Magnolia Lane, blooming azaleas, pimento cheese sandwiches and mini drivers? It’s that time of the year when all eyes are on Augusta National for the 2026 Masters Tournament. And it’s that time of the year when players are looking for that extra edge in their equipment.

“Every player that we work with, they’re all thinking the same things, ‘How is my bag set up to perform well there?’ It’s that unique,” said Cobra Director of Tour Operations Ben Schomin.

One of those adjusting their bags for the Masters is Max Homa. After a T12 finish last year in Augusta, he’s looking to add the Cobra King Tec mini driver into his arsenal for this year’s tournament.

Many have said, “The Masters doesn’t start until the back nine on Sunday,” and it’s the 10th hole at Augusta National that was a prominent focus behind Homa’s decision to get fit into the mini driver.

It’s a tee shot that requires a right-to-left shot to favor the shape of the dog leg. An accurate tee shot can hit the speed slot in the fairway, leaving an opportunity to make a birdie, but finding the heavily wooded areas on either side of the hole brings bogey or worse into play – unless you’re Bubba Watson, of course.

“So the (focus) tech mini driver was obviously 10, which needs a big slinger,” Schomin said about the fitting process with Homa. “That was one of the things we were working on just to see how much he could comfortably get it to move from right to left.

“… The toe misses were really what I wanted to see, knowing that he is trying to sling it and his toe misses were actually all very good. So that was a good start. Nothing started left for him. Everything started right and had the right spin access.”

The ability for pros to hit the draw has somewhat become harder, thanks to the development of high-moment-of-inertia driver heads. Blend that with a modern golf ball that spins less than an older wound ball, and many rely on a fairway wood to shape the ball, thanks to a smaller head. But with this, they give up valuable distance off the tee, which has become almost the most important part of the modern game.

But with the mini driver, there’s a middle ground now for players taking on Augusta, without surrendering distance when looking for workability.

“I think there was a confidence piece with the mini driver versus a 3 wood when you’re off the tee and trying to perform those same shots,” Schomin added. “There’s obviously more forgiveness in the mini driver, but I think just from a size standpoint, it could definitely be more confidence-inducing.”

Not only are the right-to-left holes a priority for Max and his mini driver, but “there’s a couple holes where he thought maybe he could keep it out of the trouble by hitting a cut,” Schomin added.

With that, Schomin and Homa tweaked the setup of his King Tec Mini closer to standard than it had been before in previous sessions. Equipped with a 43.5-inch Fujikura Ventus Blue 7-X VeloCore+, Homa has the mini driver set on A2 in Cobra’s FutureFit33 adapter, along with 12 grams in the front weight and 2 grams in the back.