We don’t think the heavy stuff is gonna come down for quite a while…
The forecast is touch and go early at Augusta this week, with rain scheduled for Thursday morning and possibly beyond.
Some people shrink away from a little rain, but we don’t think the heavy stuff is gonna come down for quite a while. If you’re reading this, you’re not one to call off a tee time just because there’s a small chance of rain, tiny gusts of wind, or a litttle nip in the air.
Here at Golfweek, we’ll weather the weather whatever the weather, and keep you as dry as possible on the course. Check out our list of best rain apparel and check back later this week for our list of best rain accessories.
The TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper is designed to deliver driver-like distance with fairway wood control.
Gear: TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper Price:$449.99 with UST Mamiya ProForce 65 shaft and Golf Pride TaylorMade Victory Copper grip Specs: Titanium face and chassis with carbon fiber crown, adjustable sole weights and adjustable hosel. 11.5 and 13.5-degree models
Who It’s For: Fast-swinging golfers who want an alternative to their driver off the tee but who want more forgiveness and distance than most 3-woods provide.
The Skinny: Smaller than a driver, yet much larger than a typical 3-wood, the BRNR Mini Driver Copper combines exotic materials and driver-like technologies to create a powerful alternative off the tee for elite players.
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The Deep Dive: Aside from the possible exception of a driving iron, no club in golf is more macho than a mini driver. Carrying one says to the world that there are times on the course when your driver goes too far, and, you are skilled enough to get the ball airborne with a fairway wood that has driver-like loft.
TaylorMade has quietly made mini drivers available for a few seasons. The Original One Mini debuted in 2019, and in 2021, the 300 Mini driver was released. Last year, TaylorMade offered the BRNR Mini, and a few pros, including Tommy Fleetwood, have put it in play frequently. Now, on the eve of the 2024 Masters, TaylorMade is dropping the BRNR Mini Driver Copper, a club that is virtually identical to the 2023 BRNR Mini but cosmetically pays homage to the late ’90s Burner woods.
The BRNR Mini Driver Copper’s head size is 304cc, which is 34 percent smaller than most drivers on the market today, like the 460cc TaylorMade Qi10 Max. However, the BRNR Mini Driver Copper dwarfs 3-woods like the Qi10 Max (200cc) and Qi10 Tour (170cc). The BRNR Mini Driver Copper also comes standard at 43.75 inches in length, which is a half-inch longer than those 3-woods but 2 inches shorter than a stock Qi10 LS driver and 1.75 inches shorter than a standard Qi10 Max driver.
With specifications like that, and being available only in 11.5 and 13.5-degree lofts, some golfers will call the BRNR Mini Driver Copper a 2-wood instead of a mini driver. Regardless of what you call it, the club is designed to excel off the tee as alternative to a driver.
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The BRNR Mini Driver Copper has a titanium face and body along with a carbon fiber crown. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The BRNR Mini Driver Copper has a titanium face and body, along with a carbon fiber crown, to create a significant amount of discretionary weight, which engineers re-purposed in the form of two sole weights. With the 13-gram weight in the front and 1.5-gram weight in the back, the BRNR Mini Driver Copper produces more ball speed, less spin and a lower launch angle. However, with the 13-gram weight in the back port and the lighter weight in the front, golfers should see an increase in both spin and launch angle, along with more stability.
The BRNR Mini Driver Copper also has Twist Face, a shot-straightening technology that debuted in 2018’s M3 and M4 drivers, and it has a Speed Pocket slot in the sole to allow the lower portion of the hitting area to flex more efficiently on low-struck shots.
If players decide to play the BRNR Mini Copper off the deck, its K-shaped sole is designed to allow the bottom of the club to skim across and over the turf more effectively. But be warned: With a deep face and large size, this club was designed to be used primarily off the tee. Fast-swinging, skilled players will be able to create enough lift to get shots up in the air, but slower-swinging players might struggle to generate enough spin to maximize carry distance.
To fine-tune the spin and trajectory, the BRNR Mini Copper comes with an adjustable hosel that allows players and fitters to increase or decrease the loft by up to 2 degrees.
Even with all those modern features and technologies, the copper accents and the font used to spell the word TaylorMade on the sole will immediately be recognizable to golfers who remember using Burner drivers and fairway woods in the 1990s. And, if you recall that turning the head cover of last season’s BRNR Mini driver inside-out revealed a fuzzy rainbow design that some players opted to use, you will be pleased to know that turning the BRNR Mini Copper’s headcover inside out reveals a fuzzy blue-patterned option you can go with.
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McIlroy has a new club in the bag the week before he goes for the Career Grand Slam once again at the Masters.
