WOMEN have yet to play a round of golf as members of the R&A Golf Club despite the centuries-old institution ending its men-only rule with "immediate effect" last year.

The St Andrew's based former male-only bastion ended 260 years of female exclusion when its members voted 85% in favour of allowing women to join in September, but due process and administration means a further wait for the first 15 females to be invited.

Four months after the club broke its ban the R&A wheels are still in motion to achieve the landmark moment.

A spokesman for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews would not reveal when women will first play as members or whether any male members have offered resignation as a result of the decision.

He said: "We are in the process of inviting women as members and are very much looking forward to welcoming them to the club."

It is understood there is no ceremony planned.

The club said in September it would take 15 women into its 2,400 membership in the first instance and this meant it is "now a mixed membership club".

The R&A would not say who will join but the first to be invited to do so were identified last year as having made a contribution to the sport and were said to be being fast-tracked through the process.

It is not clear whether Louise Richardson, the US-born principal of St Andrews University, is being invited.

The single-sex anomaly glared when she became the university's first female principal - a role which previously automatically gained the holder membership of the elite golf club - and was not offered the historic privilege.

She claimed she had been mocked by members waving their club ties at her.

The academic said she felt frustrated to be unable to accompany potential benefactors to lunch at the clubhouse in the Fife town that is both the home of golf and home to Scotland's oldest university.

One report suggested attitudes towards female players was partly responsible for the drop in numbers of women golfers after the Scottish Golf Union found the number decreased by 29% to about 25,000 over the last 10 years, compared to a 17% drop to 156,000 for men.

The controversial policy also overshadows three other courses on the Open Championship circuit, Royal Troon and Muirfield in Scotland and Royal St George's in Kent.

Muirfield members are to consider a report on allowing female members after the matter came to a head at the 2013 Open at the East Lothian course, when several politicians refused to attend the event.

Then First Minister Alex Salmond boycotted the tournament and labelled its men-only membership "indefensible in the 21st century".

Troon, Ayrshire, shares its facilities with The Ladies Golf Club Troon.

Muirfield, which is owned and run by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, is reviewing its membership criteria with the findings to be revealed later this year, while Royal St George's has also been described as considering its position.