It’s a glamorous old life covering golf. Well, that’s what I said to my colleague as I put a knotted hankie on my head, took a reflective lean on the railings along Blackpool promenade and gazed at a tottering, shrieking hen party parading along the front with their inflatable, ahem, party pieces. Kiss me quick? Crikey, you just about needed the kiss of life.

It was all the fun of the fair and what a show they put on along the road at Royal Lytham in the Ricoh Women’s British Open. The brilliant Georgia Hall, the young Bournemouth golfer with the name that sounds like a well-maintained country house you’d see in an English Heritage pamphlet, struck a colossal blow as she became only the fifth British woman to win a major title.

For many years, the celebrated, indefatigable campaigners like Catriona Matthew and Laura Davies have been the pillars of female golf in this country. At last, that generation gap has been bridged.

The reaction of the young spectators who gathered outside the Lytham media centre on Sunday night awaiting Hall’s reappearance from her winner’s press conference was telling.

“Georgia, Georgia, Georgia,” they bawled in giddy, unified repetition before the 22-year-old went into the throng to sign autographs and engage with her new fan base.

Even the traditionally crotchety golf writers who were in the throes of chiselling out another prize winner – or something like that – creaked into a smile at the youthful exuberance that generated quite a din. Those charged with convincing young ’uns to take up the game must have been careering about trying to find a variety of bottles to store that elixir of rampant enthusiasm in.

Building on that inspiring energy will be the next challenge. Hall had been in the title hunt all week but there were still plenty of UK outlets which treated her assault with shrugging indifference. Until she won, of course.

The general apathy, however, did stoke up plenty of mystified conversations among those in attendance. Let’s face it, there are sportswomen in this country who are afforded far greater superstar status than female golfers.

Johanna Konta, for instance, is just about a household name while her tennis-playing compatriot, Heather Watson, continues to attract great hype despite the fact she’d probably manage to make a first round exit even if she was given a bye.

The women’s hockey World Cup last week often featured as the lead item on the sports round-ups, women’s football continues to thrive while last year’s women’s cricket and rugby showpieces generated a pandemonium of prime-time publicity. But golf, historically stronger than many of these pursuits? Not in the same league.

Highlights on the BBC as the midnicht ’oor approached wasn’t quite an alluring slot in the schedule. As other female sports flourish in the mainstream and garner unprecedented levels of coverage, golf continues to muddle on in the margins and seems to have missed the tail wind that’s gusting behind women’s sport.

In addition, there are many who will vehemently advocate the female cause when it comes to issues like all-male golf clubs but then simply ignore the game when that particular moral bandwagon has rumbled out of town.

While there is a concerted effort to make golf more appealing to girls and women, the shackles of the game’s fusty past can be hard to shake off.

A well-respected colleague, who has covered a considerable amount of women’s golf over the years, made the observation that the sport is often perceived as a prime example of sexism and those who play it are viewed not as fighters against that sexism but collaborators with it. It’s not an unreasonable opinion at a time when golf continues to battle against entrenched, negative perceptions from casual observers.

Hall is not from a background of privilege and often had to forego playing opportunities because the family couldn’t afford it. As a poster girl for the game’s promotion in the UK, golf got a sizeable tonic with Hall’s conquest.

This week’s European Team Championships at Gleneagles also got a timely lift as Hall will be playing in it. They should be hanging up the bunting as we speak . . .