Members of the Muirfield Golf Club have voted against permitting women members after results of a close vote were announced at the historic course.

Two-thirds of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (HCEG) were required to vote in favour of allowing women to hold membership with the final result of the postal ballot among the eligible 650 members at 64% voting yes.

Following the announcement, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “This decision is wrong and indefensible. I understand and accept that, as a private club, it is for Muirfield to decide on its membership – but at a time when Scotland is a country where women can get to the top in politics, law, business and other fields, this sends the wrong signal.

“The R&A has already said it won’t take The Open back to Muirfield while this policy remains in place. That is a damaging decision for the club, which has been such a fantastic venue for one of golf’s major tournaments.

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“The majority of members actually voted in favour of admitting women, which is encouraging, but I sincerely hope those who didn’t now reconsider and that the club as a whole revisits the issue.”

Although women can play the course as guests or visitors it was hoped the vote would herald a modern movement for the East Lothian course which has drawn heavy criticism in recent years.

The policy was first brought into review after the Equality Act came into force in 2010, however, on Thursday members decided to keep the policy as it was.

HCEG captain Henry Fairweather said he was “disappointed” with the result of the vote but the club would abide by its members’ wishes.

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He said: “The Honourable Company is a members club, and, as such, the members decide the rules of the club, including its membership policy.

“Women will continue to be welcome at Muirfield on the course and in the clubhouse as guests and visitors, as they have been for many years.”

Shortly after the result was announced The R&A said it would no longer consider staging The Open at Muirfield.

R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers added in a statement: “We have consistently said that it is a matter for the Honourable Company to conduct a review of its membership policy and that we would await their decision.

“The R&A has considered today’s decision with respect to The Open Championship. The Open is one of the world’s great sporting events and going forward we will not stage the Championship at a venue that does not admit women as members.

“Given the schedule for staging The Open, it would be some years before Muirfield would have been considered to host the Championship again.

“If the policy at the club should change we would reconsider Muirfield as a venue for The Open in future.”

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The HCGE was founded in 1744 and claims to be the world’s oldest recorded golf club which helped set the playing rules of the sport.

Critics of the club’s initial reluctance, and the time it will now take, to allow female members said Thursday’s vote still correlated with the views of its 18th century founders.

The day before the vote a letter to some members of the club was obtained by some newspapers and ridiculed for its language towards what it describes as “a traditional resistance”.

The letter read: “In the last two-and-a-half years, there has been a considerable effort to consider the question whether to admit lady members – a prospect which may not previously have been on the agenda or even contemplated.

“It would appear to have been prompted largely by media and political comment at the time of the 2013 Open.”

The Sunday of the prestigious golf tournament saw Phil Mickelson win with Alex Salmond, First Minister at the time, among the first to congratulate him.

However, Salmond refused an invitation to attend the event because of the men-only rule.

That year marked the most recent of the 16 times the course has held the prestigious golf tournament it also helped establish and develop along with The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and Prestwick Golf Club.

The R&A itself voted in September 2014 to end its controversial male-only membership policy after 260 years with more than three quarters of the club’s 2400 members taking part in the ballot and 85% voting in favour of the change.

According to the Government Equalities Office: “Private clubs will still be able to treat men and women differently in any sport, game, or activity of a competitive nature where the physical strength, stamina or physique of the average woman puts her at a disadvantage compared with the average man, or vice versa.

“Golf clubs are allowed to hold separate competitions for men and women because the physical strength, stamina or physique of an average woman would put her at a disadvantage compared with an average man.”

It is not a new problem and even where female members are allowed there is further inequality bubbling under the surface of the prize table.

In The Open women earn a fifth less than men in what is only one of two majors women are allowed to compete for in the game – when played at an available course. The US Open has prize money of $1.8m for men but just $800,000 for the female equivalent competition.

And while the Augusta National Golf Club has allowed female members as recently as August 2012, women do not have an equivalent to The Masters which has been held annually at the Georgia course since 1934 (also with a prize of $1.8m).

Royal Troon will be the course that next comes under the spotlight before this year’s Open and is currently in the process of consulting members over ending their own male only policy.

Following Thursday’s vote the Ayrshire course could leave Muirfield as the only Scottish club able to hold The Open with a men-only membership policy – if it decides to permit women before the tournament takes place on July 14-17.

Current First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also hit out at the Muirfield vote, tweeting: “Scotland has women leaders in every walk of life. It is 2016. This is simply indefensible.”