Braden Shattuck Teaches at Rolling Green Before PGA Championship
braden shattuck spent Wednesday morning teaching at Rolling Green instead of spending the eve of the 108th PGA Championship only on his own game. The PGA Director of Instruction had clinics on the calendar, and his day still ended with a major-championship tee shot waiting at 6:45 Thursday morning.
Rolling Green with Shattuck
He was at Rolling Green Golf Club while Aronimink Golf Club held the championship stage, a split day that fit the role he has built around the game. Shattuck earned his place in the field by finishing T-8 at the recent PGA Professional Championship, then kept working as a teacher while the biggest start of his season approached.
Gale Donoghue was one of 10 golfers in a clinic offered by Shattuck. She left with a simple read on the morning: “He really, really cares. He wants us to succeed.” That came after he was on the putting green at 8 a.m. with five students, then on the course from 9 to 10 with the women’s clinic at Rolling Green.
Women’s Clinic at Rolling Green
The on-course session grew out of a request from the women at a recent clinic, who asked Shattuck to take them outside. Marianne Rafter said, “We couldn’t believe it,” and added, “We’re astounded he did this with all that’s going on.” Sharon DiPietro said, “I think it was very generous of him,” and added, “All of us would have supported him had he done something else to prepare (for the PGA Championship) so this was kind.”
That generosity came from a player whose path back to this level was interrupted in March 2019, when he was in a serious car accident. Shattuck said, “I had some mental health problems during that time that were significant and sidelined me pretty hard,” and later added, “I had to go to work and put a smiling face on for everybody and that was quite a challenge.”
Shattuck’s Major Return
He had to put golf on the back burner for a few years while he got healthy, then rebuilt his competitive footing with the 2023 PGA Professional Championship, the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla, and the 2025 Philadelphia PGA. The schedule at Rolling Green on Wednesday showed how much of his week still belongs to instruction, even with a major start and the honor of delivering the opening tee shot of the 108th PGA Championship at 6:45 Thursday morning.
For the golfers who saw him at Rolling Green, the day offered a direct look at a local pro trying to keep both parts of his job moving at once. For Shattuck, it meant heading from lesson tee to major championship without dropping the work that made him part of the club in the first place.
