R and A to review position on 'men-only' golf clubs

The chief of golf's governing body has said that it would review its position on the 'men-only' golf clubs even as the Open Championship goes underway at Muirfield, which has also come under attack for a similar stance.

According to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R and A) chief executive Peter Dawson, the debate has the potential to 'damage' the reputation of the event, the Scotsman reports.

Hinting that the body would reconsider its stance, Dawson said that they would examine views by different individuals over the issue and then try to take a view about the matter to find the most sensible way forward given that it is a polarizing issue.

The matter came to the fore last month when it was reportedly revealed that First Minister Alex Salmond would not attend the Open at Muirfield because of the private club's refusal to allow women members.

Stating that they have got politicians posturing and interest groups attacking the R and A, the Open and Muirfield, Dawson further said that although they want to resist the pressures as they do not have much substance, he stressed that that the body is not so insular as to fail to recognise the potential damage that campaigns like this can do to the Open Championship.

But Dawson agreed that the issue was divisive and admitted the body's difficulty with it, saying that they have tried to explain that single-sex clubs are in a very small minority in the UK and are perfectly legal.

Refusing to accept that discrimination on the grounds of gender was the same as other forms of discrimination, Dawson further said that there is a difference between racial discrimination, anti-Semitism where sectors of society are downtrodden and treated very, very badly, indeed.

According to Dawson, a golf club which has a policy of being a place where like-minded men or, indeed, like-minded women, go and want to play golf together and do their thing together ranks up against some of these other forms of discrimination.