Purchased the ai smoke in 13.5 turned down to 12.5 and absolutely adore this thing, steady 260-270 all day in the fairway, never hit the burner but have triple diamond ai driver and hybrid so this is taking spot for short par 4s and is fairly easy to hit off deck 240-250 w plenty of spin, thanks for the review guys love your content
Have both these clubs in 11.5 deg. The extra cubic size of the Callaway makes it 100% the stronger club off the tee based on testing on course at Carnoustie, especially into the wind. The stock firm shaft in the Callaway is more stable than the stock firm shaft in the Taylor Made. The Taylor Made is marginally easier to hit off the deck.
I went with the Callaway in 13.5 as it gave me the distance I needed, whereas the lower lofted option was too close to my driver to be as useful. I also loved the spin and ball speed consistency that you called out.
I’m a registered 12 hcp. I hit every single fairway with my ai smoke mini last week. Tsr3 came out for only on 2 holes which had a really wide fairway. The ai smoke mini is seriously so good and off the deck it isn’t hard to hit at all. Just gotta trust the club and swing.
Love my TM Brnr Mini Driver purchased the 11.5 dg positioned the heavyweight forward and boom absolute rocket stick, it keeps up with Driver and so accurate too, it feels and sounds incredible up there with one of the best clubs I’ve ever purchased
I have a callaway mini in 13,5/ventus black 6x and it has completely saved my game. Super consistent and increased my fairway landings but at least 50%
The '24 BRNR Mini has saved my game off the tee this year. 13.5 turned down to 12 with the stock shaft. Heavy weights in the back. Un-real how many more fairways I'm playing into greens from with really no distance loss that I am concerned about over my ex standard driver (G430). Great product that delivered for me on what it was meant to do.
For lefties the choice is a little easier because of loft selection options . You either are buying a driver with a shorter shaft that can hit off the deck or a more forgiving 3 wood that excels off the tee
I’ve had the BRNR since April and I LOVE it, gives me so much confidence on tight holes and I can turn it over pretty easily. Sorry, Ian, but I still love the copper lipstick lol
Weird to pull out some of the Callaway shots but leave in the 1800 spin Taylormade that was struck so high on the face (assuming you left that in but not positive). The face shapes, to me makes the BRNR easier for the majority of golfers to hit off the ground. See a lot of people hit low/thin spinny shots with the Smoke of the ground. The BRNR really is like a big 3 wood and the Smoke is like a smaller driver. So one will be better off the ground and the other will be better off the tee. Just depends which one you want.
What if you built the Callaway 10.5 heavy weight Forward & shaft at 44.25 or 44.5. And used strictly off Tee as Driver Replacement. Could you get consistently over 300 yards.
I would like to see the gt2 13.5 in the mix as well, I know it tends to lean more towards fairway while these lean more towards driver but loft and cary/total are pretty similar.
Tried them both, off the tee preferred the Callaway, off the deck the TaylorMade was so much easier to hit, so much so that i ditched my 16.5 HL Callaway 3 wood, and bagged the TM mini driver
Every time I see a different shaft test I feel like it’s not quite a through comparison because we all know a shaft can make a big difference distance wise .
The Callaway has been great for me. I never could hit taylormade. I play 13.5. Turned up 1 degree. Heavy weight back. And it is 200-225 which is further than my driver was. And in fairway/playable 95% of the time. Thankyou Callaway.
Correct me if I’m wrong but when you go down in loft it’s by .75° increments and also opens the face 1.5° per .75° decrease in loft. So then the Taylormade is staying open on the face with Ian’s swing losing distance because it’s setup with an open face. Does the Callaway optifit open the face when you go down in loft?
For traditional loft sleeve adjustments like TM, it's either open/closed or loft higher/lower, not both. Adjusting the sleeve will open or close the face if you hold the shaft exactly as if it was stock. But the loft will be the same. The loft changes when you square the face up (gripping the club at a different spot). So if you have a 11.5 degree driver, and adjust it to +2 degrees/4 degrees closed, what it does is open the face 4 degrees. You get your 2 degrees of loft by opening the face back to square. Just like closing/opening the face of wedges lowers/raises loft. This is for traditional sleeves. Callaway and maybe Titleist I think, have separated these adjustments. Good video by Tom Wishon on this "Adjustable Driver Hosel Explained by Tom Wishon" ua-cam.com/video/aj5KOk2oXU0/v-deo.html
Golf Ball help? Average golfer, but I’m a “picker” so angle of attack is positive. Usually 2-4 degrees up. 6 iron goes around 190 yards but spin is just under 4K spin. Any recommendations for a little more spin? 👍👍👍
I guess a question I would have is, if the shorter shaft isn't really losing too much club speed, why not just put a regular size head on the shorter shaft? I'd love to see a comparison of the mini driver vs. regular driver head on same length shaft as mini driver. At least off the tee.
