As Robert Burns might have said to the object of his desires as he wearily shuffled off to jot down his weekly haverings on golf: "Ae fond kiss and then we sever, the Tuesday column?, alas, forever."

Before this correspondent settled down with the quill and ink pot for the latest commitment of ponderings to print - a pitiful, prolonged process of warring sighs, groans and occasional heart-wrung tears - there were a few drams knocked back and a couple of robust snorts taken from the snuff horn at the Paisley Burns Club, a redoubtable institution that was constituted back in 1805, the same year, funnily enough, as St Mirren fitba' team recorded their last home victory.....or so it feels like.

Of course, Rabbie's loves and lusts are well renowned. By all accounts, he did more coupling than the ScotRail rolling stock and, had he been around today, he would have probably been invited into the golfing scene to help the merger process between the Scottish Golf Union and the Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association.

An amalgamation of the two governing bodies is now back on the table. The initial proposal of 2011, which was overwhelmingly supported by the SLGA, was rejected by the men's shareholding Areas and everybody trudged back to the drawing board. Yesterday, an independent poll of all Scotland's clubs - the lifeblood of the game - began with members being urged to express an opinion in, what is essentially, a simple 'yes' or 'no' vote on the updated, tweaked and retuned proposal. The feedback will then, effectively, guide the respective 16 Areas (who represent the clubs) on how to vote at a yet to be arranged EGM. The SLGA, meanwhile, will vote on the new proposal at its AGM in early February.

It has to be remembered that the men's Areas, by and large, were very much for the principle of amalgamation in the first instance and that was always something positive to cling to. During the increasingly heated debates of 2011, though, there was a sense that certain power seeking, higher ranking officials at the SGU had sought to impose their will on the members without trying to win hearts and minds. Stubbornness and egos, on both sides, came to the fore and, as a consequence, numerous bridges have had to be repaired in the period since. This healing process, however, has led to more openness, communication and compromise. Hopefully, this now leads to the ultimate aim of unification.

"If the clubs come back and say we don't want amalgamation, then that's it; it will have gone for a generation and the word I use is 'bleak'," warned Tom Craig, the chairman of the SGU. "I believe if you get involved in something like a sport, you are a custodian. You want to pass it on to the next generation in a better state than you found it. This is our opportunity to do that."

Craig, an approachable, congenial gentleman who has remained a patient and considered hand at the wheel of this long, drawn out process since coming on board in the messy aftermath, is not one to churn out apocalyptic sound bites like one of the Four Horsemen on a bar stool but there is no doubt that amalgamation has to be pushed through. In these challenging times for golf, a united front must be the way forward.

With government funding of some £1.1 million a year coming into the game, the threat of that being reduced is genuine and potentially damaging. Amateur golf is the only sport in the country that doesn't have an amalgamated governing body and it is a well known fact that the Sportscotland officials have expressed those concerns in recent years. Bullying tactics? Well, you could say that and, given how important golf in general is to Scotland on the wider global stage, it would seem almost narrow-minded of the agency to cut funding to our true national sport when, as mentioned earlier, the actual idea of a merger is agreed upon; it's only the nuts and bolts of the mechanics that continue to be debated.

Change doesn't happen quickly in this Royal & Ancient game....but even the Royal & Ancient itself has changed. Of course, if you started from scratch you wouldn't have an SGU, an SLGA or a PGA but one federation looking after all. But that's the history and tradition of golf here and we have to work with it while evolving and adapting for changing times. The biggest strength of golf is the game itself but it simply can't afford to stand still. In recent weeks, certain outlets have pounced on declining participation and membership figures that have been available for years and used them as another stick to beat the sport with. The main issues - male membership in Scotland down by 14.48% since 2004, female numbers down by 19.88 % over the same period - are not new problems and won't be remedied overnight by amalgamation. But finalising the merger and ridding the game further of negative perceptions - in these times when all-inclusiveness is key and major sponsors need to be aligned to positive, progressive brands - can ensure a strong financial footing from which clubs can be helped to help themselves and programmes aimed at encouraging growth at the grassroots can be safeguarded. Unity is strength, after all.