A group of golfing exclusives like nothing better than to play in the worst of our weather.

They are members of the Oxford and Cambridge GS who have gathered, with the exception of the war years, every January but one since 1920 at Rye to play for the President's Putter.

The location of the famous links means it is exposed to the bitterest winds and heaviest blizzards. There is no protection amid Camber's dunes but that is how they like it.

Making his annual pilgrimage next Wednesday will be Derek Sparrow, doughty Dyke member and former Sussex president who gained his Blue at Keeble.

He has headed to Rye for the last 27 years and managed the creditable record of one semi-final appearance, plus at least eight near misses.

This year he has drawn Martin Yeates, a former Sussex seniors player who has made the semi-finals six times but, unlike Derek, does not live in the county.

The Putter is played without regard to handicap and 164 face the starter, the earliest going out at 8am.

The attraction of the Putter is largely based on social grounds. Sparrow said: "It is a very special occasion. We have all been to the same universities and only meet once a year.

"Members of the society come from all over the world and are from all age groups. It is not an occasion I would like to miss."

Derek is the only Sussex-based challenger in a field that now admits women to golf at its most rigorous. No wonder the society says that the Putter is, "100 years of serious fun."

Although the society was founded in 1898 it was not until just after WW1 that the Putter began.

Incredibly in that time there has been only one abandonment because of snow drifts.

That was in 1979 although dates have been postponed until March when ice became too much of a hazard.

Rye was also snowbound in 1963 when the event transferred to Littlestone.

Sparrow said: "Light snow isn't that much of a problem and I have played with balls marked with red nail varnish. We equip ourselves against the cold but the weather is sometimes very pleasant. When the temperature really drops it is not unkown to keep warm with a nip or two of whisky."

The Putter is essentially about tradition. The first of the two wooden Putters, displayed in a glass case in the bar, and from which are suspended the balls of each winner, was presented by John Low, first president of the society.

Silver bands surrounding the yellowing disintegrating balls of earlier winners show the names of three British champions, Ernest Holderness, Cyril Tolley and Roger Wethered.

Also behind the bar is a picture of Sparrow on a snow covered ninth green with his son as caddy trying to keep warm.

Derek has cherished memories of having played with some of the greats like Leonard Crawley.

For the first seven years after the WW1 golfers who had either reached or were nearing their prime in the Thirties dominated the Putter.

That is not the case today.

Sparrow said: "There are no good young golfers coming up these days from the universities."