A 60-foot putt across the 17th green at East Blatchington gave Dave Crombie a world championship.

It was not the first time the Scot could claim to be the best on the planet and, for that matter, Guernseyman Brian Parsons, who lost by 2 & 1 this time, also knows the feeling.

They and about 40 other competitors at Seaford belong to a very special group of golfers handicapped in a way that defies belief when you see how well they play.

This was the annual jamboree of the One Arm GS and the gathering of the clans came from all points of the compass.

Seaford first staged the event ten years ago and it was a happy return for a society founded in 1932 by WW1 veterans.

This year's players travelled from the US, South Africa, Bermuda, Germany, Denmark, the Phillipines and included two women.

The best 16 medal scores qualified for the matchplay and Nick Champness, an eight handicapper from Royal Ashdown Forest who also plays cricket and hockey, shot a 75 in his second round for the lowest score of the championship.

Champness, the defending champion who also won in 1998 and 2000, lost in the semi-finals at the second extra hole to Crombie. He was philosophical: "Funny, but I don't seem to win it in the odd years."

Champness would have won the long-driving competition but just ran out of fairway at the first.

His drive boomed over the oyster bunker high up on the left and marginally crept into the first cut of rough. No wonder he is recognised as the society's longest hitter.

The championship was very much a social affair and among the competitors was Sir Bob Reid, former chairman of Shell, British Rail, the Sears Group and now supremo of the Bank of Scotland. He used to play off three and has gone up to nine.

I asked Andy Robinson, who works for the SPARKS charity, what special skills were necessary to play one arm golf.

"It is not a left-arm game, it is a back hand game. In previous years it was mainly dominated by the left-handed, recently it has become more a back hand and forehand game. Forehands are arguably the better chippers and putters.

Forehanders are benefiting from new technology, mainly the springboard drivers."

Both Crombie and Pearson lost arms in accidents. Crombie's mishap occurred in a fishing boat and Pearson was working on an oil rig.

Paul Champness, Nick's father, is secretary of the society and can be reached on pchampness@tourbore.co.uk