It’s a ground-breaking week as the Ricoh Women’s British Open is staged on St Andrews’ Old Course for the first time.

At last we will see the world’s best female players competing on the most famous stretch of golfing terrain on the planet.

Furthermore – and this is the fact that seems to be generating most interest - the women will be allowed to change in the iconic R&A clubhouse that overlooks the 1st tee.

In some quarters this week, this is being regarded as something akin to the suffragette movement finally achieving the vote for women – a crumbling of the last male golfing bastion under the sheer weight of girl-power.

This logistical side-show of where the women change their spikes is significant because they’ll be using the clubhouse of the men-only Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

A popular myth is that the famous old building is the Old Course clubhouse. This is not the case. The R&A do not own the hallowed links, they are one of eight private golf clubs in St Andrews that have separate properties that serve as their clubhouses.

The 2,400-strong R&A is a men-only club but the town also boasts two women-only clubs; St Rule and St Regulus.

So, in effect, the Royal and Ancient are merely appearing hospitable by throwing open their doors to the women this week. But imagine the hullabaloo had they not made such a gesture.

It’s also worth pointing out that there is now a corporate separation between the Royal and Ancient members club and R&A Ltd - the rule-making body that administers the Open Championship. This company is also based in the famous old clubhouse.

But back to the Women’s British Open. It’s true hosts this week are the St Andrews Links Trust, a charitable organization set up in 1974 to maintain the links and provide golf for all.

The Old Course is one of six courses managed by the Trust. Others include the wonderful New and Jubilee tracks with a total of 99 holes under their management. It is the largest golf complex in Europe.

There are no restrictions in terms of the sex of players eligible to play any of the layouts, the Old Course included.

But this week’s championship does constitute a hugely significant step at the top of the female game. Since gaining “major” status, the Women’s British Open has been staged on many of the courses used for the men’s Open including Turnberry, Birkdale and Royal Lytham.

It is therefore only right that it should also come to the Old Course, and in many respects it is this venue that becomes the chief beneficiary.

St Andrews has the potential this week to blow away the stuffy men-only image with which it is often saddled. Instead it can gain a deserved reputation for being a place that welcomes all golfers – men, women and children alike.