The staff of The Sand Trap .com come from all over the globe and have the games to match. Let's have a look, shall we?

Erik J. Barzeski Editor-in-Chief, Owner

Email: erik [at] thesandtrap.com
Location: Erie, PA (USA)
Handicap: ~1.5
Personal Story: Erik began playing golf after his freshman year in high school. He joined a high school team that won three straight Erie County League championships (and two after he left), winning EDGA stroke-play honors the summer before his senior year. After taking most of six years off for college, Erik created The Sand Trap in late 2004 and has reaffirmed his love for the game ever since.

Alan Olson Podcast Host

Email: alan [at] thesandtrap.com
Location: Zimmerman, MN (USA)
Handicap: 17
Personal Story: Alan's entry into the golf world was following his dad around the course when he was just a youngster. His first set of clubs was a junior set of Northwesterns and the obsession to golf was started. Twenty-plus years later that love for this great game continues. With a child on the way this fall, he is making plans to play as much golf as possible as well as trying to get Jack, Arnold or Bobby on the official "names list."

Ben Alberstadt Thrash Talk

Email: ben [at] thesandtrap.com
Location: Erie, PA (USA)
Handicap: 9
Personal Story: Between college and working (at a golf course, coincidentally), Ben hasn't been playing as much golf as he'd like to during the past few years. Hopefully, as a graduate student in English this year he'll be able to find more time. Ben enjoys all facets of the game, particularly swing theory and the history of golf.

George Promenschenkel Trap Five/ProFiles

Email: george [at] thesandtrap.com
Location: Columbus, OH (USA)
Handicap: 8
Personal Story: As an eight-year-old, George started playing "golf" in a side yard of his parents' house. Having no golf equipment, he used a baseball bat to knock tennis balls into coffee cans he had buried in the yard. George's first set of clubs consisted of only the odd numbered irons and a set of persimmons with frayed windings that his Uncle gave him. Over the next 20 years, he played off and on, but never very seriously. In 1998, George joined a group of friends on a golf trip to Myrtle Beach and that helped spark a new love for the game (his wife would call it an obsession).

Danny Ottmann Hittin' the Links

Email: danny [at] thesandtrap.com
Location: Albuquerque, NM (USA)
Handicap: 0
Personal Story: Danny had to find something to pass the time after finishing his college baseball career. His father suggested golf and he's been hooked ever since. In fact he's so hooked he had to get a part-time job at a golf course to support his habit. After winning the club championship and finally attaining the goal of scratch late in 2007 he looked for even more golf and ended up at The Sand Trap. His wife loves him and hopes to pencil in a little together time sometime in late 2008.

T.M. O'Connell Swing Check

Email: tmo [at] thesandtrap.com
Location: Washington, DC (USA)
Handicap: +3
Personal Story: O'Connell started playing golf at two years old but didn't really fall in love with the game until his freshman year of high school. Within two years he went from barely shooting 100 to competing in professional events. Unfortunately, a freak back injury rudely interrupted his promising career. Now, after being away from the game for several years O'Connell's desire to share his science based approach to the swing has rekindled his love for the game.

Justin L. Pucheu Bag Drop

Email: justin [at] thesandtrap.com
Location: Slidell, LA (USA)
Handicap: 16
Personal Story: Justin is a relative newcomer to the world of golf compared to the rest of the staff here at TST, but has quickly absorbed himself in every facet of the game. Justin was primarily a baseball and basketball player throughout high school and only occaisonally played golf during his high school and college years. Though he has become serious about it a little later than most, he's making up for lost time now by spending an unhealthy amount of time at the golf course, and when that's not possible, he's either on the forum here at TST, reading about new equipment, or finding new ways to further improve his swing. As a self-proclaimed "un-traditionalist," he has a great respect for the history and tradition behind the game, but is fascinated by the technology and engineering that goes into new equipment.