If your a faster player who hits driver well that is not the point. It's an alternate club off the tee that is supposed to go shorter than your driver and many set it up for a draw instead of a fade. It's supposed to be an easier to hit driver, its a positioning club.
4:54 couldn’t disagree more with the copper comment. I honestly didn’t care before ordering it but once I saw the copper in the sun it changed things. Now it’s my favorite club to look down at. It’s also one of the few reasons I’m not even trying the Calloway mini
🎶Got to give the people... Give the people what they waaaaaant🎶 If I could figure out a spot in my bag, I'd be on one of these like the lads on a nice Starbucks.
A mini fits great on my home course from the tips (6,503 yds). At least 6 holes that are less than driver. But when I move up one tee, where I usually play at, then I could realistically leave the driver in the trunk.
@@andrewgerred I'm in a similar boat where there's only 4 driver holes for me on my home course. I squeeze driver on a couple of others. I typically get into spurts where I struggle with driver, so I'd almost want one of these around as a slump buster.
@clubchampionmedia if you were to replace a driver and 3 wood with just one of these, so playing off tees and off the deck, which one would pick, and what loft would you play? I'd also like to see Mikey hitting both OTD from real grass. I suspect the turf interaction might be just a wee bit different to what you feel from a perfect hitting mat in a studio.
I know this is a weird thought and not really mini but small for a driver, but I've thought about a gt4 with a 3 wood length shaft could be a good option for some people off the tee. Maybe speed would be affected to much and the driver wouldn't work efficiently, to little loft could be bad. Idk I'm a little crazy, just thinking lol
Personally, if one is looking to sacrifice distance for accuracy and maintain forgiveness, then I think cut down driver. If one is looking for everything above + increased workability, and possibly MDOD, then I’d say go mini.
Not sure I follow your conclusions here. You hit the brnr better off the tee and deck. If you had removed that 1800 spinner as an anomaly, the brnr would have massively outperformed the ai smoke.
yeah agree, seems he just likes the Callaway better, which is fine.. The way I see it, if you use just as it for driver/length replacement, callaway wins ..... the Brnr is the better all around (ground and tee)
He's saying he prefers the consistency of the Callaway. For many golfers, knowing you will get similar performance for every shot is much more significant than how all over the place in spin the TM was. This is also why it's just his opinion and you can also see the data to make your own opinion on what you would prefer in this type of club.
@ICEMAN-lo2bk the clubs will perform extremely consistently given a good strike. He consistently hits it below the center of the club. His angle of attack is too shallow and even hits up off the deck. It's his swing causes the results. Not the clubs.
@@tmajik86 How many people who watch these videos can actually consistently strike the ball? I'm guessing not a significant amount, so the misses actually provide a much better context for the average player.
Are ventus blue and VF that compatible? The VF felt very stout to me while ventus blue which I gamed since release felt very active and I turned it over too much, I had to switch to black.
Why did you use GDs lowest spinning shaft in the Burner, then suggest it doesn't spin as a reason to mark it down vs the Callaway? Put the same shafts in, and remove the wild strike knuckle ball that was all you and the TM was way better. Both are great and more people should try them. The Callaway head is a little big for my liking, but each to their own.
I love your channel, but this didn't feel like an honest review. The TM seemed to outperform the Smoke on this, but you guys said the Smoke was better, even though TM had better dispersion both in distance and target. You took out the bad Smoke shots but left in the bad TM shots. I don't get how you came to your conclusion when TM was longer and straighter overall. Try to keep bias out guys
Hate the idea of testing and comparing mini drivers with different shafts, especially when looking at speed and dispersion. It takes a great idea of testing and adds a variable that clearly lets it down. Clearly Ian isn’t sold on one shaft either saying he doesn’t know which he’d like in other clubs. The shaft differences just doesn’t make it a clean test.
You need the same shaft for this test or it’s not really a fair test. Also feel like these videos could shave a few mins off with all the nonsense talk 😂😂😂
The Callaway has been great for me. I never could hit taylormade. I play 13.5. Turned up 1 degree. Heavy weight back. And it is 200-225 which is further than my driver was. And in fairway/playable 95% of the time. Thankyou Callaway.
