Royal Troon Golf Club has taken a meaningful step towards finally admitting female members, thereby avoiding a wave of negative publicity at next year’s British Open Championship, by announcing a comprehensive review of current policy.

Although a separate ladies club operates at the Ayrshire venue, Royal Troon itself has a male-only membership. Similar positions have proved thorny where the British Open takes place at such courses; as was the case at Muirfield in 2013.

Since then, the Royal and Ancient Club of St Andrews has broken with its prejudiced tradition by voting to allow women to join, a move that was always likely to have a knock-on effect.

Royal Troon is now likely to follow the Royal and Ancient’s lead. A statement issued on Tuesday confirmed Royal Troon will “shortly undertake a comprehensive review to consider the most appropriate membership policy for the future. The recommendations from this review will be presented to the membership for their consideration.”

Bob Martin, Royal Troon's captain, added in reference to next year's British Open: "Royal Troon Golf Club has hosted the Open on eight occasions since 1923 and in 2016 we will share this responsibility with the Ladies' Golf Club, Troon as joint hosts of the 145th Open Championship."

This will mark the first time in the competition’s history that such an arrangement has taken place, which only serves to illustrate the split membership of the sexes that currently exists.

Muirfield, or the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, confirmed last March that its own membership review would be conducted by an outside agency. Royal St George’s in Kent, also a male-only club at present, is expected to have a vote on membership criteria some time this year. Pressure on Muirfield and Royal St George’s, however, is less acute because the British Open is not expected to return to either course until 2021 at the earliest.

(Guardian service)