It was the "other" vote on the day Scotland went to the polls and the ayes won it convincingly.
The Royal & Ancient Golf Club's decision to allow female members for the first time in its 260-year existence was the kind of progressive move that will cut golf's governing body a considerable amount of slack.
There is no doubt that the rising criticism of the R&A over this male-only issue from outside sources was undermining its authority as guardians of a global game. Their standing on the world stage made it almost untenable to be discriminatory in any shape or form. That authority - and a much stronger moral footing - is now assured.
The fact that one fevered TV presenter standing outside the grand edifice of the R&A's St Andrews clubhouse yesterday wrongly stated that women were banned from playing on the public Old Course - a statement as wide of the mark as a shanked tee shot - simply highlighted the negative perceptions that the whole issue has created.
Golf, as a whole, was being tarred with this brush of negativity and all the fine work the R&A have, and continue to do, was being largely ignored. This decision is right for the good of the game.
Threequarters of the club's membership took part in the ballot, with 85% voting in favour. There were pockets of stern resistance but given the fairly overwhelming majority, you have to wonder why it took so long in the first instance?
Whether other male only clubs, and Open Championship venues such as Royal Troon, Muirfield and Royal St George's, follow suit remains to be seen but the R&A had to take the lead on that particular front. Peter Dawson, the chief executive, has at times been unfairly portrayed as some sexist ogre but, behind the scenes, he has worked away at getting this historic change through in his final year in office. He will leave a lasting legacy.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article