Gordon Hyde's cryptic humour has not lost its edge after 50 years of playing golf among the tigers.

The new Sussex Veterans' champion, who began collecting a stack of county titles in 1957 with the county boys' crown, has a gift for self parody.

He said: "This autumn I will have played golf for half a century. I was going to have a party to celebrate but neither of my friends could come."

That Hyde has been his own severest critic is an understatement. Yet, at 62, he still has a swing to die for and an unparalleled string of six championships, one open success, 18 appearances for England and a place in the final of the Amateur Championship.

Add to that the Sussex Boys' championship two years running followed by the Colts' title and goodness knows how many more events at club and county level.

For six months he was an assistant to Harry Weetman at Selsdon Park and, while waiting three years to regain his amateur status, worked in Denmark and Oman.

Now, at his first attempt, Hyde is quietly enjoying the satisfying feeling of being top of the Sussex over-60s.

It is just possible that he is through with punishing himself unmercifully every time he has a bad shot or poor round. For years he was known by the sardonic nickname of Happy Hyde.

There were times, whenever he fell short of his own impeccably high standards, that he would cast the clubs aside to explore the variegated joys of learning to fly or trip the light fantastic on the ballroom floor to gold medal level. For a while he plunged into the world of amateur dramatics.

"The attractive side of acting is that everybody wants you to do well, you are not trying to beat somebody," Gordon once told me. Therein lay the key to his conversion. He had years of trying to overcome an opponent, or the course and had tired or become bored. Yet I know hosts of golfers who wish they had one iota of his talent.

It was ten years ago that Hyde, a surveyor and building estimator of Forest Row, donned the greasepaint with the Sackville Players.

But the lure of golf tempted him back and he helped his club, Copthorne, win the Sussex Knockout trophy and appeared for them in their Davies & Tate team.

For the last four years he has competed in the London Marathon and among his many other interests is watching Crawley Town as a season ticket holder.

He plays golf about three times a week to a handicap of five and won the Sussex Vets at Piltdown with a 71 that left Gerry Nash (The Dyke) and Tony Mote (West Sussex) one stroke behind.

The championship, which attracted 124 entries, is always keenly fought and that suited Gordon who has accumulated more silverware than any other contemporary Sussex golfer.

He said: "I'm still a crazy mixed-up kid and enjoy golf in a masochistic sort of way. I probably hit the ball better than a five handicap but I had some problems in my practice round at Piltdown."

It took some believing but he lost three balls in the first four holes to outrageous slices.

That didn't sound like vintage Hyde. On the day he hit 50 practice balls, yet with the first shot of the championship, his drive arched away into the out of bounds and an unfamiliar six blotted the card.

Then the old Hyde clicked into action going out in 37. Three-putting ten and 11 was a further reminder of human fallibility but with five holes remaining Hyde was still in the hunt He said: "I thought if I can finish in par that will be very useful as 74 won last year. I picked up a birdie and in those last five holes I played as well as I have ever played.

"At the 18th I hit a good four iron to eight feet from the hole for a par. It is a lovely hole when you are on the green. I was pleased with my round and on only two occasions, I wasn't on the fairway."