If your game cannot cope with the bracing breezes of East Brighton it might be best to give it a miss.

But that would be the coward's way out. Not to play this fine old course is to deny yourself an opportunity of coming to terms with the elements. You might as well settle for a quiet game of draughts.

East Brighton's exposed siting has never deterred elderly and some downright ancient members from getting their daily ration of fresh air. The harder the sou'wester blows, the better they like it. Ozone in such doses is a recipe for perpetual youth and over the years East Brighton has had a fair number of members playing past their 90th birthdays.

Strong legs are a useful asset here. Starting from the first, it is a steady pull until the fifth tee. Then the route is downward into a valley until emerging a few holes later to feel the keen edge of the wind.

But golf is an outdoor game and fair-weather people don't know what they are missing along the plateau top of a sickle-shaped ridge running inland from the chalk cliffs and extending up to the furthest point of Brighton racecourse.

The air has proved an elixir for golfers over the last 108 years. Starting in May, 1893, as Ovingdean GC, the name was changed that October to Kemp Town GC and for a long time the tee boxes carrying the latter inscription were retained.

East Brighton has always kept a fitting sense of tradition as one of the oldest clubs in the county. This is reflected in a fine clubhouse which has been refurbished a number of times and bears comparison with the best in Sussex. Just recently the ladies' accommodation was improved to such an extent to resemble a beauty parlour and that is no more than they deserve.

It's a far cry from the first days when East Brighton started with nine holes, 110 members and a place to gather after braving the elements. The following year the course extended to 18 designed by James Braid. His mark is all over the senior Sussex clubs and will surely last for ever.

At East Brighton, there is the course and there is the weather. On a balmy day it is absolute heaven with more than the occasional backward glance taking in the Channel and the vast urban sprawl of the new city of Brighton and Hove.

Members will readily admit that when a real blow sets in, and you are caught out in the country, East Brighton can be a beast, the bare landscape offers no shelter. But don't make the mistake of hitting your putts harder because rain doesn't have much effect on the greens.

These have always tended to be on the slow side. But now the club have purchased a stimpmeter and this year the out has been lowered on what has usually been a thick carpet. It takes years to coax the knowledge out of greens and for many those at East Brighton only grudgingly reveal their secrets.

One man who unravelled the mysteries was David Mills, the former West Hove and current Seaford professional, who set up a course record with 62 a couple of years ago in the club pro-am.

But a club over a century old has many tales to tell of low and brave scoring. How much weather conditions can affect play is perhaps best illustrated by Ernie Whitcombe's tournament win in 1937 after three calm days with an aggregate of 268, and what happened the following year.

They were still talking about Sam King's 63 that constituted a new mark at the time when, out of the west, came storms of such ferocity that Reg Whitcombe's winning score was 300. It was five more than he had needed to win the Open at Royal St George's a few weeks earlier and eight strokes per round more than his brother's winning score the previous year!

Heavyweight Reg dug in his spikes to anchor against the blast.

Over the last couple of years the club team has achieved notable success winning the Davies and Tate Trophy and thus reaping reward from a wise policy of bringing on young players. Here they cut their teeth on a course that asks serious questions. On the first tee you are invited to stay pretty straight or face the consequences of going out of bounds on both sides. The right, near the houses, is to be avoided at all costs.

The most exhilarating hole for many is the long fifth down into the valley where there were once two greens. A slice will find the crops and it requires a long biff to get well down the hill so that the lie for the second is not too sloping. The natural shelter is with us until the tenth after negotiating the 428-yd ninth which leaves you in no doubt that it is stroke index one. Then up we plod to the perimeter of the racecourse and turn for home along a series of exposed par fours after enjoying the comfort of the leeward side of the ridge.

Here is some of the best turf. On many holes, and particularly the shortish par four 12th, it is possible to find useful direction pointers in the various parts of Roedean School.

Some of the greens on this stretch are built in and landscaped on sideslopes and more often than not a pitch-and-run pays off better than a wedge.

That is good advice if the wind is blowing. There is not much trouble until the 17th where the tee seems to cant to the right and towards trouble. Go left is the drill.

Downwind on the par five 18th you can be on with a drive and a pitch. Then it does not seem like 476 yards. But is is into the prevailing wind, and when that gets up then prepare for a series of slogs if a five is to complete your round.