When it comes to drivers, Rory McIlroy has been more than willing to upgrade into TaylorMade’s newest, latest and greatest every year since he signed an endorsement deal with the company is 2017. Irons, however, are another story.
The four-time major winner has used a prototype set of RORS Proto irons fitted with Project X 7.0 shafts for nearly all his rounds, occasionally adding a TaylorMade P·760 2-, 3- or 4-iron based on the course setup and conditions. Those clubs, which Jon Rahm played when he was a TaylorMade staff player, were released in 2018, so it was noteworthy when McIlroy was spotted on the range preparing for the start of the Valero Texas Open with a prototype TaylorMade 4-iron.
McIlroy was asked about the club during his pre-tournament press conference.
“So after I went to Vegas, I went out to The Kingdom [TaylorMade’s test center in Carlsbad, California] for two days. I needed to get into a fresh set of irons, my irons were like two years old maybe, so they were getting a little worn,” McIlroy explained. “They just produced these couple of proto, I guess like are they the MC replacements maybe, I think? I’m not sure what they’re actually going to be called. Yeah, I have no idea.”
Commenting on how the 4-iron played, McIlroy said, “They performed really well. It’s just as fast as the 760 that I was using. Launch is a little higher actually, which was surprising, and it’s just sometimes I felt like when I hit my 5-iron in the blade and then the 4-iron in the 760, it was such a different feel. To go from a 5-iron now to that 4-iron, it feels a little closer to what I feel in the 5-iron. So just a little bit more responsive, but didn’t lose any performance from it, which is great. Yeah, it will be in the bag this week.”
As a true muscleback blade, McIlroy’s RORS Proto irons have extra mass low in the head, behind the area where he makes contact with the ball, but his prototype 4-iron is clearly a better player’s cavity back iron. The current P•7MC has a very similar shape and similar milling design on the back of the head, as well.
McIlroy’s prototype is fitted with the same Project X 7.0 Rifle shaft and Golf Pride MCC grip as his other irons and wedges.
The updated Cleveland Fy-woods are designed to provide more distance and forgiveness than hybrids but be easier to hit than typical fairway woods.
Gear: Cleveland Halo XL Fy-woods Price: $239.99 each with Aldila Ascent PL 40 graphite shaft and Lamkin Crossline 360 grip Specs: Cast stainless steel. Available as 3+ (17 degrees) and 4+ (20 degrees)
Who It’s For: Golfers who want an easy-to-hit, distance-oriented alternative to traditional fairway woods and hybrids.
The Skinny: The updated Fy-woods are designed to provide more distance and forgiveness than hybrids but be easier to hit than typical fairway woods, making them an interesting option for moderate and slower-swinging players who want more distance at the top of their bag.
The Deep Dive: In every golfer’s bag, there are a few transitions from one type of club to another, like golfing from your last iron into your first wedge. For many players, the most challenging transition is from your last fairway wood into your longest-hitting iron. You can go with a high-lofted fairway wood like a 7-wood or a 9-wood and then go right into a 5-iron, or go with a hybrid club or even a driving iron. With the release of the updated Halo XL Fy-wood, a group of clubs designed to blend the traits of fairway woods and hybrids, Cleveland is trying to make that transition easier for golfers who typically shoot in the 90s and 100s.
Rails on the sole help the Hy-woods skim over the grass and through the turf. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The Halo XL Fy-woods are bigger than most hybrids and come standard with shafts that are longer than a corresponding hybrid, to help golfers generate more speed, but shorter than a similarly lofted fairway wood, so players should be able to make higher-quality contact more easily. The head sizes are also made to fit between those clubs, with volumes that are larger than hybrids but smaller than fairway woods.
Cleveland dropped a large portion of the crown behind the topline in the Halo XL Fy-woods. This Hi-Bore design has been used for several years to help lower the center of gravity location and encourage higher-flying shots.
Like the Halo XL fairway woods and hybrids, the Fy-wood has been designed with Rebound Frame, which adds a flexible region in the head behind the hitting area. At impact, it allows the whole face to flex back, enlarging the sweet spot and helping golfers get better performance across a larger area.
Who It’s For: Low-handicap golfers who want a compact, classic-looking blade or a better player’s cavity back iron that emphasizes feel and control.
The Skinny: The first irons from Bettinardi are crafted with the same level of precision and attention to detail that has made the brand’s putters desirable for deep-pocketed golfers for decades. For golfers who shoot in the 60s or 70s, they deliver a high level of feel and control.
The Deep Dive: Bettinardi has been known for decades as being one of the finest putter makers in golf, specializing in milled blades and mallets that look like something that might be displayed under glass at Tiffany’s next to engagement rings and diamond bracelets. Starting a few seasons ago, the Tinley Park, Illinois-based company started offering milled wedges and multi-material putters, but now the brand is offering its first pair of irons—the CB24 and MB24—and they are precisely what you might expect from Bettinardi.