Purchased the ai smoke in 13.5 turned down to 12.5 and absolutely adore this thing, steady 260-270 all day in the fairway, never hit the burner but have triple diamond ai driver and hybrid so this is taking spot for short par 4s and is fairly easy to hit off deck 240-250 w plenty of spin, thanks for the review guys love your content
Have both these clubs in 11.5 deg.
The extra cubic size of the Callaway makes it 100% the stronger club off the tee based on testing on course at Carnoustie, especially into the wind.
The stock firm shaft in the Callaway is more stable than the stock firm shaft in the Taylor Made.
The Taylor Made is marginally easier to hit off the deck.
I went with the Callaway in 13.5 as it gave me the distance I needed, whereas the lower lofted option was too close to my driver to be as useful. I also loved the spin and ball speed consistency that you called out.
I’m a registered 12 hcp. I hit every single fairway with my ai smoke mini last week. Tsr3 came out for only on 2 holes which had a really wide fairway. The ai smoke mini is seriously so good and off the deck it isn’t hard to hit at all. Just gotta trust the club and swing.
Love my TM Brnr Mini Driver purchased the 11.5 dg positioned the heavyweight forward and boom absolute rocket stick, it keeps up with Driver and so accurate too, it feels and sounds incredible up there with one of the best clubs I’ve ever purchased
Hey Ian and Mike - love your work. Have just acquired a Titleist TSR2+ and would love to see a shootout of these two and that beauty!
The copper for me is great, I love it and hope they continue to do so for the mini driver, just looks so sleek and classy
i added one to the bag a few weeks back, Callaway Mini has a spot in the bag for sure.
I have a callaway mini in 13,5/ventus black 6x and it has completely saved my game. Super consistent and increased my fairway landings but at least 50%
The '24 BRNR Mini has saved my game off the tee this year. 13.5 turned down to 12 with the stock shaft. Heavy weights in the back. Un-real how many more fairways I'm playing into greens from with really no distance loss that I am concerned about over my ex standard driver (G430). Great product that delivered for me on what it was meant to do.
@@mikec.2314 agreed it’s a phenomenal club
For lefties the choice is a little easier because of loft selection options . You either are buying a driver with a shorter shaft that can hit off the deck or a more forgiving 3 wood that excels off the tee
Would be nice to throw gamer 3 wood in there also since that’s what we use for comparison when shopping mini drivers.
Love to see a Ronnie fitting with this! Lighter shaft, different weights, see what he can do.
I’ve had the BRNR since April and I LOVE it, gives me so much confidence on tight holes and I can turn it over pretty easily. Sorry, Ian, but I still love the copper lipstick lol
The more I see these videos I need to get my hands on an AI smoke mini driver in left handed. Another great video
ordered the callaway 11.5 for driver replacement. so will basically be “2w”/4w/7w at the top of the bag
Mikey has been on fire recently with his banter. Definitely getting his own back!!
It's not the product, it's the producer😂😂😂..... Ian looked like he was going to produce a left uppercut🥊😂
It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot-Maverick
Mikey dropping bombs... Wear green and white tomorrow 😂.
Can’t wait for the PXG Allan putter review! And the LAB vs PXG putter challenge!
The mini’s are such interesting clubs. They fit into like 4 different niches.
It’s also weird that there have not been any BRNR vs. 300 Mini comparisons. Would’ve thought that’d be pretty when the BRNR came out originally.
Would have liked to see it with standard lofts / neutral fave as looked like he wasnt turning burner over like callaway
....
Weird to pull out some of the Callaway shots but leave in the 1800 spin Taylormade that was struck so high on the face (assuming you left that in but not positive). The face shapes, to me makes the BRNR easier for the majority of golfers to hit off the ground. See a lot of people hit low/thin spinny shots with the Smoke of the ground. The BRNR really is like a big 3 wood and the Smoke is like a smaller driver. So one will be better off the ground and the other will be better off the tee. Just depends which one you want.
get both !!!
Love when companies make a product that can help a large spectrum of golfers and grow the game but restrict availability to actually do that.
Does testing with a different shaft really give a comparison of the two heads?
Would this cause the TM to be hit out of the heel more and the AI to be off the toe side more?
What if you built the Callaway 10.5 heavy weight Forward & shaft at 44.25 or 44.5. And used strictly off Tee as Driver Replacement. Could you get consistently over 300 yards.
I would like to see the gt2 13.5 in the mix as well, I know it tends to lean more towards fairway while these lean more towards driver but loft and cary/total are pretty similar.
I was asking the same, or at least with the TSR2+
Tried them both, off the tee preferred the Callaway, off the deck the TaylorMade was so much easier to hit, so much so that i ditched my 16.5 HL Callaway 3 wood, and bagged the TM mini driver
That would make a great Bandon weapon on some of the tricky par 4’s!
