An emphatic Yes was the answer in at least one Scottish vote this week. For the first time in its 260-year history, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews – aka “the home of golf”, and the seat of the R&A, golf’s governing body – has agreed to admit women members.
The decisive vote – 85 per cent in favour of change – was widely anticipated. Rory McIlroy was one of the first to welcome the decision, remarking that it was "a pity some golf clubs have been quite slow on the uptake". As for prospective new recruits, Louise Richardson, the Irish president of St Andrews University, has a strong case for admission to the Royal and Ancient, given that her male predecessors in the role were granted honorary membership. Richardson has spoken before about members waving their R&A ties at her, tauntingly; now she may have the opportunity to wave her own tie back.
The next big question is: will other golf clubs, including Ireland’s two defiantly men-only establishments, Portmarnock Golf Club and Royal Dublin Golf Club, be following suit and throwing open their gates to female members?
The short answer is no. Not yet, anyway. In fact, they don’t seem to want to talk about the issue at all. Brian Hurley, secretary manager of Portmarnock, is polite but evasive. He says that the position of the club remains the same: the elected committee keeps all aspects of membership under review.
Women are permitted to use the course, as visitors, at certain set times. But they are denied the privileges that come with being fully paid-up members, as well as the high-level networking that goes on amid the red leather and wood panelling of the inner sanctum.
This is entirely legal. In 2009 the Supreme Court ruled that Portmarnock could keep up its long-held tradition of excluding women because it is exempt under equal-status legislation.
But would the St Andrews decision make it think again about letting the ladies in? “We have a good relationship with the R&A,” says Hurley. “We don’t comment on their business, and they don’t comment on our business.”
Royal Dublin is even more succinct. When contacted for its response to the Scottish vote, it meets my inquiries with stony silence.
Pat Finn of the Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) doesn't want to speculate, either, about whether the single-sex rule might change. "A private men's club is, by its very nature, private. Whether a club is women or men only – if they choose to be such – is a matter for themselves. They're not in breach of any law or any GUI rules."
But Sinéad Heraty, chief executive of the Irish Ladies Golf Union, is more forthcoming. “In terms of the impact here in Ireland, the St Andrews decision will initially be ignored,” she says. “The argument against women members is history and tradition; this is the way it’s always been done. It would take a brave gentleman to question it. But when you think of it, it’s really not that significant: there are 400 golf clubs in the country, and only two are single-gender.”
The former Irish amateur golf international Maureen Madill has no qualms about speaking out, although she also urges caution. "It's the 21st century, for God's sake. This decision will pave the way for change, it's inevitable. If the R&A take the lead, it will happen, but the less agitation there is, the more quickly it will occur.
“There would have been female members at Augusta long ago” – Condoleezza Rice, the former US secretary of state, became one of two women to be admitted to the private club in 2012 – “but the protests put it back years. Nobody wants to be coerced or forced into these things.”
As a player, Madill says that she was always given a warm welcome at clubs like Portmarnock – “lots of friends, terrific hosts”– but she believes that these older clubs have a natural resistance to disturbing the status quo. “They enjoy what they’ve got. The members tend to be older, perhaps retired, and they have the best golfing terrain in the country. They’re playing on a little bit of golfing heaven. Why would they want to change?”
And it’s not as though all golfing women, or “ladies” as they’re still universally known in the sport, want to join the revolution. In fact, some are quite happy playing as associate members in their clubs, because the fees are lower.
But Madill says that golf simply cannot afford to alienate potential players, and that’s why the remaining bans on female membership must go.
“Golf is competing with a lot of sports for people’s leisure income. If you want to attract people to the game, you have to stop saying ‘don’t.’ ”
