A leading club with a proud tradition of achievement in women's golf has taken an historic decision on the crucial issue of equality. Within the next two months, women associates are set to become full members of The Island.

The move, approved at a special general meeting, is certain to arouse considerable interest among other Dublin clubs who have been wrestling with this issue. It follows similar changes recently at Elm Park which, as a limited company rather than an ordinary members' club, undertook a somewhat different approach.

The officers at The Island are confident of making their club's plan work when the necessary adjustments to their constitution are brought about in the New Year. "I consider this to be a landmark decision by our club," said The Island captain, David McSwiggan, last night. "It represents a great leap forward and for that, I am very grateful to the members."

The Island has an enviable tradition in the women's game. Three of its most famous members, Janet Jackson (6), Mabel Harrison (3) and Patricia Jameson (1) won a total of 10 Irish Women's Close titles between 1910 and 1926. More recently, it played host to the event when it was captured for the first time by Eileen Rose Power in 1990.

Against that background, it was to be expected that associate members of The Island would be to the fore when the battle for equality began to gain momentum over the last 15 years. Now, the breakthrough has been achieved.

It means that for a further entrance fee of £750, the club's existing women associates may become full members with the same rights as their male colleagues. The financial adjustment is based on existing structures.

Prior to the special meeting, the entrance fee for five-day membership at The Island, for a man or woman, was £2,750. After that, a man was obliged to pay an additional £2,750 for full membership while a woman faced an additional payment of £1,800 for seven-day associate membership.

At the moment, the one hour on the tee allotted to women every Sunday caters for about 30 players. That is the sort of initial response the club are anticipating when full membership becomes available.

The male members will meet again in the New Year when they are expected to approve the various changes to the club's constitution. It is 12 months since The Island had the official opening of a splendid new clubhouse at a cost of about £800,000. Allied to a major restructuring of the course which was completed about eight years ago, they are set fair for the new millennium.

Other clubs, who have balked at the notion of equality, may be shocked that the changes are about to be implemented without major bloodletting or loss of face. It seems that initial polarisation was gradually broken down by the astute guidance of club president Donald O'Meara, who chaired the meeting. Then, when the trend of the meeting became apparent, there was a dignified acceptance of impending change.

When Elm Park took the momentous decision earlier this year, it was prefaced by the necessary changes to their constitution. The Island, on the other hand, considered it more appropriate that the principle of equality should first be accepted before getting down to the nuts and bolts of its implementation.

Their new constitution will be the so-called three-tier model which acknowledges the existence of three clubs in one i.e. a club for the male members who are affiliated to the GUI; one for the women members who are affiliated to the ILGU and a third club, comprising the clubhouse and course, in which the other two groupings are represented.

Depending on the response of its women associates, it is acknowledged that clubs following the path of equality are more than likely going to encounter problems on the tee at the weekends. With goodwill on both sides, however, these are details that can be worked out.