Muirfield finally ready to pitch up on the fair way
YOU could tell there were glad tidings to report when the assembled media shuffled into the Muirfield clubhouse prior to yesterday’s historic announcement on admitting female members and were greeted by a platter of temptingly oozing sandwiches and a generous supply of tray bakes.
Either that, or the high-heid yins at the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers believed that if the worst case scenario transpired, they could bury bad news under a mountain of cheese savoury pieces and piles of almond slices, cherry bakewells and other finger-licking delights.
“I can’t believe Muirfield have voted against women members for a second time but, good grief, this Victoria sponge is terrific.”
The way to a golf writer’s heart, after all, is through the stomach. Or the courtesy of the course. As a robust East Lothian breeze whistled over the grand links, the winds of change came gusting through the world’s oldest club. Goodness knows what Anna Dietrich, Pascale Reihard and Jeanette Siehenthiler made of it all? The Swiss holidaymakers came striding down Muirfield’s 18th fairway just as Henry Fairweather, the club captain, was preparing to deliver the news that 80 per cent of members had voted overwhelmingly in favour of binning the male-only policy that had stood for almost 300 years.
This green-fee paying trio were chased down by a phalanx of stumbling, clicking photographers who, presumably, thought they’d capture the three-ball on camera before they were set upon by the resident hounds as they got the scent of a woman. Last May, when the initial “no” vote was announced and the groaning sighs from those trying to champion golf as a progressive, inclusive pursuit nearly whipped up a tsunami at the Longniddry Bents, poor old Fairweather was sent over the top himself to sombrely deliver the grim news and probably wished he’d pulled on the chain mail and cod piece given the subsequent pounding the club took. Yesterday, he was accompanied by a few smiling committee members as he addressed the masses. Safety in numbers? There was nothing to worry about this time.
Of course, there are still 123 members who voted for the status quo and now need to be convinced that female membership has its merits. “Our job now, and in the future, is to convince those people that it is not the end of the world,” said Fairweather. “Women can be integrated into the club and it will not change the great things that we all love about the club.”
Included in those “great things” are a sprightly pace of play in foursomes matchplay – under three hours – and various lunch arrangements.
These cherished areas were brought to light in the build up to the initial vote last year when a leaked letter from a strident resistance movement expressed almost comical concerns that the things they held dear would be “endangered” by the advent of female members.
For non-golfers looking in, it was laughable stuff and only added to the crippling, negative perceptions of the game in general. “Muirfield remains one of the most scenic courses in the country, with views dating back to Victorian times,” suggested one wry observer.
With the R&A welcoming Muirfield back onto the Open Championship rota with, well, open arms, some may argue that we shouldn’t be so quick to laud the latest development when the reputation of Scotland and golf as a whole was trashed and mocked on a global scale by events at the same club just 10 months ago.
It’s time to move on, although it’s safe to say that any future female members won’t be your average Doreen or Bessie from Tranent.
“I don’t think we can ignore the fact that what happened last year did some damage to the club’s reputation,” said Fairweather. “In my view, it’s not irreparable.
“We are a club that consists entirely of men at the moment, so we are a bit of an easy target in some ways. I don’t think these criticisms are unfair, they are just a fact of life. I hope we will go forward from here.”
The domino effect has finally knocked over the last major male-only bastion. From the Royal & Ancient in 2014, to Royal St George’s in 2015, Royal Troon in 2016 and now the Honourable Company in 2017. Those who like to beat golf are slowly running out of sticks to batter it with. Now, if we could only sort out Trump and Turnberry?