Every time I see a different shaft test I feel like it’s not quite a through comparison because we all know a shaft can make a big difference distance wise .
The Callaway has been great for me. I never could hit taylormade. I play 13.5. Turned up 1 degree. Heavy weight back. And it is 200-225 which is further than my driver was. And in fairway/playable 95% of the time. Thankyou Callaway.
Correct me if I’m wrong but when you go down in loft it’s by .75° increments and also opens the face 1.5° per .75° decrease in loft. So then the Taylormade is staying open on the face with Ian’s swing losing distance because it’s setup with an open face. Does the Callaway optifit open the face when you go down in loft?
For traditional loft sleeve adjustments like TM, it's either open/closed or loft higher/lower, not both. Adjusting the sleeve will open or close the face if you hold the shaft exactly as if it was stock. But the loft will be the same. The loft changes when you square the face up (gripping the club at a different spot). So if you have a 11.5 degree driver, and adjust it to +2 degrees/4 degrees closed, what it does is open the face 4 degrees. You get your 2 degrees of loft by opening the face back to square. Just like closing/opening the face of wedges lowers/raises loft. This is for traditional sleeves. Callaway and maybe Titleist I think, have separated these adjustments. Good video by Tom Wishon on this "Adjustable Driver Hosel Explained by Tom Wishon" ua-cam.com/video/aj5KOk2oXU0/v-deo.html
I just got one. Love it.
I guess it depends what shot shape you want. Also, what your most likely to hit better.
Golf Ball help? Average golfer, but I’m a “picker” so angle of attack is positive. Usually 2-4 degrees up. 6 iron goes around 190 yards but spin is just under 4K spin. Any recommendations for a little more spin? 👍👍👍
Those 2 Woods look nice 👍
I guess a question I would have is, if the shorter shaft isn't really losing too much club speed, why not just put a regular size head on the shorter shaft? I'd love to see a comparison of the mini driver vs. regular driver head on same length shaft as mini driver. At least off the tee.
If your a faster player who hits driver well that is not the point. It's an alternate club off the tee that is supposed to go shorter than your driver and many set it up for a draw instead of a fade. It's supposed to be an easier to hit driver, its a positioning club.
It’s what most people should actually be doing. Shorter drivers, not mini drivers
That’s what Marty Jertsen does at Ping. Calls it the Thriver.
They recently did a video that covers this topic: ua-cam.com/video/kw-2X5vESNc/v-deo.html
@@BigDawgCAMI did both. 44.5” 9 degree driver 43.5” 13 degree mini but set at 43.5” took 3 wood out
I want to see these mini drivers fitted with 44.5 inch shaft. No one has yet to put a driver shaft and tested. Ian can do it
4:54 couldn’t disagree more with the copper comment. I honestly didn’t care before ordering it but once I saw the copper in the sun it changed things. Now it’s my favorite club to look down at. It’s also one of the few reasons I’m not even trying the Calloway mini
He hit the BRNR way better.
🎶Got to give the people... Give the people what they waaaaaant🎶
If I could figure out a spot in my bag, I'd be on one of these like the lads on a nice Starbucks.
A mini fits great on my home course from the tips (6,503 yds). At least 6 holes that are less than driver. But when I move up one tee, where I usually play at, then I could realistically leave the driver in the trunk.
@@andrewgerred I'm in a similar boat where there's only 4 driver holes for me on my home course. I squeeze driver on a couple of others.
I typically get into spurts where I struggle with driver, so I'd almost want one of these around as a slump buster.
I keep wanting to see y'all hit the 13.5 off the deck and see the numbers.
What shaft lengths are you using for this test? Do you use your 3w shaft’s from the matrix or do you have 0.5” longer shafts? @clubchampion
AI mini vs that old Ping Rapture 13.5 3 wood (not the carbon fiber one) would be a fun video.
Very good comparison. The problem for the average golfer will be to be as consistent as you are. 😊😊😊
@clubchampionmedia if you were to replace a driver and 3 wood with just one of these, so playing off tees and off the deck, which one would pick, and what loft would you play? I'd also like to see Mikey hitting both OTD from real grass. I suspect the turf interaction might be just a wee bit different to what you feel from a perfect hitting mat in a studio.
would love to see the difference with the weights moved, with the heavy weight in front
I know this is a weird thought and not really mini but small for a driver, but I've thought about a gt4 with a 3 wood length shaft could be a good option for some people off the tee. Maybe speed would be affected to much and the driver wouldn't work efficiently, to little loft could be bad. Idk I'm a little crazy, just thinking lol
Ai probably “worse” OTD for folks with cutty swings kicking up the spin too much. OTD + Big head + longer shaft = OI low heely cuts
How would you stack these two up against the TSR2+ or GT2 13.5°
What did you tip the Ventus Blue Velocore+ for the Callaway Mini?
