Spotted: Titleist TSR – Mini Driver or Biggie Fairway

We are fresh off a captivating weekend that included Scottie Scheffler winning in style and Anthony Kim showing signs of life. However, there is more news this Monday morning. A new Titleist golf club just hit the USGA’s conforming list—it appears to be some sort of TSR mini driver or maybe a biggie fairway wood.

USGA pics aren’t the best for determining scale, but the photo we have suggests some sort of REALLY “mini” variation of a TSR Series Driver, with similarities to the Titleist TSR4 being the most obvious. You can see the two flippable weights to provide CG change – higher flight with more spin in the back, flatter, lower spinning in the front.

The USGA lists loft at 13° only. So again, there’s just a sliver of insight as to whether this will be a “mini” driver or a new fairway addition to the family.

A Bit of Backstory

It is fair to say this listing is an attention-grabber. While TaylorMade currently has the mini market all to itself, we know there has been some curiosity inside Titleist about a shorter-shaft driver that’s easier to hit or at least easier to hit straight.

Titleist’s Director of Player Promotions, JJ Van Wezenbeeck, isn’t afraid to experiment (he’s a bit of a mad scientist in the club world). Dating back to last summer, we’re aware of some prototypes that were basically TSR1 heads with a fair amount of hotmelt added to the head. Those flew absurdly straight with not a whole lot of distance loss.

At the time, Titleist thinking was it didn’t make sense to sacrifice the benefits of a larger head size for something that was going to be hit almost exclusively off the tee.

That said, thinking continuously evolves. Is Titleist buying in on the idea of a sub-400cc driver, or is this TSR more akin to an oversized fairway wood – a TSR2+ on steroids? You know, something you can hit reliably off a fairway.

Without anything to provide scale (would it kill the USGA to add a dollar bill to its photos), it’s hard to decipher much. The inevitable in-hand pics should provide more detail.

That said, the USGA lists the marking as:

HOSEL: (club number/letter)

2 is a number and W is a letter. Just saying …

Sources at Titleist declined to provide any specific detail other than to say it’s a prototype.

Have Your Say

Are you interested in the mini driver category? And if so, what are you more interested in, a moderate to slightly undersized driver (like the current Mini Driver), or something closer to an oversized fairway wood that’s still serviceable off the deck (like TaylorMade’s SLDR mini)?

We’d love to know.