Launching a golf club as the recession began to bite in the early 1990s hardly guaranteed a fair wind for Wellshurst.

But, nearly ten years later, events have turned full circle and the golf and country club at Hellingly is not only doing brisk business but the membership is close on 500, a fantasy figure when local builder Tony Adams embarked on a bold venture.

Tony, 61, and son Mark, 36, diversified from the family building business in Hailsham and now have ample reason to feel moving into golf was a worthwhile move despite an initial struggle when the economy took a drastic downturn.

Wellshurst not only merits a visit on a pay-and-play basis but the many benefits of membership to the golf and health facilities, which are on a separate basis, make for an attractive proposition in an area hardly short of golf courses.

Father and son, plus mum Pat, did not believe in hanging about when purchasing 280 acres of undulating land and mature trees together with a Grade 2 listed Georgian farmhouse in July, 1991. Work began the very next day. The idea of building his own course occured to Tony while he and Mark were having to wait while playing the nearby nine hole course at Horam Park.

Tony revealed: "Mark said to me, 'why don't we build our own instead of hanging about like this?' And that is how it started. The land that the course is built on was once a working farm with the well-known Wellshurst herd. The farm was up for sale and the location struck me as ideal for our purpose. Mind you, starting a leisure complex during the recession wasn't funny. At the time, people couldn't get in at Willingdon or Eastbourne Downs and the surplus we anticipated was slow in coming, but that is water under the bridge."

As the Adams family are self-confessed workaholics, the challenge suited them admirably. The building work was carried out in-house to a design by The Golf Corporation, a Midlands firm. The first major problem was drainage and Wellshurst soon gained a reputation for holding water. In the opening phase there was too much rough and the rate of lost balls proved unacceptable to visitors who preferred an easy round instead of searching at every hole.

Tony added: "It is true that we had a bad reputation at the start but, since extra drainage has been laid, there are no problems with water. It was a struggle like any new course."

The membership was around the 230 mark when Mark Jarvis, the current head pro, arrived in February, 1998, and now it has more than doubled. So what attracts visitors and persuades them to become members?

The course is a scenic delight and notable for a gently undulating terrain in lush countryside, where a minimum of landscaping shows off the clusters and belts of mature trees. At 5,771 yards (par 70) from the whites, Wellshurst calls for subtlety rather than brute strength. There are only two par fives in a hardly intimidating round. The greens are big and inviting and the 2,000 new trees are flourishing. Twenty-five acres form part of a conservation area that the golfers play around.

The best-liked hole is the 449-yard 16th, which dog-legs left to right with the second, or third shot, over a lake. Two starting points is a good reason why Wellshurst is popular with societies but what is on offer when golf finishes takes some beating. Before enjoying the apres golf, it is only fair to mention the 11th which has a reputation as a card tearer. The tee shot is uphill which somehow unsettles the already nervous. The dog-leg is right to left, the fairway slopes slightly the other way and hitting the green in regulation from a starting point 437 yards away is far from easy. Like all the holes, it has a name, Romany Way.

You might think that a course of less than 6,000 yards is easily burned up. To the credit of the thriving junior section, the amateur course record stands to 16-year-old Simon Burton with a four-under-par 66. No less active are Wellshurst's seniors and ladies. Naturally, Tony Adams likes to puff out his chest and point with pride to what has been achieved.

He said: "It is one of the prettiest courses around here. At the outset we were determined not to interfere in any way with the habitat."

Nature, however, did give Wellshurst a shock in more ways than one a fortnight ago. A shaft of lightning destroyed the club flagpole and blew a wall to bits, scaring the life out of members enjoying a quiet drink on the patio.

It is no small trick to keep members happy while aiming at society business and green fees. Pay and play does not necessarily mean members being relegated to second-class golfers. Wellshurst has no rivals when it comes to views. The panorama a'top the two-tiered clubhouse, which was originally a grain store, is stunning with the Downs to the south-west and the boundaries of the course ringed about by woods.

Like any self-respecting club there are rules and users must abide by a dress code. Nobody minds that. In fact, golfers prefer to look smart and, in Wellshurst's formative years, they used to have fashion shows. What impressed me was the all-round friendly atmosphere while, in Mark Jarvis's well-stocked shop, the phone hardly stopped ringing.

Mark said: "It is such a special club. It is by no means unknown for green fee payers to come and then join the following week."

The spacious building houses all manner of facilities; function rooms, rooms large and luxurious enough to accommodate 200 wedding reception guests or 170 diners and there is no trouble in staging delegate conferences.

There is a separate membership for the country club covering all the leisure facilities. The latter includes fitness rooms, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, fast-tanning bed, aerobics studio and a fully equipped gym. Membership is £400 a year.

The seven-day golf membership is £520 and a good number started as occasional visitors only to be caught up in the friendly atmosphere. Local gastronomes like to dine in the restaurant at weekends in particular and business has been so good lately that the kitchen was enlarged. The pastel decor is pleasing and was Pat Adams' idea. It does no harm at all for a club such as Wellshurst to have a woman's touch. The function diary for the whole of December is already completely booked, as are half the available November dates. No wonder Mark Adams, who handles all the financial side of the business, is happy.

Money from social functions help keep Wellshurst going during the dark winter months, when every weekend is party time. Come to that, Wellshurst is great fun all year round.