It’s good to see some positive news being made amongst the crap that has been in the headlines lately. In particular, some attention has been brought to golf’s hometown in regards to their recent vote to remain in the United Kingdom. Scotland has been part of Britain for the past 307 years.And now this vote has caused some serious arguing between fellow Scots all the way down to the friend and family level. In fact, it was almost a 50-50 split but the unionist’s won by a slight margin to keep Scotland in the UK.
So where’s the good news? Well, amidst all the hoopla of independence another story has surfaced. A once male-only golf club has come to grips with the times and decided to open it’s doors to female members. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club has reversed it’s 260 year old policy and apparently it was quite an overwhelmingly large vote to do so. Not too shabby for 2400 male member organization.
It’s reported that a good three-quarters of the members voted with 85% of them in favor of letting females join. So, that means roughly 270 members voted against this change. Hmmmm…I mean, come on guys it’s 2014. I’m wondering if these 270 guys would have voted the same if each of their decisions were made public…probably not. Who wants to be “that guy”?
Regardless, the majority won and it’s about time. Hey, I’m all for hangin’ with the fellas and what-not but our “no girls allowed” secret fort closed it’s doors when I was 10. You follow? Bravo R & A!
Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!
I was shocked, shocked to discover St. Andrews “other secret”; they don’t play through-the-green 5-months of the year on the Old Course. **clutches pearls**
Similar to Merion before the US Open, if you play the Old Course in November through March, your caddie carries a carpet-remnant for you to use in the fairways. Actually its a fairway “mat” and you lift-and-place your ball on the little mat if you landed on the fairway to make your next stroke…
“WHAT? I traveled 4-thousand miles to play the Old Course off a driving-range mat??”
They do this to protect the fairways from the enormous traffic-strain of thousands of rounds during the Winter-months when the shorter fairway grass is basically dormant and doesn’t regrow or heal. St. Andrews is as close to the North Pole (2200-miles) as Churchill, MB in Canada up on Hudson Bay — so they don’t get more than 6-hrs of daylight in the winter. That’s almost as far north as Anchorage, Alaska — and the American tourists still want to play golf there — in the Winter.