By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Builder
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter
The idea behind Ascending Mass or Ascending Weight shafts maximize distance and launch in long irons and enhance control and feel in short irons. They do this by making each shaft heavier from long irons to short irons. This matches the typical progression of iron head weighs. The lighter long irons may increase your club head speed generating higher spin, launch and distance. The short irons with heavier, firmer shafts provides a solid feel at impact promoting tighter dispersion.
True Temper was the pioneer in creating the original concept of mass-market ascending weight steel shafts, while PING was the first to successfully popularize and mainstream the technology under a designated retail iron lineup. While the concept of matching golf clubs date back decades, the mechanical engineering required to commercially produce a single steel shaft set with built-in progressive weights went through a distinct chronological evolution between the two brands.
The 1990s: True Temper Tri-Gold (The Historical First)True Temper technically beat PING to the concept by roughly a decade. In the late 1990s, True Temper introduced a niche, ahead-of-its-time shaft model called the Tri-Gold. It divided a standard iron set into three distinct weight and flex zones: the long irons were lighter to promote launch, the mid-irons were a standard weight, and the short irons were heavier for control. While it laid the early engineering blueprint for ascending mass, the Tri-Gold was somewhat clunky compared to modern smooth progressions and failed to capture major commercial adoption.
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Russ