It’s usually a woman’s prerogative to change her mind but now the members of Muirfield have been having second thoughts. After a postal ballot in which 64% of 95 members voted in favour of women members being introduced and 34% voted against, the motion failed to pass because a two thirds majority was not achieved. The Committee of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers are going back to the membership at a Special General Meeting to ask for a second vote before the end of the year.

A bizarre kind of democracy this is. Keep on voting until you get it right. Perhaps we should follow suit here in the UK and have another go at getting it right about our membership of the EU.

“A substantial majority of our members voted for change and many have voiced their disappointment with the ballot result and with subsequent events,” said club captain Henry Fairweather.

“The Club Committee believes that a clear and decisive vote in favour of admitting women as members is required to enable us to begin the task of restoring the reputation of the Club that has been damaged by the earlier ballot outcome”.