The winter months are not a time that many people look forward to especially if they are avid golfers.
Getting out of bed while it's still dark, returning home from work in the gloom, wrapping up warm and spending the nights shivering and sniffling with a warm drink cupped in your hands is not ideal.
For the golfer it can be a nightmare, the times you can play are drastically reduced, when you do play you're hampered by layers of clothing, wet, muddy courses, winter tees and the dreaded temporary green.
It is no wonder the winter pro-am is proving popular with PGA professionals and their amateur teams!
Playing golf on some of the world's most amazing courses, living it up in glamorous cities and sharing a tee box with a black bear are a few of the stories to come back with them.
A week or two in the sunshine playing golf for prize money on courses which just days earlier witnessed Tiger Woods and co battling it out in a Tour event sounds a hell of a lot better than the earlier description.
Stourbridge Golf Club's Darren Prosser is a serial winter pro-am player having got hooked back in 2002. Every year the 39-year-old takes various amateur teams across the Atlantic for pro-ams through one of the most popular winter tours run by The American Golf Holiday in association with the PGA.
Prosser is a regular on the tour having played in 32 events and by the end of the year he will have clocked up 36.
"I think I've only missed two events since I started playing in the Winter Pro-Am Series," he said. "The best thing for me is the experience of playing some of the best courses in the world. And to get to play some of them straight after a USPGA Tour event is brilliant. I've played at Sawgrass off championship tees with The Players' Championship flags still on the pins."
Kettering Golf Club's Simon Lilly is another who enjoys a bit of winter sunshine and every year he and three amateur friends pack their bags and head out to America.
"The obvious attraction is the weather as it is a lot warmer and there's not much going on here during the winter," said the 30-year-old. "But there is a lot more to it than just that. The courses we play are unbelievable and the facilities are just amazing, everything is taken care of for you.
"When you're not playing golf you're staying in a fantastic hotel and the nightlife is amazing, especially when you get to Las Vegas. We've had some great nights there as there is so much to do, but I don't think I can give too many details away," he joked.
Having played every year for the past five, Lilly has trod the fairways of some of America's most beautiful courses including TPC Sawgrass, Pebble Beach and his favourite We-Ko-Pa, Arizona.
"The prize money is also very good and it's been getting better each year so you can make a nice little earner out of it too," added Lilly.
I turned round and there was this great big bear less than 20 feet away - it was incredible.
Prosser was the leading money winner on last year's tour and has some great memories as well as some scary times.
He had a particularly hairy moment at Chateau Whistler in 2006 when he had to delay his tee-shot as a black bear walked behind him.
"I was about to tee off when my playing partner told me to stop. He said there's a black bear behind you and I have to get a picture. I turned round and there was this great big bear less than 20 feet away, I had to stand there while he took a picture. The bear then went off onto the green had a sniff around the pin and walked away. It was incredible."
His favourite moment, however, came on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass where he completed one of the most famous closing three holes in golf one-under.
"I shot a four, three, three to finish at Sawgrass and win me the Sawgrass Classic which was a great feeling," he said.
The American Golf Holiday, now in its 14th year, was created by John Hooper and was born out of his frustration as an amateur golfer.
"It all started back in the early 1990s," explained Hooper. "I was a frustrated golfer who loved the game but was never ever going to be good enough to play at a high standard.
"However, I did enjoy travel and had been lucky enough to play overseas both in Europe and America on several occasions."
It was the pro-am format the really captured John's attention as well as the stunning courses on the other side of the Atlantic.
"I really enjoyed the fun and camaraderie of it all and felt there was plenty of potential to establish a series of events in America at the best golfing venues at the best times of the year for course condition and weather," he added.
After curtailing a career in retail and marketing Hooper teamed up with wife Alison, who had experience from the travel industry and the office management skills to launch their first tour event in the June of 1994, and recently celebrated their 50th event.
"The best thing about the pro-ams is that they can cater for everyone's needs," added Prosser.
"There are ones where you can play golf then have a quiet night and relax, or you can go on one where you can play your game then head out and enjoy the nightlife."
For more details on The American Golf Holiday visit americangolfholiday.com