Unfortunately Sheehy, that is the crux of the argument. What? You want to hang exclusively with males in that building? You must be a dirt bag who hates women, doesn't want women to succeed and will at every opportunity stamp women down. Oh yes, and the ole, well its confusing so the club should allow women just so we can be sure about...wait a minute...about what? The rules of golf? Its not as if folks are running around making up anti-women rules. The entire deal is preposterous. Still, the members did what they want, so that is that.
Spangles - I could care less about public funding for golf. Please let me keep my tax money so I can spend it as I please rather than the government trying socially engineer yet more tripe. If your best argument is some girl lost funding to play a game you are not going to garner much sympathy from me. Let the parents pay if they want little Joey or Jane to grow up to be big and strong. I am having enough difficulty trying stump up the money to educate my daughter let alone worry about how to fund little Jane's handicap reduction. Jeepers, liberals do come out with some doozies 
.
Ciao
On a level of freedom to associate with whomever you wish, and freedom to form associations and organizations that have a POV and expression of that point of view, including a private place to practice their beliefs and traditions, I can agree with the sentiment of your first paragraph Sean, on that purely ideological level. But, we aren't really living in that world anymore. There are too many competing sectors of population desiring their shot at equality of opportunity. Perhaps the view by those (women) excluded from old bastions of male only clubs and organizations isn't so much that the seek to inject a dose of estrogen and female culture to ruin the old men's day so much as it is viewed as an enclave where too many influential economic and social decisions are taken in isolation by a generally elite class of movers and shakers, excluding their 'opportunity' to be heard and socialized (small 's') from the get-go of a perspective of economic and socio-political formations; not change the rules of golf to some sort of non-existent exclusively singular female perspective.
Women are the majority of humans on the planet, BTW.
While I don't see the second paragraph as quite relevant to the issue of ladies in the R&A drawing room, if we are talking about public funding for equal sporting participation opportunity for women or minorities, or the pubic who can't afford participation in general; I am much in favor of reasonable public expenditure to promote healthy sport and recreation, including building of facilities from golf courses to soccer and baseball fields, and funding within the public ability decided by the public via referendum and their elected representatives to craft said balanced spending and taxing policy. Let the public decide if spending for such has become excessive. The alternative to public funding on a community or school level to extend recreational and organized sporting participation is a horrifying scenario of idle youth with nothing but trouble to engage. It is bad enough as it is with the current balance of funding - and in areas, austerity to cut such public funding for activities and facilities. Some of your money or assets are always going to be taxed in one manner or other in the world we will occupy for our lifetimes. That is a reality. One way or the other, a bigger entity that you will separate you from some of all of your money. It might be unbalanced and unchecked corporate methods to fix prices, buy advantageous policy and law, and hoard resources, or it may be one form of government or ruling class from dictator to royal that will separate you from your money. I favor supporting public elective policy formation to decide where and to what greater good said confiscated money or assets are doled out, not some conservative notion that is the naive belief that still in our times, we can all just be perturbed that we can't just decide on our own individual selves when, how and if our taxes are spent. From girls golf, to public recreational facilities including municipal public golf courses balanced with private enterprise initiatives, a modern day reality is one that seeks balance of those interests.
If the all male exclusive traditions and desires to be left alone among the male bastion would have persisted at R&A, fine - that is their right IMHO. Just withdraw any and all public supporting services from security to sewer and water and all manner of public resources utilized to prop up their traditions and high profile activities.