Our Review of Taylormade’s BRNR Mini Driver – Your GolfSpot

With the 2023 release of the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver, TaylorMade turned back the clock 25 years to reimagine its best-selling Burner driver.  Styled with a burst of modern technology, feel, and power, the new BRNR Mini Driver offers golfers an exciting new option for hitting it longer and straighter.

Forgiveness & Flexibility

The TaylorMade Mini Driver will rank as one of the best golf drivers of 2024 because of the forgiveness and flexibility it offers players of all skill levels.  At just 300cc, the BRNR Mini Driver comes in a much smaller design than the oversized 460cc drivers most commonly found in golf bags and pro shops today.  Designed with a low center of gravity and adjustable weight technology, the TaylorMade mini driver can be used effectively off the tee and turf.  The club’s distance is noticeably longer and more forgiving than the typical fairway wood which makes it a highly versatile option for players looking to shake up their roster of drivers and woods.

Coming in 11.5-degree and 13.5-degree lofts, and a shorter stock shaft (43.75 inches), the TaylorMade mini driver was constructed to be a more reliable option for players who struggle with control with their drivers and woods.

 

Is It A Driver or 3-Wood?

TaylorMade’s line of Stealth drivers are widely considered to be amongst the best golf drivers on the market and they’re extremely popular on Tour but the BRNR Mini has yet to gain similar traction among the game’s top players.  

Tommy Fleetwood / Golf.com

One player, however, World No. 14 Tommy Fleetwood, found great success with the BRNR Mini in 2023.  Early in the 2023 season, Fleetwood swapped out his previous 3-wood in favor of the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver to gain the benefits of both driver and fairway wood in a single club.  Here’s what Fleetwood had to say about his decision to add the BRNR Mini to his bag:

“For me, if I HAD to hit a fairway, I’m more comfortable hitting a driver than a 3-wood. I would tee the driver down, and I would hit a little cut or a neck-y cut in the fairway. The 3-wood isn’t for that. The 3-wood, generally, is a pretty hot club that I’ll hit from 270 or 280 in the fairway on a par 5…

You get some courses where a 3-wood is not always that necessary. [With the BRNR] you put a normal swing on it, and it goes a little shorter than a driver, and I’m more comfortable hitting it straight. It’s a replacement for a 3-wood…You can still hit it off the ground, and it goes a very similar distance to a 3-wood. It spins enough. It’s not a deep enough face where it’s so far off the bottom that the ball doesn’t rise. So you get a pretty decent strike, enough to get in the air. It’s a big-head 2-wood.”

So what is it? Driver or 3-wood?  The best answer is both!  For players comfortable hitting lower lofted woods off the deck, then the BRNR Mini can bring tremendous versatility to the golf bag especially if we consider the USGA’s rule on a maximum of 14 golf clubs in a player’s bag.  By potentially having a driver and 3-wood in one club makes room for a player to carry perhaps an extra wedge or hybrid.

 

Modern Technology In A Classic Design

Outside of the flexibility and versatility that the TaylorMade Mini Driver offers golfers, what else makes it one of the best golf drivers you can add to your bag in 2024?  Even though the TaylorMade BRNR Mini aesthetically pays homage to an iconic line of clubs that’s nearly three decades old, the technology and design are in line with the best golf drivers on the market today.

The BRNR Mini features a combination of carbon fiber, titanium, and steel that creates the foundation for BRNR’s incredible sound, feel, and performance. Split weights allow golfers to switch between the standard setting (13g in the back) for balanced performance and the low spin setting (13g in the front) for a piercing trajectory and increased rollout.

Powerful off the tee, the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver also features a K-SOLE design that helps the club glide smoothly through the turf while reducing resistance and promoting a consistent strike. This enables golfers to have a “driver off the deck” distance with the consistency of higher lofted fairway woods.

The club’s four-degree loft sleeve provides players with a range of options in terms of loft and face angle to promote the player’s preferred ball flight.  TaylorMade’s forgiving Twist Face technology can help you reduce mishits while hitting straighter shots from a long distance.

 

Is The TaylorMade BRNR Mini Right For You?

If you’re interested in gaining more control off the tee without sacrificing much in the way of distance, the TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver is one of the best drivers on the market today.  If you typically play courses with tight, demanding tee shots, the BRNR Mini’s compact design promotes a straighter tee ball than many of the best golf drivers on the market that feature oversized 460cc heads and longer shafts.

Take it from Tommy Fleetwood who put the BRNR Mini in his bag before the 2023 RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, a course notorious for its challenging tee shots and tight fairways:

“My 3-wood is very strong (lofted), perfect for a week like Augusta, where you occasionally want to turn something over. This week (at RBC Heritage), you don’t need that. You can’t overpower the course. I felt like it could add something to my bag, knowing that the 3-wood was not really in play, and I liked it. I just tee it down, hit it off the tee and it’s ridiculous. I’ve been seeing it fly pretty low, and I feel so comfortable that it will go straight.”

If you remember the original Burner Bubble drivers and woods, the TaylorMade BRNR Mini’s beautiful aesthetic will bring you a rush of nostalgia.  But it’s the club’s actual performance that will make it one of the best drivers you can buy in 2024.