Hey #TeamTitleist!
This week, Oak Hill Country Club is playing host to the world’s best for the 105th playing of the PGA Championship. Among what is often considered the strongest field in golf will be 20 PGA Professionals who earned their spot through the PGA Professional Championship, held two weeks ago at Twin Warriors and Santa Ana Golf Clubs in New Mexico.
That list includes Braden Shattuck, who trusted his Titleist setup including his NEW Titleist Pro V1 golf ball and TSR3 driver to rounds of 70-71-68-70, rolling his V in from 10 feet on the final hole to secure the one-shot victory.
“By the time I got to the last round, I didn’t sleep at all. I didn’t even fall asleep that night. It was a long week…,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It doesn’t even feel real – thinking back on it and watching it on TV, it doesn’t feel real at all.”
It’s a special week for the 28-year-old and first-time major contestant, who in 2019 had to take two years off from the game after a devastating car accident that herniated discs in his lower back. As he recovered, Shattuck rebuilt his swing to accommodate the injury.
“I knew what exactly in my golf swing hurt, so I figured if I could do something with my setup and my golf swing to take some pressure off of those areas, that even if I didn't fully heal that maybe I could still swing a golf club with minimal pain. It was just a process of trial and error until I found something that worked. And then you kind of have to relearn the golf swing a little bit. I can take what I know as a golf instructor and apply it. It was almost like I was building somebody else's swing it. It was kind of a neat little experiment to be honest with you. It was cool...
“I hold it very weak like you kind of do with like a putter. I would say with the irons swinging a little bit more upright with the irons I lost a little bit of distance. My spin rate went up a little bit. But my driver numbers actually went better. My speed went down a couple miles an hour, but my launch conditions we so much better. I was able to hit up on it a few degrees, brought the spin rate down, took the loft out of my driver, so I actually ended up hitting it a little bit further and straighter with the driver.”
The Philadelphia PGA section member and PGA Director of Instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club is one of 11 PGA club professionals who trusted a Titleist golf ball in qualifying for the season’s second major.
“I've played a Titleist golf ball my whole life,” Shattuck said. “Junior golf, college, golf, all the way through... I know I can trust it.”
“Even still I don't get bored sitting there pounding balls. I can't hit as many as I used to when I was like seven, but for whatever reason, I even remember it now just in my backyard just with plastic clubs, just back and forth, back and forth, hitting little 30-yard pitch shots all night long until it got dark. I can't even tell you why I found that enjoyable, but I guess I was just always trying to get better, even from a super young age.”
From golf ball to driver to putter, Titleist is also the most played equipment brand among the PGA’s #Teamof20:
- Six of the PGA pros competing at Oak Hill play a Pro V1 golf ball, while five choose Pro V1x.
- Ten are playing a TSR driver, the most played driver on the PGA TOUR, with eight gaming a TSR3 and two playing a TSR2.
- Titleist irons – the majority of them T100, T100•S and T200 models – are also in the bags of 10 PGA pros.
- The #TeamOf20 is carrying a total of 30 Vokey Design wedges.
- On the greens, seven are gaming a Scotty Cameron putter.
Let’s meet the #TeamTitleist PGA Professionals who punched a ticket to Rochester for the PGA Championship:
Braden Shattuck
Rolling Green Golf Club | Philadelphia Section
The former University of Delaware golfer is one of seven #TeamTitleist members making his PGA Championship debut this week in Rochester.
WITB: NEW Titleist Pro V1 golf ball; TSR3 8.0 driver; TSR2 18.0 fairway; T100 5-P irons; Vokey Design SM9 52, 58 wedges
On his TSR Driver… “My TSR3 driver, that thing's awesome. Yeah, it looks great. It's probably the best looking one that they've had. Sounds great. Feels good. And I love the adjustability of it. I love the sliding weight so you can move around, you can actually adjust how heavy that weight is. I tend to hit the ball a little bit on the heel if I miss it. So it’s nice to be able to put some more mass behind the heel so that way when I miss it, it doesn’t spin off to the right as much. So it’s just been a great club for me off the tee.”
John Somers
Southern Hills Plantation Club | North Florida Section
The current PGA Head Professional at Southern Hills Plantation Club and former Elon University golfer is also making his first PGA Championship appearance.
WITB: NEW Titleist Pro V1x Yellow golf ball; TSR3 8.0 driver; TSi2 15.0 fairway; T200 2 iron, 620 CB 4-5 irons, 620 MB 6-9 irons; Vokey Design SM9 46, 52, 56, 62 wedges
On shotmaking with his Pro V1 Yellow… “I would say a majority of the range balls I've always hit were yellow, so I think it was easier to just kind of start hitting the yellow golf ball. I feel like I can pick up the yellow ball in the sky better. And I'm definitely the only one always in my group, so I really don't have to identify it.”
“The X is just a little bit firmer feel, clicky, which I really like. I’m kind of a feel guy all the time. That's one of the things with me and my caddie, Hunter. He's like, ‘all right, it's just a 5 iron.’ I'm like, ‘Nah, I just need the number.’ Cuz it could be a 4, it could be a 7. I just kind of work it how I feel it and it’s just all about feel.
“I lived on a farm in North Carolina, so I was hitting like walnuts with tobacco sticks. So, I mean, you gotta have a lot of feel with that. So, I mean, working shots, I remember in high school I was always curving the ball. I never knew how to hit a straight shot.
“(During Tuesday’s practice round) we had about like 240 (into the par-5 4th hole) had a decent lie and I just hit like a stinger 4-iron. It might have rolled a hundred yards, but it rolled up to about five feet. So it was pretty cool. Bones was right there. He kind of looked back, he was like, what is this yellow ball rolling right past my feet?"