The CB24 and MB24 are both forged from 1025 carbon steel for a soft feel, but Bettinardi has co-forged the inner portions of each head with high-density tungsten and ceramic matrix composite material.
The addition of the tungsten and ceramic matrix composite material allowed Bettinardi designers to shift the center of gravity (CG) location in each club, lowering it in the long irons to make them easier to hit high and elevating it in the scoring clubs to make it easier to flight the ball down for better distance control.
The perimeter weighting and extra mass low in the head add a touch of forgiveness. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
While both clubs have a compact blade length and just a touch of offset, the CB24 is a classic better-player’s cavity-back iron. Its perimeter weighting around the outside of the head should make it more stable and give it more forgiveness than the MB24, which is a true muscleback blade. Instead of perimeter weighting, the MB24 added mass directly behind the impact area to enhance ball speed and create a more solid feel at impact. The MB24 also has a slightly thinner topline, although you would have to look at the top clubs carefully, side-by-side, to notice.
In a nod to Bettinardi styling, both clubs feature the brand’s honeycomb in the back of the face.
Below are several close-up images of the new Bettinardi CB24 and MB24 irons
The Mizuno ST-Max hybrids are designed to be stable and forgiving.
Gear: Mizuno ST-Max 230 hybrids Price: $250 with Mitsubishi Lai’ Li Blue, UST-Mamiya LIN-Q Blue Hybrid or Helium NanoCore Hybrid shaft and Lamkin ST Hybrid grip Specs: MAS1C maraging stainless steel with stainless steel chassis with an adjustable hosel. 19, 22, 25 and 28-degree head options.
Who It’s For: Golfers who want an easy-to-hit replacement for their long irons that produces a high launch angle and extra carry distance.
The Skinny: The new ST-Max 230 hybrids are like miniature fairway woods, with a larger size and high moment of inertia (MOI) to make them easy to hit off the tee and from the fairway for golfers who want more forgiveness and distance than traditional long irons.
The Deep Dive: The new Mizuno ST-Max hybrids are designed to appeal to the same golfers who will benefit from the ST-Max driver and fairway woods, meaning golfers who want to maximize stability and forgiveness.
While the driver and fairway woods utilize multi-material constructions, the hybrids are all stainless steel. Instead of adding a small carbon fiber crown, Mizuno made the top of the club thicker in some areas and thinner in others. The brand refers to it as a Waffle Crown, and while the glossy black top gives the ST-Max hybrids a classic look in the address position, it reduces weight on the top of the head.
The CorTech Chamber helps performance on low-struck shots. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
To increase ball speed, a larger CorTech Chamber complements the MAS1C stainless steel face in the sole. It’s a slot designed behind the leading edge that is then filled with a blue thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), so grass and debris do not get inside the head. Inside the TPU, Mizuno designers have added a stainless steel bar that helps the head maintain forward momentum at the moment of impact. So, while the TPU reduces weight and soaks up excessive vibrations, the CorTech Chamber also helps golfers generate more ball speed.
The larger size, from heel to toe and from front to back, makes the ST-Max 230 hybrids more stable on off-center hits, but the addition of a weight in the back of the sole helps to drive up the MOI and further increase stability.
To help golfers and fitters fill distance gaps and provide clubs that go to precise distances, the ST-Max 230 hybrids are available in four loft options. However, each club’s adjustable hosel allows the stated loft to be increased or decreased by up to 2 degrees. The result is golfers can adjust the clubs to cover lofts from as little as 17 degrees to as much as 30 degrees.
Several close-up images of the ST-Max 230 hybrids are below.
The Mizuno ST-Max fairways are made to be stable and easy to hit.
Gear: Mizuno ST-Max 230 fairway woods Price: $300 with Aldila Ascent UL, Mitsubishi Lai’ Li Blue or UST Mamiya Helium NanoCore 4F1 shaft and Lamkin ST Hybrid grip Specs: MAS1C maraging stainless steel with stainless steel chassis, carbon fiber crown and adjustable hosel. 15, 18 and 21-degree head options.
Who It’s For: Golfers who prioritize forgiveness and who want to hit straighter shots off the tee and from the fairway.
The Skinny: The new ST-Max 230 is designed to be the most forgiving, most stable and easiest fairway wood to hit in the Mizuno lineup.
The Deep Dive: Mizuno’s ST-G fairway wood is an attention-getter because with its titanium construction, massive stainless steel sole plate and weight-forward design, accomplished golfers can use it as an alternative to a driver for increased accuracy without losing much distance. It’s macho, but it’s not for everyone. The ST-Z, with its carbon fiber crown, is bigger and more forgiving, but now, with the release of the ST-Max, the Japanese brand is offering its most stable fairway wood yet for golfers who want a point-and-shoot club that is even easier to hit.
