50 Words or Less
The TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver is a wizard off the tee, offering speed, versatility, and surprising forgiveness. Tough to hit off the turf. Fantastic throwback aesthetics.
Introduction
In 2023, TaylorMade’s BRNR Mini Driver [review HERE] lapped the field for coolest club. The combination of throwback vibes and modern performance was untouchable.
For 2025, TaylorMade is once again putting their coolest club in the coolest category. The TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver smashes the nostalgia button while upping the ante for what a mini driver can do.
Do you need a mini driver? Find out HERE
Looks
At address, the TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver is a departure from the BRNR. First, the crown is matte black, not gloss. It’s nearly identical in volume – 305 cc to the BRNR’s 304 – but the shape is quite different. The R7 Quad is a player’s pear shape; the BRNR was more stretched with a slight heel lean. What has carried forward is the tall face. This is a mini driver that begs to be hit off the tee.
The sole of the TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver is all about the throwback vibes. The original R7 was one of the first “real” drivers I owned, so this definitely hits a nostalgic soft spot. There are four weight ports, but they’re secondary to the “R7 Quad” branding.
All the other elements of this club are also “period correct.” The Fujikura Speeder shaft has graphics that harken back to the R7 era.
The barrel head cover is a masterpiece. A mix of yellow, red, and black will remind all golfers around my age of the TaylorMade TP era. Even if you ignore the retro perspective, it’s a very sharp design with spiraling lines pulling together the distinct designs on each side.
Finally, as they did with the BRNR, TaylorMade went unnecessarily hard by checkering the inside of the head cover. Most golfers will never see this, but it’s a final layer of aesthetic fun. I have to believe that whoever designed this had a great time.
Sound & Feel
On center, the TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver is a bit louder than average with a concise, metallic whip crack sound. Missing the center – particularly low on the face – turns up the volume a hair and transforms the sound into a higher pitched “crack.”
The feel of the R7 Quad Mini Driver is a balance of solid and fast. It’s not a thin, quick sensation; it’s more of a Derrick Henry, “this is fast and also super powerful” thing. When you connect with the center of the face, you’ll be club twirling without even realizing it. Also, there’s excellent feedback on strike location through the hands.
Performance
It’s been a while since I had as much fun testing and experimenting with a club as I did with the R7 Quad. But in the interest of not making this a total love fest, I’m going to start with the R7 Quad’s one relative weakness. With a face that’s about 1/2″ taller than even a player’s 3W, the TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver is challenging to hit off the turf.
Every shot I hit had a ton of ball speed, but I needed a premium strike to elevate the ball and maximize carry distance. I did test the 11.5 degree model; the 13.5 certainly would have been a little easier to elevate. That said, if you can’t consistently elevate a 3W off the turf, don’t plan to hitting anything more than stingers with this club.
What the TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver may lack in off the deck prowess, it more than makes up for with exceptional performance off the tee. This club has loads of ball speed and a surprising amount of stability and forgiveness. I made my first few swings, saw ball speeds in the mid 150’s, and was quite content. After a few more swings I realized those had been mishits – my best strikes were over 160 MPH.
Characterizing the launch and spin of the R7 Quad Mini Driver is tough because it’s such a flexible club. On the whole, I would rate it as being fairly low spin with mid launch, but that can change dramatically based on the golfer, the swing, and the tee height.
A quick interlude here to touch on the obvious upgrade to the TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver over the BRNR: the additional weights. Where the BRNR had two weights – front and back – the R7 Quad has four weights. TaylorMade incudes two 13 gram weights and two 4 gram weights. This gives you the ability to modify not only spin, launch, and stability but also shot shape.
In my testing I felt and saw a meaningful difference between the weight settings. With the weights forward, I saw the highest peak ball speed and slightly lower spin. Pushing the weights back gave me a more stable feeling and better distance on mishits.
Regardless of the setting, the TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver was very accurate. Though the difference between this club and my driver are not huge – 2.5 degrees of loft and about 1.5″ of shaft length – my bigger misses seemed to disappear. Not every shot was a fairway splitter, but it took a truly bad effort to launch the ball into the wilderness.
Above all, what I like so much about the R7 Quad Mini Driver is the ability to hit a huge variety of shots. With my driver and 3W, I have only one tee height that I’m comfortable with, but the R7 Quad hits a visual sweet spot where I can tee the ball at almost any level. This opens up the ability to hit everything from low bullets to high bombs. Add in the draw/fade weighting options and you can set this club up to produce a very specific shot, or you can leave it neutral and put the control in your hands.
Conclusion
Whether or not you need a mini driver remains an open question. However, if you want a club to give you more options off the tee, the TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver is the one for you. With loads of adjustability on top of excellent ball speed, this club can produce tee shots that are anything but mini.
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TaylorMade R7 Quad Mini Driver Price & Specs
He founded Plugged In Golf in 2013 with the goal of helping all golfers play better and enjoy the game more.
Matt lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two daughters.
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One Comment
I have played a mini driver a few seasons over the past 20 years, yet I don’t understand all the buzz around mini drivers this year. I really think the manufacturers have nothing new to promote so this is their way of creating buzz. This is such a niche club. I play tons of golf & I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen a mini driver in anyone’s bag (maybe some folks s/b playing one?) I have to believe this club is a lost leader for the manufacturers.
I liked my mini driver but really couldn’t find a place for it in the bag since I would never consider hitting it off the deck.