Muirfield yet to admit any women members 12 months after vote

Muirfield voted to admit women members last March - but as yet, none have joined. Picture: Jon Savage

After an initial vote narrowly failed to achieve the two-thirds majority required in May 2016, the R&A immediately announced that the East Lothian course would no longer be considered to host the Open.

That decision was instantly reversed when a second ballot in March last year saw members opt to admit women members by 498 votes to 123 in a turnout of more than 90 per cent.

• READ MORE - Yes vote would return Muirfield to Open rota

However, change to the make-up of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which owns and runs the course, has not happened quite so quickly.

A statement released by the club read: “We are very pleased to say that we have had a number of women proposed to be members and the process is well under way.”

Speaking after announcing the result of the second ballot, club captain Henry Fairweather said fast-tracking women was not an option.

“Our members were quite clear that they wanted women to be treated, not in any artificial way, but to go through the same admissions process as men,” he said. “That means it will take a little time for women to become members.

“We’ve got quite a complicated admissions process and we have a waiting list.

“They don’t apply, they have to be proposed and seconded by members, but anybody who is interested in becoming a member of Muirfield, I would say: ‘Go for it’.”

It is understood that it could take up to another two years before the first female member joins Muirfield.

Muirfield last staged the Open in 2013 and the earliest it could do so again would be 2022.

• READ MORE - Muirfield votes to lift ban on women members