Royal & Ancient Media Strategies

I've no clue as to who runs the media operations at the R&A, but they seem somewhat behind the curve and reactive on two important stories.

First, no sooner do my sources assure me that a mail ballot (as opposed to male ballots) has been rejected for the September vote on admitting women members, than this hits:

R&A secretary Peter Dawson said the club is deciding whether to allow members to vote by

proxy, something he said has never been done in club history. Club rules require members to be present to vote. 

"The jury is still out on that," Dawson said in a telephone interview last week during the R&A's spring meeting. "The rules of the club only allow a vote to be taken at the business meeting of those present. There is a view in the club, and quite a strong one, that postal voting should be allowed." 

Dawson announced last month that the R&A would vote Sept. 18 to allow female members for the first time in its 260-year history.

Of course those bylaws are also 260 years old, but wouldn't you need a majority vote of those present to amend said bylaws?  Just askin'?  Here's how Peter deals with that issue:

The R&A said Monday in a statement that "members from around the world have expressed the desire to be part of this September's historic vote." It said the general committee is investigating a change to club rules that would allow voting by mail on "particularly important issues such as this one so that every member can have the opportunity to be involved."

My readers are well aware that I don't have a cynical bone in my body, but here's Ron Sirak's take on this change of heart:

In the ensuing weeks, supporters of expanding the Royal and Ancient membership to women have become concerned that the opposition might stack the meeting to defeat the measure. Their nervousness has risen to the point where, according to multiple sources who spoke with GolfDigest.com, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club is exploring a bylaw change that would allow the 2,400 members to vote remotely by email or standard mail.

I had assumed that Dawson was confident in his own ability to "Stack the meeting" to ensure passage.  his newfound concern for allowing far-flung members to "Be part of this historic vote" has my BS detector in the red zone.  This doesn't seem to be a done deal, and as we approach September may prove to be the golf blogger full employment act.

In his post on the subject, Shackelford provides this imagined conversation between Peter Dawson and an unnamed fellow member:

PD: Alistair, my old four-ball partner, how's the game these days?Member: I'm not bloody voting for any damn women, so stop pretending like you care. And yes I'll be at the fall meeting.
PD: Well, well, excellent then. Thank you sir. 

In other R&A bait and switch news, it's not so fast for Royal Portrush.  No sooner does Jeff Rude tell us that an Open Championship return to the Dunluce is a "Done deal," than the R&A bitch slaps us in the Belfast Telegraph:

Englishman Max Faulkner, who won the '51 Open at Portrush.

Rumours of the Open returning to Royal Portrush have been circulating for some time, with reports on Sunday claiming a deal had been done for 2019, 68 years after Max Faulkner won the only Open staged outside England and Scotland. 

However, the R&A's response on Twitter labelled such reports as "Portrush rumours" and a statement released to Press Association Sport read: "As part of our commitment to examine the feasibility of staging an Open Championship at Portrush, the R&A continues to discuss this at a conceptual level with Royal PortrushGolf Club and the Northern Ireland Executive.

Shackelford is in the skeptics camp, as per this:

I've ignored the various stories reporting the "strong possibility" and "done deal" of a Royal Portrush Open Championship in 2019 (A) because they haven't announced 2017 and 2018, and (B) if there was ever a venue selection that you wait until all contracts are signed and embargoed press releases are sent, it's the R&A returning to Northern Ireland in July.

It may well be that these dueling press leaks represent negotiating tactics on one or both sides.  But it's quite strange that Opens are only awarded through 2016, and the unresolved issue, as Shack alludes to but does not explain, is whether the R&A will take an Open Championship to Ulster during marching season.

Stay tuned and, if you're a savvy media professional, consider sending Peter Dawson your resume.