Royal Aberdeen admitting women is correct decision, insists Gilbert
● 2014 Scottish Open venue ends menonly membership policy after 238 years
Royal Aberdeen has become the latest Scottish golf club to end its men-only membership policy, paving the way for it to remain as one of the country’s foremost tournament venues outside the courses on the Open Championship rota.
A proposal to admit women members at the 2014 Scottish Open venue was passed on Tuesday night at a special meeting, where around 150 members delivered overwhelming support to bringing down the male-only barriers after 238 years.
It is believed that 97 per cent gave the proposal a thumbs up as Royal Aberdeen joined the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, Royal Troon and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in opening doors to women members in the past few years.
“This has been ongoing for a while,” the club’s secretary/director of golf, Ronnie Macaskill, told The Scotsman. “I’ve been here for 43 years and it kept coming up. We’ve had some younger captains in recent years and they’ve introduced new things like sending out surveys to the membership to get a feel for what they want going forward.
“The admission of women members was included and, as it’s 2018 and not 1780, it was felt that the club should be all-inclusive, which has been achieved through changing a very simple line in the rules. I think the days of single-gender clubs are slowly disappearing and we didn’t want to be left behind.”
The decision was welcomed by Martin Gilbert, CO-CEO of Standard Life Aberdeen, who was instrumental in Royal Aberdeen staging the Scottish Open for the first time four years ago, when Justin Rose claimed the title and Rory Mcilroy used the event to help him become Open champion the following week at Royal Liverpool.
“As a member of the club, it’s great to hear Royal Aberdeen has made the correct decision to admit female members,” said Gilbert. “It’s important that all organisations play their part in promoting equality, both in business and sport.”
The news is sure to be welcomed by the R&A, which is hosting one its main events, the Amateur Championship, at Royal Aberdeen and neighbouringmurcarlinksinjune.
The change could also pave the way for the return of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open to the Granite City. Cruden Bay had been touted as a possible venue for next year, when a return to the north-east is a possibility, but there is now nothing 0 Martin Gilbert: Member and CEO of Scottish Open sponsor standing in the way of Royal Aberdeen getting it again.
“Along with Trump International Golf Links and Cruden Bay, we have been noted as potential venues for the 2019 Scottish Open,” added Macaskill. “That was not the driver in this change, but let’s say the committee was aware that organisations like the R&A and European Tour are not going to deal with singlegender clubs going forward.
“Hosting events is part of the DNA at Royal Aberdeen and we want to continue doing that. It is healthy for the club, the members and visitors and it is good for the city of Aberdeen.”
Royalaberdeen,thethesixth oldest golf club in the world, staged the Senior Open Championship in 2005, when Tom Watson, lifted the title while it also hosted the Walker Cup in 2011, when a losing US team included the current Open champion, Jordan Spieth.
A statement from the club said: “The members of Royal Aberdeen Golf Club have overwhelmingly voted in support of a change to the club’s constitution whereby membership applications are no longer restricted to gentlemen. Royal Aberdeen Golf Club and Aberdeen Ladies’ Golf Club (which is located on the same site but is a separate club) have set up a working group to discuss the possible impact on both clubs of this change.”
Only a small number of men-only clubs now remain in Scotland, including Bruntsfield Links, Glasgow Golf Club, Royal Burgess Golfing Society and Western Gailes. The R&A says coastal erosion is being “actively dealt with” in golf and is not duly concerned about it being a risk at Open Championship venues.
According to a report by the Climate Coalition, six of the UK’S seven wettest years on record have occurred since 2000, prompting a warning that “only a small increase in sea-level rise would imperil all of the world’s links courses before the end of the century”.
Steve Isaac, the R&A’S director of sustainability, is quoted in the report, admitting that climate change is “certainly becoming a factor” and that “future threats are very, very real”.
However,golf’sgoverning body issued a subsequent statement in response to headlines claiming that Open Championship venues were at “risk of disappearing”.
A spokesman for The R&A said: “The effect of coastal erosion on links courses is something that golf has been actively dealing with for many years. “Through the GEO Foundation, and our own experts, we support sustainable management of golf courses and it is important that they take whatever measures they can to protect their courses.
“Broader climate change, particularly the impact of sea levels, is a much wider issue, however, and ultimately it is not something that golf or any other individual sport can tackle by itself.
“We have to continue to raise awareness of the effects of climate change and encourage policymakers to consider the impact it is having on our coastline.”
Royal Troon, where Swede Henrik Stenson claimed the Claret Jug in 2016, has been taking measures for a long time to counter erosion on the Ayrshire coast.
“We’ve been proactive over the last 30 years,” club secretary Stephen Anthony told BBC World Service. “We’ve put lots of things in place to protect our course into the future.”