History in the making.

One of the oldest and most distingushed golf clubs in the country has revealed that it will take a step away from its male only membership policy and will be welcoming in women to the club for the first time ever. Orinignally founded in 1885, Royal Dublin Golf Club is making the historic change after new proposals welcomed gender equality at a special meeting. The club is the second oldest in Ireland and has staged six Irish Opens, with Jack Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros, winning in 1985. Located on Bull Island in Dublin Bay, the 18 hole golf club said in a statement that it backs gender equality and promotes it for all members. A spokesman said: "All genders are equally valued within the membership without discrimination and enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all membership categories and the opportunity to apply for membership, when open , is available to all genders." While Royal Dublin never had a specific rule that stated women couldn't be members, there was always a historical and traditional stance was that it was a men-only club. The new proposals were agreed upon as part of a a radical overhaul of the clubs rules and constitution, with men and women wishing to join as members now being seen as equals. This is the last club in Ireland to take a vote and give approval to allow for female members, but there was no details released of how comprehensive the vote was. In May, Portmarnock Golf Club also changed their rules to allow women to join, ending its male only membership policy for the first time in its 127 existence. When it came to this club, 83.4 per cent of members voted in favour of the rule change while 16.6% voted against. The old rulebook at the Portmarnock course read: "The club shall consist of members and associate members who shall be gentlemen properly elected and who shall conform with the rules of amateur status." The wording has since been changed to remove "who shall be gentlemen".