A thinner face, higher MOI and (by tour request) a bit more spin. PXG didn’t mess with the shape of the Secret Weapon but it did find a little more speed.
Reinforcing the idea that mini drivers are here to stay, PXG has announced the launch of its second-generation Secret Weapon mini driver. Much of the story is similar to last time (it’s still like a driver, only smaller) but there’s just enough different here to be interesting. And the headcover is even better than last time around. The yellow skull is out. Blood orange is in.
With that, let’s get into what’s actually new.
Don’t touch the shape
Before PXG started work on the new Secret Weapon, Caleb Kroloff (PXG’s Director of Woods R&D) went to the tour players who’d been gaming the original and asked what they wanted changed. The answer was simple.
“Do not change the shape. Don’t mess with it,” Kroloff recalls them saying. “It is so easy to hit off a tee. It is just as easy in our minds to hit off the deck as it is a fairway wood. The turf interaction’s perfect.”
So the new Secret Weapon shape is nearly identical to the original. It’s still a 13-degree head at 300cc and the turf interaction tour players liked so much should be unchanged.
For what it’s worth, the original Secret Weapon had a devout user or two. Jake Knapp hits his upwards of 10 times a round off the tee and several other PXG staffers carry one full-time or swap it in depending on the course.
“The original Secret Weapon was my favorite club in the bag so I had high expectations for this one,” Knapp said. “I absolutely love it.”
As you might expect, staff players are generally inclined to say nice things about the staff equipment. That’s the deal. The more useful takeaway is that heaviest users of the original Secret Weapon are the ones asking for the basic recipe to remain untouched.
A faster face and more MOI
What updates exist are largely invisible (which might be why the headcover changed).
By the numbers, the new Secret Weapon face is 4.4 percent thinner than the previous generation. Thinner means more deflection at impact and PXG says that’s enough to push CT right up to the USGA limit which if nothing else suggests PXG added what speed they could with the new model.
Thinning a face risks durability issues so PXG reworked the internal sole structure. The sole is stiffer where it needs support and the design distributes impact stress across the body rather than concentrating it on the face. Mass saved from the face and sole was repositioned around the perimeter to boost MOI and a lightweight carbon fiber crown lets PXG push more mass low and deep.
I’d wager all of that sounds reasonably familiar.
PXG also carried over the laser-etched face treatment from its drivers. It’s easy to dismiss the feature as purely cosmetic but there’s a reasonable case to be made that it matters more on a club you’ll hit off the turf. It frames the ball while giving the appearance of more loft than there is. PXG also says the etched design helps with consistency in wet conditions.
PXG’s Precision Weighting carries over as well with four adjustable sole ports at the heel, toe, front and back. The stock setup is two 7.5-gram weights and two 2.5-gram weights and, with optional weights from 2.5 to 20 grams, there’s plenty of room to tinker with spin, shot shape and swing weight. The adjustable hosel provides additional loft and trajectory tuning.
Faster but with more spin
As for what you can expect on the course, the story goes like this.
PXG made the new Secret Weapon faster and increased spin. Tour players feedback on the original was, more or less, it goes too far.
I don’t have a “too far” problem with any club but the putter which very minimally helps to explain why I don’t play on the PGA Tour.
The thing is, on the PGA Tour, minis have become the go-to option on tight driving holes and on the holes where outkicking your coverage (bombing it through the fairway) is the risk being mitigated. If the mini is nearly as long as a full-sized driver, it isn’t really doing its job.
So PXG found more ball speed and added spin to offset it.
Kroloff describes the result as going “the same distance in a different way.” With more spin, the ball should land steeper and stop faster rather than chasing through the fairway. For a Tour player who pulls the Secret Weapon to hit a number or to find a narrow fairway, that’s the whole point.
For the rest of us, the spin story probably isn’t a dealbreaker either way. Most average golfers aren’t losing sleep over running it through fairways with their 3-wood. That said, PXG isn’t claiming the new Secret Weapon is shorter; just better at landing where you want it to.
Mini isn’t for everyone
To be clear, a mini driver isn’t a must-have. Pesky USGA/R&A rules being what they are, you can’t add a mini without taking something out and for most golfers, that something is probably a fairway wood.
For some golfers, that trade makes a lot of sense. Others, as I’ve been told by some golfers and a few of my media friends, don’t see any reason to make the switch. Both camps have a point. If you rarely hit your 3-wood anywhere but off the tee, a mini is worth a look. If you rely on that 3-wood to reach par-5s in two from the fairway, the decision gets more complicated.
The category isn’t a panacea. It’s just another option.
My 2 cents
I’ve played a lot of mini drivers: the SLDR Mini, BRNR Mini, Titleist GT280 and GTS300, the original Secret Weapon and a Callaway that, for me, was just too big. I’ve learned that a mini is useless to me unless I can hit it off the deck. That’s why I’ve gravitated toward 13-degree models in the 300cc range.
This next part is admittedly 100 percent anecdotal and I have no data to back it up but in my first round with the new Secret Weapon, I found it moves through the turf better. I was able to hit it higher off the deck than any mini I’ve played before. It’s much more the experience of a fairway wood than an undersized driver.
Given that PXG says the shape is virtually unchanged, is it the club? Could the grass at Scottsdale National have played a role? Absolutely. If my experience qualifies as a data point, it’s just one. But, for me, the experience makes the Secret Weapon a more compelling option than it was before.
It’s also easier to get your hands on. PXG has spent most of its existence as a direct-to-consumer brand but that’s changing. The Secret Weapon is available at some big box retailers, notably PGA TOUR Superstore. It’s part of a bigger shift in PXG’s retail strategy. With the new Secret Weapon among the first PXG launches to arrive with PGA TOUR Superstore (and a few other larger retailers) already on board, I’m curious to see what the market reception looks like.
PXG Secret Weapon mini driver: pricing, specs and availability
The second-generation PXG Secret Weapon mini driver is available in right- and left-handed models with 13 degrees of loft. Standard length is 43.25 inches (down from 43.75 on the original) with a 58.5-degree lie and a 215-gram head.
Stock shaft options include Project X Denali Frost Blue and HZRDUS Black (GEN5).
Retail price is $499.99. The Secret Weapon is available now online, at PXG fitting locations and select retailers including PGA TOUR Superstore.
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