Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 Mini Driver Review

The mini driver revolution is officially upon us. With more and more of these intriguing new clubs hitting the USGA conforming list seemingly by the week, I am taking a look at Callaway’s version, the Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 mini driver to see what it can offer the consumer market. Does it sit amongst the best drivers or even the best fairway woods? Or both? Let’s find out…

Firstly, many people have been asking the question, what or who is a mini driver for? Well, the answer to that question in my opinion can be different from player to player. As a PGA Professional, I have noticed a growing number of my high-speed contemporaries using a mini driver to great effect of late as a pure driver alternative around particularly tight golf courses where a 3-wood might drop too much yardage and add too much spin. As such a mini driver, pitched somewhere between 3-wood and driver in terms of loft, length, and face depth has produced some excellent results. Similarly, I have seen a number of my recreational friends using this type of club extremely successfully as a direct 3-wood replacement, feeling that the extra head size provides more confidence than the traditionally more compact 3-wood. 

From a technology standpoint, Callaway is giving us a 340cc head, a titanium construction, and the same Ai smart face that we have seen with the rest of the Ai smoke family. Callaway tells us that the Ai smart face creates micro deflections across the face to optimize launch and spin conditions on both centered and miss-struck shots. 

With lofts of 11.5˚ and 13.5˚ available and a shaft length of 43.75”, this sits directly in that twilight zone between driver and 3-wood. The Paradym Ai Smoke Ti 340 mini driver also features adjustable 12 and 4-gram weights on the sole to dial in spin and Callaway’s adjustable loft sleeve for further customization.

Visually, I think Callaway has done a great job, much as I did with the rest of the Ai Smoke driver range. The grey colorway looks extremely premium and the head shaping is excellent at address. If I were being picky, I would probably have left off the triangular alignment aid on the top edge as I prefer the cleaner look of the triple diamond models, but that is a very minor point and on the whole the visual is excellent. 

I think it would be fair to say that the Paradym Ai Smoke mini driver’s main competitor would be the TaylorMade BRNR…