Renowned St. Andrews Golf Club to allow female members in its fold for the first time in 150 years
Golf’s oldest and most revered golf course and the home of 12 Open Champions, the St. Andrews Golf Club, is about to make the biggest and most dramatic of changes in it’s more than 150 years old history. The club has decided to take female players in its
fold for the first time in wake of the alteration in Britain’s Equality law which forbids any private club or organization of any kind of gender discrimination.
The club was formed in 1843 as the St. Andrews Mechanics Golf Club by a group of 11 friends including George Morris, elder brother of legendary Tim Morris, winner of the oldest major for four times. The members of the club include the likes of Tom Morris,
his son Tom Morris Jr., Jack Nicklaus, and Scotland’s last Open winner Paul Lawrie.
The members committee of the club will be meeting next month to discuss the issue at hand and to decide whether to allow female golfers on the course or to impose an outright ban on them.
In 163 years of history, the club used the nomenclature of “gentlemen” for the members, and “boys” for the juvenile members. The newly added article in Britain’s law forbids any private club to discriminate on the basis of gender but also at the same time
does not ban single-s*x clubs. The committee will also discuss its response to the Equality Act last year and formulate new rules for the club.
One of the letters received from the officials of the club as a recommendation for the upcoming meeting says, "It may be that the club rules would need to be made clearer and more robust. After much consideration and discussion, as well as a meeting with
the past captains and trustees of the club to make them aware of the position, the committee of management is recommending that option be adopted as the best way, in their opinion, of safeguarding the long-term wellbeing of St Andrews Golf Club."
In 2009, the club rules came under scathing criticism for discrimination and sexism. Scottish Parliament’s First Minister, Alex Salmond accused the club of not offering membership to the new St. Andrews University principal, Louise Richardson, unlike all
of her predecessors. The club reiterated its stance on the issue and stated that only two of the former principals were extended a honourary membership and since Dr. Richardson had no interest whatsoever in the sport, the objection was rendered baseless. The
contentious issue was settled for the time but the club’s more than 100-year old rule became a word of mouth for the critics.
St. Andrews is not the only male-only golf club which does not allow ladies to step on its courses. Augusta National, the home of the coveted Masters is notoriously famous for its strict male-only rule. This year’s Masters was again under the spotlight for
its discriminatory rule when a female reporter was barred by the security guards from entering the locker room for the press conference. The club officials at the Masters later rendered an apology citing its guards as oblivious of the rules and regulations.
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