Pyratone shafts and hickory tournaments; refit with hickory?

In the vintage clubs sites of eBay, I have come across several iron sets with the pyratone shafts - the early steel shafts with the wood veneer on them. The heads definitely look the same as the heads of the latter hickory-shafted clubs. So, two questions:

Can clubs with pyratone shafts be used in hickory-shaft tournaments?Can irons with pyratone shafts be retrofitted with actual hickory shafts, and be durable enough to play?

No and No.

No retrofitted irons are allowed in SoHG competition. Primarily this is because in most cases the hosels are in fact different and a regular tapered Hickory shaft won’t fit. They use a more narrow taper, which can be to thin for the Hickory.

The only tapered steel, pyratone, shafts I've come across are the Wilson Power Gauge. They were offered in both hickory and pyratone, I have 3 or 4 in hickory and two complete sets in pyratone. Another pyratone offering in both were the Walter Hagen's. The hosel is the same only they cut about 3/8" off making it a bit shorter and because it tapers a bit less in diameter. The problem is these are pined and soldered on and a b to get off, very labor intensive. Again I have a few sets of Hogan pyratones and a couple in hickory with longer hosels. Maybe someone can coment on whether they would be legal in hickory tournaments as there are examples of them being offered in both. The hosel being a bit shorter and a bit less in diameter is still not as small as some other hickory hosels offerings. If I get any naysayers for this I'll just post pics of examples of both.

Several clubmakers chose to use a hickory adapter, basically a hickory cone like the tip of a hickory shaft, that was itself bored out to have a steel shaft fit. This was a clever way for clubmakers to meet the new demand of steel shafted irons, but use up their existing inventory of irons intended for hickory. Regardless of hosel diameter, the SoHG rules are clear. No iron originally made with a steel shaft can be retrofit with hickory. Can you physically make some of these early steel shafted models work with hickory? Yes. Is it a rules violation? Yes.

Several clubmakers chose to use a hickory adapter, basically a hickory cone like the tip of a hickory shaft, that was itself bored out to have a steel shaft fit. This was a clever way for clubmakers to meet the new demand of steel shafted irons, but use up their existing inventory of irons intended for hickory. Regardless of hosel diameter, the SoHG rules are clear. No iron originally made with a steel shaft can be retrofit with hickory. Can you physically make some of these early steel shafted models work with hickory? Yes. Is it a rules violation? Yes.

It's always been interesting to me that the SoHG retrofit rules are inconsistent between woods and irons. SoHG allows for the retrofit of any wood headed club manufactured prior to 1935. I'm not sure, but I believe the rule was intended to get more play woods out in circulation as those are (were) more difficult to find than hickory irons. That and it's easier to bore out a narrow wood hosel that one made of steel ;)

Thanks to all of you. I just retired in May, and am trying to get my 21st Century golf game stabilized before I go add in a hickory set.

At a spring golf expo in 2016, the SoHG had a display station where the men and women were in 1920s attire, and let us moderns hit their hickory shafted clubs. I really enjoyed it.

The hickories felt so smooth, and on the irons I don't think I lost more than 10-15 yards per club compared to my modern ones.

When I go hickory, I'm leaning toward Brassie rather than a Driver. Brassie hits were much more consistent.

That was basically what Callaway did a few years back with those "hickory stick" reproduction wedges. Tad Moore clued me in on here one night

Not to question you or the SoHG, but if the clubhead was adapted as you described, how would anyone know if a player removed said adapter and mounted up a fresh shaft?

I'm not encouraging anyone to break rules or show up with hickory-shafted AP2's, but I just wonder if anyone'd notice. Rest assured were I to play hickory I'd do it by the book, but you have me wondering...

Generally I say most folks wouldn't be able to tell. There were some specific models that might catch the eye of those who care to follow these things (maybe the HoneyBoy from Hagen, or a few other models that were known to have the hickory inserts). I think the issue is that some of these late model hickory era irons (1930 - 1935) begin to show design characteristics more common with today's clubs: wider soles or flanged design for perimeter weighting. For niblick's in particular, very heavy heads with wide soles and bounce begin to appear in the 1930's. Many folks find these much easier to play from sand, and it's one reason that original hickory shafted niblicks with this shape are so crazy expensive. Bottome line is tt's possible gain a small advantage (arguably) which honks some people off. Does it really matter in the end? Probably not, but the SoHG had to draw a line in the sand somewhere and pre-1935 irons with original hickory shafts only is where they chose to draw it. Clearly this only applies to tournaments that recognize SoHG rules, and of those to tournaments where they actually have an inspection (never). As with modern golf, hickory golf is a gentleman's game (or gentlewoman's). Players are expected to know the rules, to abide by them, and self police.