In the shadow of the Wallace Monument and just up the road from the site of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, another significant Scottish victory has been played out.

The weapons of choice being swung may have involved golf clubs instead of claymores but the success was equally as decisive.

The annual general meeting of the Scottish Golf Union (SGU), which took place in the Stirling Court Hotel, ended (mon) with the governing body's shareholders voting 16-0 in favour of a merger with the Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association (SLGA).

"This is an absolutely historic day," said Tom Craig, the SGU chairman, on a vote that was taken a month after an independent poll of Scotland's golf clubs indicated that 97 percent were in favour of an amalgamation.

Between them, the SGU, which was formed in 1920, and the SLGA, which has roots dating back to 1904, have 206 years of combined history. Following the SLGA's equally as emphatic vote recently, it took just seven minutes yesterday to approve the motion to disband the separate entities and move forward as one. "We both have proud histories, now we can look forward to proud futures," added Mr Craig of a new body that will be known as Scottish Golf Ltd and should come into working operation on October 1 this year.

The golfing unions of England and Wales merged in recent years and Scotland's move towards amalgamation leaves just Ireland and South Africa as the only two nations in the world with separate governing bodies for the amateur game.

The vote in favour of a merger also means that Scottish golf falls into line with every other sporting body in the country and will now no longer be gender defined. "Your average man on the street probably can't believe we are not amalgamated already," said Mr Craig as he highlighted the lingering issue of negative perceptions that golf still attracts.

The initial proposal for merger back in 2011 was unanimously accepted by the SLGA's membership but it fell down when the 16 men's Area associations voted against the original document. The principle of amalgamation itself was something that was always supported, however, while the SGU and the SLGA have been pulling resources and working more closely for a number of years.

A long period of patient discussions, debates and fine tuning has finally led to a positive outcome. "This is the result we wanted," said Mr Craig. "I said from the outset that I wanted unanimous support as that would mean that we have had a good debate, we have thrashed it out and we have arrived at something that everybody can support.

"Yes, there were people who didn't like bits of the proposal and we didn't expect everybody to like every bit of it. Amalgamations don't work that way. Any merger involves some form of compromise. I do believe that what we have reached is good for the future of Scottish golf.

"There are hundreds of volunteers that work in the game and this is an opportunity to have a big partnership with of all these good people."

While Scottish golf will not change overnight as a result of the merger, Craig is confident that the benefits at all levels of the amateur game will be felt by a unified approach.

"In simple terms, the key benefits are that you have one body providing support for clubs, organising tournaments, coaching and looking for sponsorship and revenue streams," he said. "This makes complete sense. We all know our big challenge is declining numbers but by being more streamlined, we can put more time into helping golf clubs help themselves."