing left more (didn't play with weight ports). I just liked the size and shaping of the R7 better. Elyte Mini availaibility also seems a bit limited right now - sold out on big box and Callaway direct last time I checked. 

[Railroading13]

Building up this club, to get towards a D5 swingweight, we’re talking about 12g more weight, either front/back or combo of both? I guess it depends on grip and shaft, but playing this at 44 inches with a basic 50g grip

Edited July 18 by Railroading13

[DGreasy]

On 4/19/2025 at 8:54 AM, J13 said:

I like the matte finish on the elyte mini but I didn't see as good of performance compared to my Smoke mini.  I'm sure I could get close if I had a rear weight kit but that's more money and time meanwhile the Ai Smoke mini uses the same weight so it's fast and easy to make small adjustments.  Also noticed launch and spin higher with the elyte which isn't something I need.  

What kind of differences were you seeing in launch, spin and distance between the smoke and elyte mini?  I have the smoke and LOVE it... bought an Elyte to match my driver and FW and was hoping it would be the same as the smoke but I have also noticed it launches higher.  Its still really good though!

[lil'mike]

This is probably a strange question but has anyone put in a stock driver shaft into the mini? 

 

Just so they could get a smaller headed driver or whatever!

 

I had someone ask me this today and I told them, I have not seen or read anywhere where someone has done that!  🙂

 

[kilword]

10 hours ago, lil'mike said:

This is probably a strange question but has anyone put in a stock driver shaft into the mini? 

 

Just so they could get a smaller headed driver or whatever!

 

I had someone ask me this today and I told them, I have not seen or read anywhere where someone has done that!  🙂

 

 

[stratgolf]

13 hours ago, lil'mike said:

This is probably a strange question but has anyone put in a stock driver shaft into the mini? 

 

Just so they could get a smaller headed driver or whatever!

 

I had someone ask me this today and I told them, I have not seen or read anywhere where someone has done that!  🙂

 

 

Many. I don't necessarily agree with the concept however 

[mootrail]

Finally picked up an Elyte for fun.  Definitely a different sound and feel to the Smoke Mini.  Neither better or worse, just softer.  I'm still a bit baffled as I can't tell where the ball is going just on feel alone.  I've barely hit it, so I sure I'll figure it out.  Overall a huge waste of money, because the Smoke is just as good or better, but I knew that going in.

 

My Smoke is very neutral biased with a couple of grams moved to the front and easy to move both ways.  I'm finding the Elyte in the stock setting more fade biased and much more difficult to turn over.  I don't want to or need to shift the 13g slug to the heel, I just want to neutralized the fade.  This is a costly problem as your have to buy your own rear weights and I like experimenting around.  

 

I'm keeping the Smoke and will be trading in my Elyte Mini for next year's Mini!

[hitnfades]

Been playing the Elyte Mini 13.5* with GD Tour AD XC 6s or DI 6x stock length in S/N for 8 rounds and few range sessions now. I took the driver out of the bag to force me to play it the past few weeks. This just was to give this setup a good opportunity. For me, this set up is very easy to hit, not an huge distance lose compared to driver and I am able hit different shapes/heights as needed from the tee box. I tee it up a bit higher than a fairway metal and can tee it up a bit higher if I really want to launch it. With this set up my big misses are rare or the miss is not as bad. I was looking for a trusted club from the tee box when the driver swing was not cooperating and wanting to hit something with a bigger face than my OG Apex UW 17* from the tee as a 2nd option. So far, I have been extremely pleased with this setup. Random people I play ask a lot of questions since it is long and they like the sound. Reminds me when I started playing the Apex UW’s when they were released a few years ago. This mini setup has been a great addition for my club selection on any given weekend and confidence from the tee box.