Tag: mini drivers

Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini driver

The Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini driver is a new driver alternative.

Gear: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini driver
Price: $449.99 with Project X Denali shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip
Specs: Forged titanium face and chassis with carbon fiber crown, movable sole weights and adjustable hosel.
Available: June 27

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Who It’s For: Golfers who only use their 3-wood off the tee and who want an alternative to their driver.

The Skinny: Designed with all the technologies of Callaway’s Paradym Ai Smoke drivers, the Ti 340 Mini driver is designed to be used off the tee for extra control and shot-shaping without sacrificing too much distance.

The Deep Dive: As analytics and stats become more engrained in golf, it becomes apparent to some players that they don’t use their 3-wood anywhere except off the tee. So, if you are only using your 3-wood off the tee on holes when hitting your driver could bring hazards into play, or you find it easier to hit a draw with a fairway wood instead of a driver, a mini driver could be a smart club to add to your bag.

Callaway has offered mini drivers and strong-lofted fairway woods in the past (remember the Phrankenwood from back in 2013?), but none has been more exclusively for use off the tee than the just-released Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini driver.

Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini driver
The Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini driver has a titanium Smart Face, carbon fiber crown and adjustable hosel like the standard Ai Smoke drivers. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

At 340 cubic centimeters in volume, it’s 26 percent smaller than a typical 460-cubic-centimeter driver, and it comes in two loft options, 11.5 and 13.5 degrees. It also comes standard at 43.75 inches in length, which is about 1.5 to 2 inches shorter than most modern drivers. So the Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini driver is a little smaller, a little shorter and has more loft than the driver, but in nearly every other way, it is a Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke driver.

The Face: Callaway gave the Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini driver an Ai Smart Face that was created using artificial intelligence after computers studied how real golfers swing. As with the Paradym Ai Smoke drivers, it is optimized to perform better on the most-common mis-hits.

The Crown: The carbon fiber crown reduces weight on the top of the head and allowed designers to shift the center of gravity lower.

Moveable Weights: Like the Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond, the Ti 340 Mini driver has a forward and back weight. If comes with a 12-gram weight in the back and a 4-gram weight in the front, but players and fitters can swap them to fine-tune the spin rate and ball flight.

Adjustable Hosel: Like other Callaway woods, the Ti 340 Mini driver has a hosel that lets players and fitters independently change the loft and lie angle.

With a deep-face design and large volume, skilled players could use the Ti 340 Mini driver off the fairway on long par 5s, but it is designed to be played off the tee when using a driver could bring hazards into play or when golfers want more control.

Below are several images of the Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini driver.

Photos: Titleist’s prototype TSR 2-wood

The Titleist TSR 2-wood is an oversized fairway wood designed for distance off the tee.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cameron Young, one of the most powerful players on the PGA Tour, quietly added a massive, yet-to-be-released Titleist fairway wood to his bag before the start of the Players Championship. He used the club at the Masters and with the PGA Championship just a few days away, the club, which looks like a mini driver but is labeled “TSR 2-wood,” is still in Young’s bag.

Titleist has not officially commented about the TSR 2-wood, but if history is a guide, that could change in the next few months. In the past, Titleist has released woods in two-year product cycles, and the last release was in 2022’s TSR family. Those clubs first appeared in June of 2022 at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship before arriving in stores in September. So, it would not be surprising if Titleist started seeding the next generation of drivers, fairway woods and hybrids in the next eight to 10 weeks. 

So far, Titleist has not released any details regarding the TSR 2-wood, but based on in-hand images and details included on the USGA’ Conforming Driver Head list, we know a few things already.

  • Loft: According to the Conforming List, the Titleist TSR 2-wood has 13 degrees of loft, but it also has an adjustable hosel that appears identical to Titleist’s SureFit hosel system. If it is, the 13-degree club can be adjusted into 16 different settings with lofts up to 14.5 degrees and down to 12.25 degrees.
  • Movbeable weights. Like the Titleist TSR4 driver, there are two moveable weights in the sole of the TSR 2-wood, one in the front and one in the back. Putting a heavier weight in the back should shift the center of gravity back, increase the launch angle, add spin and boost the stability. A heavier weight in the front would lower the launch angle, decrease spin and, most likely, increase ball speed.
  • Size. While the exact volume of the Titleist TSR 2-wood is not included in the USGA notes and details, and Titleist has not released it, the club dwarf’s the TSR2 3-wood and even the TSR2+ 3-wood. It has a noticeably larger hitting area and a deeper face. In the address position, it does not appear to extend back as much as the TSR2+, which has a 190cc head, but that club has a shallower face. The TSR 2-wood might be closer to 275-300cc in size.
  • Shape. From the toe size, the TSR 2-wood’s shape very closely resembles the TSR2 and TSR3 drivers. The crown swoops up from the topline, and the back of the sole rolls up. These aerodynamic traits are also round in the latest Titleist drivers, and with a hitting area as large as the TSR 2-wood’s face, aerodynamics will be critical to helping golfers maintain clubhead speed.

As more details about the Titleist TSR 2-wood become available, Golfweek will bring them to you. Below are several close-up images of the Titleist TSR 2-wood.