Members of the Royal & Ancient Golf of St. Andrews voted "overwhelmingly" this week to admit women to the club for the first time in its 260-year history.
“More than three quarters of the club’s global membership took part in the ballot, with a decisive 85% voting for women to become members,”
Peter Dawson, secretary of the club, said in a release. “This vote has immediate effect and I can confirm that The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is now a mixed membership club.”
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The new membership rule is effective immediately, he said, and the club is committed to a “fast-track” approach for a significant initial number of women to become members.
“This is a very important and positive day in the history of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club,” Dawson said. “The R&A has served the sport of golf well for 260 years and I am confident that the club will continue to do so in future with the support of all its members, both women and men.”
St. Andrews is known as the “home of golf,” and the Royal & Ancient governs golf throughout the world, except for Mexico and the United States.
The St. Andrews decision has raised the question of whether the remaining all-male golf clubs on the British Open rotation will follow suit.
One of those, Royal Troon, said in a statement: “At present, membership of Royal Troon Golf Club is open only to those of the male gender and we have no plans to change our constitution at this time although I must point out that we are quite different from many of the other single gender clubs in that we share our facilities with an active Ladies Golf Club."
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