From front to back and from heel to toe, the ST-Max is the biggest fairway wood in the Mizuno stable, and when it comes to helping a club resist twisting on off-center hits, bigger is better. But what really makes a club more stable on shots hit outside of the sweet spot is a high moment of inertia (MOI), and to get that, Mizuno designers needed to reposition more weight to the back of the head.
So, instead of using stainless steel on the crown, the ST-Max 230 has a carbon fiber crown. That not only creates discretionary weight but also removes weight from the top of the club and lowers the center of gravity (CG) location, which encourages a higher launch angle.
The CorTech Chamber allows the lower portion of the face to flex more efficiently. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
Mizuno also gave the ST-Max 230 a larger CorTech Chamber behind the leading edge. The CorTech chamber is a slot that allows the lower portion of the hitting area to flex more efficiently and pull the sweet spot down. The slot is covered by a blue thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to keep water and debris out of the head, but a small stainless-steel bar has been added instead of the TPU. At impact, the TPU soaks up some of the vibrations that are created to make shots feel better, but the bar’s momentum keeps it moving forward, so the club transfers more energy into the shot.
The TPU used in the CorTech Chamber weighs less than the steel that would be there, and along with the weight saved by using a carbon fiber crown, it allowed Mizuno to add a weight in the back of the sole that pulls the center of gravity back and elevates the MOI.
Compared to the ST-G and the ST-Z, the new ST-Max produces a higher ball flight and more spin, which for many golfers should translate into more carry distance and a steep angle of descent, so shots stop faster for more control and consistency.
Below are several looks at the Mizuno ST-Max 230 fairway woods.
The Mizuno ST-Max 230 is a high-MOI, ultra-stable driver.
Gear: Mizuno ST-Max 230 driver Price: $500 with Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green RDX, Mitsubishi Lai’ Li Blue or UST Mamiya Helium NanoCore 4F1 shaft and Lamkin ST Hybrid grip Specs: 460-cc head with a forged titanium face and chassis, carbon fiber crown and sole panels, and adjustable hosel. 9.5, 10.5 and 12-degree head options.
Who It’s For: Golfers who prioritize forgiveness and who want to hit straighter drives.
The Skinny: The new ST-Max 230 takes the weight saved by using a large carbon fiber crown and sole panel and redistributes it to the back of the head to boost the forgiveness and make the club Mizuno’s most stable driver.
The Deep Dive: Just as you can tell a lot about a man by the quality of his shoes and belts, you can tell a lot about a driver by observing where designers and engineers position weight in the head. Mizuno’s ST-G driver has more weight concentrated in the front, which helps it reduce spin and put an emphasis on ball speed. The Japanese company’s newest driver, the ST-Max, utilizes an entirely different design, materials and weighting concept, and the result, according to Mizuno, is its most stable and forgiving driver.
In the address position, the ST-Max 230 looks large, but clean with a glossy black tone covering the carbon fiber. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
In the address position, the ST-Max looks bigger and wider than the other ST drivers, even though its 460-cc size gives it the same volume as the ST-Z and ST-X drivers. It has a lower profile but is larger from heel to toe and from front to back, and when it comes to stability, bigger is better.
The key to increasing the moment of inertia (MOI) and making a club less likely to twist on off-center hits is to position more weight in the back of the head. To do that in the 460-cc ST-Max, Mizuno designed the club with a massive carbon fiber crown and increased the size of the carbon fiber sole panel. Replacing titanium with carbon fiber reduces weight, and that saved weight was put back in the head by adding a 54-gram weight to the very back of the head. Having that much mass concentrated in the rear of the club keeps it moving forward and wobbling less on mis-hits, which should result in straighter drives.
The ST-Max 230 has a forged face made from Beta Rich Ti LFS titanium. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
To increase ball speed, Mizuno opted to use the same Beta Rich Ti LFS titanium in the face that debuted in the ST-G driver. It is lighter and has a higher tensile strength, so the multi-thickness face can flex more efficiently while maintaining durability.
Mizuno also increased the size of the CorTech Chamber, which is behind the leading edge in the sole. Mizuno has used this technology in recent drivers, and it involves creating a slot in the sole and then filling it with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to keep water and debris from getting inside the head. Inside the TPU, Mizuno adds a stainless steel bar, so while the soft TPU material allows the lower portion of the face to flex more efficiently on low-struck shots, the bar helps the head maintain momentum. The TPU material also soaks up excessive vibrations and enhances sound, so drives feel and sound better.
Below are several close-up photos of the Mizuno ST-Max driver.
