Last men-only golf club in Ireland to admit women

The last golf club in Ireland to have never had a female member has said it will end what was its effectively men-only membership policy and will now welcome ‘all genders’.

Royal Dublin Golf Club has become the second and last golf club in Ireland to change its constitution this way this year.

The private members’ club, founded in 1885, has formally adopted a policy of ‘gender equality’ into its constitution after members overwhelmingly approved proposals at a special general meeting to adopt the governing principles of Golf Ireland.

While Royal Dublin never had a rule that women could not be members, the situation traditionally was that it remained effectively a men-only membership, but the adoption of the Golf Ireland principles means that its constitution has been partly overhauled so that women can apply for memberships when there are vacancies.

“All genders are equally valued within the membership without discrimination and enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all membership categories and the opportunity to apply for membership, when open, is available to all genders,” the club said in a statement.

Royal Dublin is the last golf club in Ireland to vote to accept women members. Earlier this year, Portmarnock Golf Club changed its constitution to end its male-only membership policy so that women could be accepted.

Some of the most prestigious venues in the UK and Ireland were men-only for years. However, this has changed in the last decade: The likes of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, Royal Troon, Royal Aberdeen, Panmure Golf Club, Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society, Royal St George’s and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers have opened their doors to women members in the past few years. Glasgow Golf Club, believed to be the last men-only UK golf club, agreed to admit women at the end of 2019. This hasn’t just been a UK and Ireland issue, Augusta National Golf Club ended its men-only policy in 2012.