Do you know how much the ventus plus was tipped on the callaway
Benefit over this versus a strong 3 wood?
What are your thoughts on a driver cut down to mini driver spec vs the AI smoke mini?
Personally, if one is looking to sacrifice distance for accuracy and maintain forgiveness, then I think cut down driver. If one is looking for everything above + increased workability, and possibly MDOD, then I’d say go mini.
There's a video on that.....
You could have released this sooner!! I ordered a Taylormade 2 hours ago 😂
@@stuartbain3353 don’t worry the Taylor made is a better club
do you use a fairway or driver shaft for the mini
Not sure I follow your conclusions here. You hit the brnr better off the tee and deck.
If you had removed that 1800 spinner as an anomaly, the brnr would have massively outperformed the ai smoke.
yeah agree, seems he just likes the Callaway better, which is fine.. The way I see it, if you use just as it for driver/length replacement, callaway wins ..... the Brnr is the better all around (ground and tee)
if you havent noticed he likes to blame the clubs instead of his swing for most of the issues he has with the clubs
He's saying he prefers the consistency of the Callaway. For many golfers, knowing you will get similar performance for every shot is much more significant than how all over the place in spin the TM was. This is also why it's just his opinion and you can also see the data to make your own opinion on what you would prefer in this type of club.
@ICEMAN-lo2bk the clubs will perform extremely consistently given a good strike. He consistently hits it below the center of the club. His angle of attack is too shallow and even hits up off the deck. It's his swing causes the results. Not the clubs.
@@tmajik86 How many people who watch these videos can actually consistently strike the ball? I'm guessing not a significant amount, so the misses actually provide a much better context for the average player.
Are ventus blue and VF that compatible? The VF felt very stout to me while ventus blue which I gamed since release felt very active and I turned it over too much, I had to switch to black.
Why did you use GDs lowest spinning shaft in the Burner, then suggest it doesn't spin as a reason to mark it down vs the Callaway?
Put the same shafts in, and remove the wild strike knuckle ball that was all you and the TM was way better.
Both are great and more people should try them. The Callaway head is a little big for my liking, but each to their own.
Find an old 13.5 gbb epic from 2017. Control shaft and weight as much as possible and compare that to a mini driver
Shaft Length on those minis?
Hard part is you can’t get the callaway
Feels weird to be this early
What were the lengths
callaway mini driver is a cheat code. its unreal
I love your channel, but this didn't feel like an honest review. The TM seemed to outperform the Smoke on this, but you guys said the Smoke was better, even though TM had better dispersion both in distance and target. You took out the bad Smoke shots but left in the bad TM shots. I don't get how you came to your conclusion when TM was longer and straighter overall. Try to keep bias out guys
Hate the idea of testing and comparing mini drivers with different shafts, especially when looking at speed and dispersion. It takes a great idea of testing and adds a variable that clearly lets it down. Clearly Ian isn’t sold on one shaft either saying he doesn’t know which he’d like in other clubs. The shaft differences just doesn’t make it a clean test.
not 1st, Rick Shiels beat you to it
Does Ian box? Sometimes he looks a bit nicked up, just curious. Anybody?
Never really understood the advantage of a "mini" I'm looking for a "maxi" (not the feminine hygiene product) 😁
@@blakeg.1093 if you don’t have a good amount of speed, it’s not for you.
I think all the work Callaway has done with triple diamond for tour and now normal, gives them a lot of data to put into this
the ai smoke was the clear winner for me...off the tee both great for me. off the deck i prefer the ai easily....and i dont like twist face so....
When TM renames it from Burner and removes the 1999 colours, I’ll get that version.
I am the only one who feels like this was already out?
Yes
@@jongeephotographymust have been another channel then.
You need the same shaft for this test or it’s not really a fair test. Also feel like these videos could shave a few mins off with all the nonsense talk 😂😂😂
Lots of us like the nonsense talk. If you don't like it, you have other options
If I had as much confidence as the guy in this video, I'd be president by now🐱
Total bias review what a was seeing very minor differences but you guy go callaway come across as bias
The Callaway has been great for me. I never could hit taylormade. I play 13.5. Turned up 1 degree. Heavy weight back. And it is 200-225 which is further than my driver was. And in fairway/playable 95% of the time. Thankyou Callaway.