For lots of amateur golfers, the driver is the hardest club in the bag to hit well. The new Callaway Elyte Mini Driver is the latest in a long line of mini drivers that have been released over the last few years.
It offers more forgiveness and control to help golfers desperately seeking an option to get off the tee.
If that sounds like you, read on!
Who Is It Aimed At?
Some tour players, such as Tommy Fleetwood, have been using mini drivers from the tee and off the fairway to attack long par 5s. For nearly all amateur golfers though, this is going to be much more useful as a driver replacement.
If you’re somebody who really lacks confidence off the tee, this could be an option that is easier to hit and more consistent than a driver. The combination of a shorter shaft and higher loft helps to reduce the ‘big miss’ that can cost golfers shots every week on the course.
The Tech
Like the standard Elyte Driver, the Elyte Mini features neutral, fade and draw settings to fine-tune ball flight.
Despite the 340cc head, it features the new Elyte shape with enhanced aerodynamics. This is said to maximise swing speed, with improved forgiveness and launch, to promote better distance.
There’s also a Thermoforged Carbon crown. This is an aerospace grade carbon fibre, designed to give higher clubhead speeds to optimise launch and spin.
Callaway have been using an Ai face in their woods for a few years now, and the Elyte range includes the latest iteration. The Ai10x Face is said to be their most advanced, with more than 10 times as many control points from the previous Ai Smart Face.
Callaway’s designers have added this to promote fast ball speeds, tight dispersion, and optimised launch across the face.
The Elyte Mini is offered in both 11.5 and 13.5 degrees, adjustable thanks to the OptiFit Hosel. There is a shorter shaft too, at 43.75″ compared to 45.75″ in the driver.
It comes with a Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip, and Project X Denali Charcoal shaft as standard, with women’s options also available.
Callaway Elyte Mini Driver Review
Looks and Feel
I do like the look of the Elyte range in general. Using the Epic Speed for around five years got me pretty familiar with Callaway’s shape and the black/green colourway.
It’s an improvement on the Paradym Ai Smoke in terms of looks, although I’d say that TaylorMade and Cobra have probably done a better job in 2025 with upgrading the looks of their Qi35 and DS-Adapt ranges.
The Elyte Mini looks more like a small driver rather than a big fairway wood, especially in the 11.5 degree head that I tested.
I really liked the matte finish on the head, whilst the club seemed to sit really nice and square down by the ball. At address, it looked great. There’s a really simple sole design with a clear alignment line. You can see some of the score lines on the face too, making it really easy to line up.
It’s quite a tall face too, and a relatively shallow shape. It’s better suited as an option off the tee because of this.
There’s a solid feel at impact which was firmer than I expected, and made it feel less forgiving than expected. One thing that really impressed me was the sound. The Elyte Mini makes a really great crack at impact, making you feel you’ve hit it really well.
Performance
I tested the 11.5 degree Elyte Mini using the Foresight GCQuad. This was only one degree weaker in loft compared to my own Qi35 Driver. On my best strikes, it was getting right up to the numbers I saw when I tested that driver.
On average my ball speed was 147mph. I achieved an average carry of 249 yards and really solid spin rate of around 2700rpm. This is really impressive, considering it’s a smaller head with a shorter shaft too.
Despite this, the smaller head actually felt a little less forgiving to me. The distance drop-offs when not hitting the middle of the face were larger than I expected too. On a bad strike, my carry distance was 15 yards below the average, and about 25 yards less than my best shots.
Out on the course, my dispersion did feel a bit tighter than with a driver. I found that it forced me to concentrate harder to try and hit the centre of the face, especially because of the 11.5 head. This surprised me, because I expected that it would feel easier to hit than a driver.
The extra loft did seem to make it easier to hit a draw, which was a nice bonus. I was worried about hitting shots into the wind, due to the higher loft.
The Elyte Mini still seemed to perform really well, and I was impressed by the strong ball flight. It didn’t just feel like it was launching straight up into the air either. The ball seemed to stay in the air, even though I had it teed a little lower than normal.
As mentioned earlier, the 11.5 head is really not suitable for hitting shots off the deck in my opinion. So if you’re looking for a mini driver to be a more versatile option, perhaps try the 13.5 head.
Callaway Elyte Mini Driver Verdict
The Elyte Mini Driver really impressed me in terms of the numbers it produced when hit well. I was expecting to see more of a drop off compared to my driver, but it was really quite minimal.
For some golfers, the shorter shaft and smaller head might fill them with confidence. If you’re someone who has resorted to using a fairway or hybrid off the tee instead of the driver, this could be ideal.
I did find a couple of negatives though. First off, I was expecting a little more forgiveness than I actually got from the 11.5 degree head. If you don’t strike it well, the distance drop-offs were quite large.
The other consideration is that the 11.5 head is pretty one-dimensional – you’d only ever use it off the tee.
At an RRP of £449 it’s not exactly cheap, but it is more than £100 less than the Elyte Driver. However the performance wasn’t actually that much different in terms of ball speed and distance.
This could then make it pretty good value for money for some golfers, especially if it gives them more confidence off the tee.
