Royal St George’s votes to admit women

Members at Royal St George’s GC have voted to admit women members. The links in Sandwich, Kent is on the Open Championship rota, which it has hosted 14 times. Muirfield and Royal Troon in Scotland are now the remaining Open Championship venues with male-only membership policies, although Troon has a separate Ladies Golf Club, Troon. The move follows the decision by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews to admit women members last September.

St George’s is 128 years old and the members have voted by an overwhelming 90 percent to admit women. Famously Ian Fleming was a member and fictionalised the club as St Marks for the James Bond versus Goldfinger match.

In a statement the club said, “The Royal St George’s Golf Club is pleased to announce that, following an extraordinary general meeting held on 14 February 2015 and a subsequent ballot of the full members of the Club, a resolution to alter the Club’s rules to make ladies eligible for membership has been duly passed. Under the Club’s rules, the resolution would only be passed if it obtained the support of three-quarters of the votes cast on the ballot. More than 81 per cent of the full members took part in the ballot and a decisive 90 percent voted in favour of ladies being eligible for membership. The alteration of the Club’s rules has immediate effect and the Club looks forward to welcoming ladies as junior and full members.”