The R&A will not “bully” Muirfield over women members and won’t be pushed to speed up “the direction of travel” towards becoming a mixed club themselves, stressed chief executive Peter Dawson.
Dawson said he feels that the “temperature is changing” among the R&A’s 1,800-strong membership about being a male-only club while also forming the majority of the committees which administer the game in all places but the US and Mexico.
However, he stressed that he felt men and women-only clubs were steadfastly supported in the few places they exist specifically at St Andrews, where all five main clubs, three for men and two for women, are single-sex and that the issue did not cause unfairness or affect participation in golf.
“I totally understand and respect the point of view that there is a perception problem,” he said.
“But there are other points of view. I don’t actually believe the fact that The Open is played at Royal St George’s or Muirfield or Troon (all male-only clubs) does have the negative impact suggested. I don’t see evidence of it.
“I understand that people might want to be against single-sex clubs but I don’t believe that a few single-sex clubs, even if The Open is held at one of them, materially affects participation in the game of golf.”
Muirfield, the course of the all-male Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, hosts the Open this year. Dawson stressed this was not an issue in it being picked.
“Muirfield has a huge history of the Open Championship, this will be the 16th time it has been played there, and who are we to say what they should do because they are behaving perfectly legally?” he said.
“There is nothing wrong under the UK legislation with a single-sex club as long as they behave under the Equality Act as far as guest access is concerned, which Muirfield certainly does.
“To think that the R&A might say to a club like Muirfield ‘you are not going to have the Open any more unless you change your policy’ is frankly a bullying position that we would never take.”
The R&A itself separated the organisational aspects from the club to a PLC in 2004, added Dawson. The club falls within the St Andrews tradition.
“There is no pressure for a mixed-sex club in St Andrews,” he said.
“People are very happy to be able to join the clubs as they are and we intermingle, there are social events between the clubs all the time.
“I can see for people from the outside looking in that it does counter the post-London Olympic spirit of sport for all and I think it would help the perception to admit female members.
“My personal position is that I totally believe in equality but I do also believe that there are times when men need to socialise with men and women need to socialise with women.”
However there was “a direction of travel” towards equality involved in this issue, he added.
“I think the temperature is changing among our members and I do think that it’s entirely right that private members clubs are entitled to determine their own future, I don’t see anything wrong with that at all,” he said.
“From the R&A’s perspective, if I thought it was materially affecting participation I think we’d have a very different view because ultimately we are here to do what’s good for golf, not just what’s good for the R&A.”
“Its all part of this direction of travel, different places have different timing and different needs.”