Callaway are getting in on the revival of the mini driver with an addition to the Paradym Ai Smoke lineup.
The Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 mini driver from Callaway is launched at a time when top players and even amateurs are looking for something to fill a perceived gap between drivers and fairway woods.
A version of the Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini Driver had been spotted in play as early as the RBC Heritage in April and now Callaway has revealed their intention to bring the club to market.
The Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini Driver features the same Ai Smart Face technology as the rest of the Ai Smoke family of drivers while launch and spin can be customized through their adjustable dual weighting system.
The club is designed as an alternate tee club and will be available in 11.5 and 13.5-degree lofts.
Full drivers favored by Tour professionals are loaded with distance-maximizing technologies and these sometimes come at the cost of control. Callaway suggests this club is aimed at players who are consistently good strikers of the ball who want to yield more benefits from having that consistency and seeing that play out through their shots off the tee with reduced dispersion.
“This isn’t necessarily your “bomber” spec; this isn’t looking for extra added distance as compared to your driver,” Paul Winterhalter, Product Manager at Callaway said.
“But this is an alternative club to where it’s giving you that consistent distance. It’s that smaller footprint for a player that’s probably a little bit higher caliber, looking to control.”
Callaway Advanced R&D Manager Nick Yontz added that they expected that players who currently use a 3-wood as their tee alternate would be the ones most likely to adopt the use of a mini driver.
Yontz added the mini driver is 43.75 inches in length, two inches shorter than a traditional driver.
The Callaway fundi described it as “easier to swing and easier to hit straighter, because of that shorter shaft being able to square it up and control it a little bit more.”
Yontz also suggested that the Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 is well suited to players who struggle to hit their 3-woods with great accuracy, particularly off the tee.
“What we’ve seen from a Tour aspect is that Tour players are rarely hitting their 3-woods into greens as approach shots,” Yontz said.
“The 3-wood has become nearly a tee-only club, so situationally I think we’re going to see tour players lean into this at certain golf courses and certain setups as a club that they can use to hit more fairways.”
