The pros using a “mini driver” are not replacing their main driver. They replace their 3 wood. They use the mini driver on shorter holes that have tight landing areas. If you use your 3 wood a lot and from difficult lies, you may find the mini driver tougher to use for those shots. If you replace your driver with it, you will be giving up some real advantages on longer holes where learning to hit a regular driver would be more beneficial. Ultimately comes down to the individual and what 14 clubs work best for you. Golf bag set up should never be a popularity contest. You can always give it a try and change back later if it doesn’t work out. That’s one great thing about golf, you have the flexibility to always adjust your equipment.

You make a great point regarding the advantage of driver on longer holes. I have been incorporating 3 wood more often so maybe that will become more of the "fairway finder" I am looking for. I think I will do some testing with the GT280, but it makes sense that it would likely replace the 3wood, rather than the driver, if I were to add a mini driver at all. Thanks for the input!

You resort to an iron when not pulling driver. What happens with a 3 wood? If it is not easier than the driver, the 280 won’t change much. The 280 is more of an improved fairway than direct driver replacement.
It really is a niche product that won’t benefit a great number of players. Get fitted with an intention of knowing when to use it and seeing if that fits you.

You make a great point and I probably should gravitate towards the 3 wood more often. I guess I just feel so confident in my long irons that it starts to feel a little black and white with either driver or long iron. I think I will try to incorporate more 3 wood off the tee and see where that takes me, rather than introduce a new niche club like the mini driver. (while still practicing to get the driver locked in too of course!). Appreciate your reply!

TLDR: Go spend $40 on a Titleist 975D and hit that, they're "mini" drivers by today's standard and fun as hell to use.

Ariya Jutanugarn does not carry a driver, and uses a 3W as her longest club in the bag.
The pros are using mini drivers because they're shorter than driver, more accurate due to having a much shorter shaft, and the modern day pro rarely ever needs a 3W off the fairway because they're less that 3W on almost all par 5s on Tour.
They use mini drivers when they need to hit something like 300 yds cause 315 is too far and it's got more forgiveness than a 3W that they wouldn't likely use other than off the tee anyway. And in the rare case they have like 280 to the green they can still hit the mini off the deck.

For about a year I carried 3W as my longest because it averaged like 10-15yds less than driver but I could control it significantly better. But have been working on driver, it's still giving me some pretty poor outcomes, but I'm also having short iron 2nd shots on par 5s. Instead of like a 7 iron in, which is by far my worst club in the bag. haha. Even for my game, the only time I'm hitting 3W into a green is when I've topped or shanked my drive and still have like 260+ left. I utilize my 3W far more off the tee when I have bunkers or water hazards around 300yds and driver is not a smart play.

I can tell you this, you better bring it to hit the 280 off the deck, it's a MUCH deeper face than the fairway woods. For a Tour player, it's not a problem. For the average golfer, you're going have to give something up to carry it and a regular driver. It's a tough call for most, but you really can't consider the 280 another fairway wood. I like the trajectory with it, so I may drop the driver because it's much easier to hit. Then again, I'm grateful I have enough speed where that's an option. GREAT addition to the line, but you have to think it through when finding a spot in the bag for it, IMO.