Aldila Ascent 40 R Flex

[Bowie Maur]

Heyall, was playing around with the Truegolffit app this morning and the shaft on its #1 recommendation was the Aldila Accent Red. This is literally a shaft I've heard nothing about. I'm not a shaft guru, but I've normally at least heard of the players in the category. It also has a very limited digital footprint out there. Does anyone have this in a bag or have used it? Just curious about it.

@cnosil @revkev sooo, when I first searched the forum I found nothing... then I realized that ascent is spelled, well not accent. This found that you two have both hit/gamed this. What are your thoughts on it?

... If the Ascent fits your swing, it is a really nice shaft. Fwiw, I have a smooth swing and a late release so never gotten along with very stiff tipped shafts. Ascent is very smooth feeling and gave me the best numbers when hitting the Stealth in a fitting. My first Cally fitting the AD-IZ in S/R flex was best and in my 2nd Cally fitting the Tensei AV Blue S flex was best. The Ascent and AV Blue are mid launch and mid/low spin shafts so very similar both in tech and performance. The Ascent has more listed torque but again for me they were equally tight in dispersion and feel. Ymmv ...

LOL. How did I not ask you first what you thought of it? Gross error on my part. I'm using an Accra TZ6 right now. I'm guessing they are pretty similar. I wasn't all that interested in the Stealth... Until I hit it. I did a quick hitting session with the Stealth +, Callaway Rogue Max, Cobra LDx and my SIM2. All my ball speeds were in the same 145-148 range, except the Stealth, it was 153-155. So now the gears are turning and I'm going to have to go hit it again and we estuary I can get it tuned to.

While not at the same time I was fit for every club in my bag as well as the Pro VI ball. I use the chrome soft x ls on my league course. It has much softer softer greens than the club that I belong to.

I was fit into the Aldila Ascent at Club Champion last year, and first bought the Fubuki since its essentially the same shaft (and may actually be the exact same) as the Aldila Ascent. The only thing better than the Ascent for me is the Autoflex, but they didn't have that at Club Champion to try. If i wasn't gaming the Autoflex, would likely play the Ascent/Fubuki. Its a good fairway shaft too, happen to have a few of those too lol.

I actually just completed an 'exploratory' driver fitting (not truly interested in changing out my current gamer, but always interested to try the new stuff). One of the driver/ shaft combos that actually threatened if not actually beat my gamer was the Mizuno ST-Z-220 with an Aldila Ascent Red 50 Stiff.

My gamer is a Titlelist TSi2 with a KuroKago 50 SFW, so similar shafts. Funny enough, TrueGolfFit actually had my current gamer has my 2nd choice driver, so I was encouraged by that, although not at all encouraged by the first choice which was a TourEdge Exotics Pro721 with a Tensei Blue 65 in stiff. Two very different drivers. FYI, TourEdge actually allows you to test clubs and return within 30 days for a full refund. I took advantage of that offer. I am trying a different combination (this time with the C722 head) after providing info on my swing, what I am trying to accomplish, etc. Their customer service has been amazing.

My recommendation is always, always, always get fit. I know Adam thinks it should be free, but if you plan on buying, most fitters will refund that 'cost' for a purchase. I have one of the best fitters about 45 minutes away (Miles of Golf, Cincinnati) and they have always treated me wonderfully.

I game it, love it. Played the HZRDUS red for a while, then swapped to the RDX red and now the ASCENT. The ascent is just as long but far better dispersion and feel. Highly recommend for those smooth swingers. I have a 103-105 SS and use a stiff version at 60g.

TrueGolfFit app also recommended this shaft for me as well. 95-100 mph swing speed, moderate tempo, slight upward angle of attack. I was then fitted with this shaft (60S) during a TM Stealth Driver session. This is a stock option with the Stealth. However, I will not pay $600 for a Gen1 composite face, maybe Gen2. Still, I loved the feel of the Ascent Red shaft. Behaved very stable when I tried to jump on a few drives and had a nice low feeling kick. Aldila aftermarket version is about $250 on ebay, but I found some brand new (pulled from TM Stealth heads) for $70 w/ TM adapter, on ebay. Per Alidila support, the TM version is identical to the aftermarket shaft, expect for the paint scheme. Whether these are repurposed (repainted) Fubuki V shafts, I can't say, but for $70, it's a deal.

Good possibility? However would be great if you could get to a shop and try it out to see how it works. Recommending shafts on SS alone is so difficult as there are so many factors that come into it. That being said on paper it "should" be a good fit.

I had a fitting at Club Champion over the weekend. The best move was reshafting my current 3-wood with a Aldila Ascent Red 70 X - extremely tight dispersion. If I was getting a new head, I probably would have went with a less expensive shaft.

I've been using this shaft for about 6 months now in my 9 SIM2. I've added 15-20 yards off the tee. My swing speed is just under 90mph with average carry of 210-215. I already have a high ball flight but adding this shaft did not increase hight at all. It did however, reduce my spin over 1000rpm. My natural ball flight is a slightly right to left. Before this shaft, i struggled hitting a fade. Usually hitting it straight to the left or a bad push slice. About a month ago, I reduced the loft on my driver by 1. In the past, doing this usually ended up causing me to add way to much side spin and miss fairways left and right. But with this shaft, I can now hit a very slight fade and do not lose much yardage. All I do is swing easy and let club do the work. This shaft has greatly increased my confidence off the tee and has added distance. I did find the price to be ridiculously high, but the results are worth it

Since Mitsubishi owns Aldila, it appears they are recycling previous shaft lines by repainting them and giving them a different name. If you take a look at the specs between the two shafts, they are identical, down to the torque, weight, kick point and even butt diameter. The specs charts are a copy/paste. They are even re-using some of the same marketing images in explaining what the shaft is supposed to do to increase launch angle.

Russ Ryden on golfshaftreviews.info did an EI profile of the Ascent and he stated, "I looked back through the library of Mitsubishi designs and found both the 2015 KuroKage XT and the 2017 Fubuki V to have nearly identical profiles." I know shafts often share similar profiles but to have the EXACT same specs, down to the torque degree makes me think they are the same shaft repainted.

Not sure how well the Fubuki V sold but would make sense to take a bunch of old stock that's not moving, paint it as something new and try and re-market it. Fubuki shafts used to be pretty popular but you rarely see anyone playing one now, especially on the tour.

Hey if ya get fit into it, and it it suits your swing who cares. If they are in fact the same shafts re painted, I'm sure people would have been more upset if they had wasted them by scrapping them. The environment and all that.

a long time fubuki k owner but finally changed it. When I saw the spec of ascent, I thought it looked similar to fubuki... BTW, does any one know why fubuki suddenly disappeared while AD DI is still very much relevant??? I liked it very much at first but i somehow felt that I lost the initial feeling. I know graphite shafts doesn't get loose but it felt loose (or my desire for a new shaft told me so...).

How would they then be the same specs, exactly. Wouldn't they be heavier or is there some process to take the paint off? And wouldn't that be time consuming and expensive? Or we talking unpainted shafts laying around that never made it to paint?

Like I said, It's more than just the profile being similar. Unless they copied and pasted the specs from the Fubuki for the Ascent, and those specs aren't correct, then literally every spec on every weight is identical. If they're using different materials, it would be next to impossible to get every spec exactly the same, especially down to the tenth of a degree in torque.

Golfers are weird. You get massive love for the OG Ksig which they put ZERO into as far as R and D. It's a rebranded Nassau for gawds sake. Even if Mitsu had a bunch of old stock Fubuki, at least they put some r and d and produced it. Costco through a dart at a board of pics and said sure, that one. LOL and Mitsu gets roasted?

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