EQUALITY legislation in the golf world has "caused mayhem", according to one of the sport's best known voices.

Veteran commentator Peter Alliss said equality for women had "buggered up the game for a lot of people", claiming tens of thousands of female players had walked away from clubs since the introduction of legislation on gender rights in golf.

St Andrews and Royal St George's in Kent, two of the UK's most prestigious courses, have both recently voted to admit female members for the first time.

Alliss, who will co-commentate at this weekend's US Masters at Augusta with Hazel Irvine, said one upshot was women now having to pay full rates, leading to 150,000 quitting the Ladies Golf Union.

One of the leading figures in the ladies game in Scotland said that while many outside the golf world could view the comments as anachronistic they would be viewed as more nuanced to people familiar with the impact of the legislation.

Shona Malcolm, former secretary of the Ladies Golf Union, said the golf world was in a state of flux since the changes, with many "unintended consequences".

Alliss told the Radio Times magazine: "There's been a hell of a row because four golf courses that hold the Open Championship didn't have women members.

"I'm told the Ladies Golf Union has lost 150,000 members since equality for women came in. Hundreds of women have left golf clubs because they've gone from paying half fare to full fare. It's caused mayhem.

"All of the wives of members at these clubs could have used the facilities for free. When I was at Muirfield a couple of years ago talking to a few of the lady members, I said, 'What about this equality? You must be happy about that?' 'God no,' they said. 'We can come here and do what we like, we can play golf and don't pay anything'."

He added: "The equality thing is a great part of golf. Equality for women: a few people battled away to get it, they got it, and they have buggered up the game for a lot of people."

Ms Malcolm, who said Alliss had been a supporter of women's golf over the years, added: "There have been a number of unintended consequences since the introduction of the equality legislation and we're still very much in an evolving process.

"There's no doubt it had an impact and contributed to the fall in lady membership numbers.

"Post the Act, some ladies in particular resigned their golf club memberships, maybe because of increased costs for little perceived benefit or because they were members of more than one club.

"Pete Alliss's comments are more nuanced to people within the golf world than they may appear to the outside world. To date. I really do not hear a lot of people complain about single gender clubs, some of which are of course ladies clubs.

"The single-gender clubs staging the Open was really an issue for the media and politicians and not so much for the golf world. The main problems for ladies golf is falling numbers, time, costs and the impact of demographics."

Alliss' comments come as the 2016 Open Championship will be the last to be broadcast live on the BBC before Sky Sports takes over.

The former professional golfer, 84, told the magazine: "I very much regret that the BBC has lost the Open Championship, but I said it might do 10 years ago.

"I don't think there were enough people at the BBC dealing with the negotiations who cared enough.

"I can think of a couple of heads of sport from years ago who would have battled harder. But, having said that, when people get used to it I think the highlights will be wonderfully supported."