Callaway Elyte Mini Driver

At some point in their career, every golfer inevitably asks the same question: “Should, I give one of those mini drivers a crack?”

If Callaway’s latest Elyte model tells us anything, the answer to that question should be a resounding yes. Callaway have just added a mini driver to the Elyte line-up and it’s a faithful mini me copy of the standard Elyte driver.

However, the new Elyte mini driver throws up another question: “Just how big can a mini driver be before it’s not a mini driver anymore?”

On face value, it appears Callaway have left that up to you to determine.

ELYTE MINI DRIVER

Picture a standard Callaway Elyte driver. Now shrink it till it’s 73.91 per cent of its original size (or thereabouts). You now have a Callaway Elyte mini driver!

All the standard Callaway Elyte fixtures are there, just in slightly smaller format:

three slot discrete weighting design featuring a fade, draw and neutral setting.
10x Ai face for mis-hit protection and forgiveness
lightweight thermoforged carbon fibre crown that optimises the centre of gravity to promote a high, low-spinning launch

However, Callaway’s new Elyte mini driver is big. In fact, it’s the biggest mini driver on the market, by a fair margin, too.

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?

With most mini drivers hovering around the 280-310cc mark, Callaway’s Elyte mini driver head volume is a hefty 340cc. It’s the same size as last year’s Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 mini driver, but clearly Callaway are convinced bigger is better remains true, even in a mini driver.

Anyway…

The larger size makes the Elyte mini driver feel much more driver-y, and less fairway wood-y. The upshot is that it’s probably going to be easier to hit long and accurate drives off the tee.

But does it come at the cost of versatility?

The more compact mini drivers on the market generally feature aspects of their fairway woods. In fact, the sole designs are often s CTRL-C, CTRL-V job from the current fairway wood. However, Callaway have sidestepped that approach entirely.

Callaway’s innovative Step Sole, which features on their current Elyte fairway woods, doesn’t appear on the Elyte mini driver. The assertion is that Callaway are content to focus on tee-ball accuracy and workability rather than fairway wood performance.

But that’s not to say the Elyte mini driver won’t function as a long, forgiving and reliable club off the fairway. But as a semi-shrunken version of the standard Elyte driver, it’s a much bigger task for what should be considered the most unadulterated mini driver on the market.

LOFT AND SHAFT OPTIONS

The new Callaway Elyte mini driver is available in 11.5° and 13.5° lofts. A True Temper Project X Denali Charcoal is the standard shaft, which has a shorter 43.75” length. A Mitsubishi Chemical Eldio is the standard shaft (43.75") for the women’s version of the Callaway Elyte mini driver.