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Muirfield Votes No to Women – R&A Responds

By Elizabeth Bethel

Golf: British Open: Overall view of Phil Mickelson in action, putt for birdie on No 18 green during Sunday play at Muirfield.Gullane, Scotland 7/21/2013CREDIT: Bob Martin (Photo by Bob Martin /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)(Set Number: X156728 TK5 R7 F79 )
Golf: British Open: Overall view of Phil Mickelson in action, putt for birdie on No 18 green during Sunday play at Muirfield.Gullane, Scotland 7/21/2013CREDIT: Bob Martin (Photo by Bob Martin /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)(Set Number: X156728 TK5 R7 F79 ) /
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No lady golfers at Muirfield say the members, and no Open Championship either responds the R&A!

Muirfield members have spoken. There will be no lady members. In a vote that The Telegraph has described as an act of “pigheaded belligerence,” the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers has dug in.

Like General George Armstrong Custer, the Muirfield membership have preserved what is their right – gender exclusivity. (The analogy isn’t perfect – Custer was attacking and Muirfield is defending – but the similarity lies in the outcome.) The decision carried a big price tag.

BBB Sport announced the outcome of the vote to preserve the ancient – some would say outdated – men-only membership standard in that most modern of venues, Twitter.

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Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Muirfield’s stance was “simply indefensible.” I’m left wondering how Mary Stuart might respond to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. I would like to think the six-foot tall sportswoman and Amazonian warrior would have shouldered her bag and stormed the Muirfield tee boxes in an act of outright defiance. After all, look at how she handled Darnely’s dispatch.

It seemed for a time that the Muirfield membership would, after a careful and thorough consideration of the question, step gently if reluctantly into the 21st century alongside the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, Royal St Georges in Kent, and Augusta National in the US.

But then, as the time to vote neared a letter went out to the members that urged resistance:

"“Change must come slowly. . . choice should be evolutionary. A traditional resistance to change is one of the foundations of our unique position in golf and our reputation. In the last two-and-a-half years, there has been a considerable effort to consider the question whether to admit lady members – a prospect which may not previously have been on the agenda or even contemplated. It would appear to have been prompted largely by media and political comment. . . it is maintained that there is a strong case for the debate to continue and in particular for marketing and financial assessment to discover what actually attracts our visitors, prospective new members and possible future lady members to determine what changes, if any, the club should make.”"

Were reasons offered for the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers’ “no” vote? Indeed they were.  The resisters were concerned that the lady golfers would “feel uncomfortable” at Muirfield and that their presence on the links would exacerbate the slow play problem.

The R&A wasted no time in responding to the Muirfield vote. Muirfield has been removed from The Open Championship rota.

R&A chief executive, Martin Slumbers, left the door open for The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers to make their careful study, already two years in the making, and reconsider their position:

"“If the policy at the club should change, we would reconsider Muirfield as a venue in future.”"

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Now only Royal Troon remains a male-only venue for The Open. The Ayrshire club, which was founded in 1878, is hosting The Open this year, and is also in the process of “consulting” with its 800 [male] members regarding the question of gender exclusivity.

Royal Troon, it should be noted, currently shares its facilities with the Ladies Golf Club Troon. One might think Royal Troon will see the handwriting on the proverbial wall and find a path forward.

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There’s a certain sadness in this imbroglio. Golf’s return to the Olympic venue, the game’s international scope, and the need for golf to tend to the conundrum of slipping popularity all point toward opening the doors and the tee boxes rather than tightening and restricting them. In light of all these factors, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers’ decision is not only indefensible. It simply makes no sense.

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