Wyatt Worthington II
The Golf Depot at Central Park | Southern Ohio Section
Wyatt Worthington is making his third PGA Championship appearance, having competed at Baltusrol in 2016 and at Southern Hills in 2022. Worthington is a graduate of Methodist University’s PGA Golf Management program.
WITB: NEW Titleist Pro V1 golf ball; TSR3 9.0 driver; TSR3 15.0 fairway; TSi3 18.0 hybrid; U•500 3 iron, 620 CB 4 iron, 620 MB 5-9 irons; Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 54.12D, 60.08M wedges; Scotty Cameron Super Rat putter
On his Pro V1 golf ball…“Even though the golf ball's the last thing you want to think of (on the course), it's actually the most important thing to think of because it’s the most important piece of equipment that you need. And thankfully, the Pro V1 has been unbelievable with my spin numbers, the flight, the window and just cutting through the wind as well. It's checking off all the boxes. Golf is already tough as it is, so you definitely want to have that ball in in your bag.”
Josh Speight
The Club at Viniterra | Middle Atlantic Section
Speight is also a graduate of the PGA Golf Management Program at Methodist. He competed in the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol and is currently the PGA Director of Instruction at The Club at Viniterra.
WITB: NEW Pro V1x golf ball; TSR3 10.0 driver; TSR3 18.0 fairway; T200 3 iron, T100•S 4-5 irons, T100 6-9 irons; Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 50.12F, 54.12D, 58T; Scotty Cameron Phantom X T5 tour prototype putter
Jesse Droemer
Lakeside Country Club | Southern Texas Section
A PGA Assistant Professional at Lakeside Country Club, Droemer is making his PGA Championship debut. Droemer played collegiately at the University of Houston and competed in the 2018 Valero Texas Open.
WITB: NEW Pro V1x golf ball
Greg Koch
Ritz-Carlton Golf Club-Grande Lakes Orlando | Northern Florida Section
A PGA Assistant Professional and Head of Instruction at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Koch is making his second PGA Championship start this week (Kiawah, 2021).
WITB: Titleist Pro V1 golf ball; TSR3 8.0 driver; TSi3 13.5 fairway; TSi3 18.0 fairway; T200 4-5 irons, T100•S 6-9 irons; Vokey Design SM9 46, 50, 56, 60 wedges; Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11 putter
On his Vokey SM9 lob wedge…“I love my wedges, especially my, my 60 degree. I play the M grind at 8 degrees of bounce. I really like how the sole interacts with the turf. I can use the bounce and hit some like really soft nippers the tight fairways. The open face spinner, I love those shots. I have really two shots with the open face wedge. One's high, one's a little bit lower. The lower one's going take a couple bounces early and check up fast, where the high one's really going to land soft and can kind of stop more on that first to second bounce…."
“The driver's hard to argue with too. I mean, I, I'm in love with that club right now.”
Alex Beach
Westchester Country Club | Metropolitan Section
An Assistant Professional at Westchester Country Club, Beach is a former PGA Professional Champion (2019) and has competed at Quail Hollow, Bethpage Black, TPC Harding Park, Kiawah, and Southern Hills in his previous five PGA Championship starts.
WITB: Titleist Pro V1 golf ball; TSR3 9.0 driver; TSR3 15.0 fairway; TSR2 18.0 hybrid; T100•S 4-5 irons; T100 6-7 irons; 620 MB 8-9 irons; Vokey Design SM9 46.10F, 50.08F, 54.10S, 60.04L wedges
Russell Grove
North Idaho College | Pacific Northwest Section
The Head Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach at North Idaho College, Russell Grove is making his first PGA Championship start.
WITB: NEW Titleist Pro V1 golf ball; TSR3 9.0 driver; TSR3 16.5 fairway; 718 T-MB 4 iron; 718 AP2 5-P irons; Vokey Design SM9 50, 56, 60 wedges; Scotty Cameron Newport SS putter
On his TSR Driver… "Favorite club in the bag has to be the TSR3 (driver). The driver’s huge. It was the dispersion but it’s also the hottest face. I put a bunch of different heads on TrackMan and TSR gave me the highest ball speed…. This course tends to set up for a fade a little bit more off the tee than it does a draw. So we set it up, worked with one of the Titleist guys this morning, teeing it up a little bit lower and getting it on a certain (SureFit) setting so it moves a little left or right, and kind of taking the left miss out of play.”
Anthony Cordes
Cherokee Town & Country Club | Georgia Section
A PGA Assistant Professional at Cherokee Town & Country Club and former Miami (Ohio) University golfer, Cordes is teeing it up in a major championship for the first time.
WITB: NEW Titleist Pro V1x golf ball; TSR2 10.0 driver; TSR1 15.0 fairway; TSR1 18.0 hybrid, TSi3 23.0 hybrid; T100•S 5-P irons; Vokey Design SM9 50, 56, 60 wedges; Scotty Cameron Newport 2 SS putter
On his Pro V1x golf ball…“I play the Pro V1x. This golf ball gives me higher launch, higher spin, and better feel around the greens. I really like it because I can spin it a little bit more and control my distance on my short shots, and I love the way it feels off the putter."
Chris Sanger
Woodstock Golf Club | Northeastern New York Section
The Head Professional at Woodstock Golf Club is believed to be the first club pro from the Northeastern New York PGA Section to make it into a PGA Championship.
WITB: NEW Titleist Pro V1 golf ball; TSR3 8.0 driver; TSR3 18.0 fairway; U•500 3 iron, T100 4-P irons; Vokey Design SM9 50, 54, 58; Scotty Cameron GoLo 7 putter
Chris French
Aldeen Golf Club | Illionois Section
The Head Professional at Aldeen Golf Club is also making his PGA Championship debut.
WITB: NEW Titleist Pro V1x golf ball; TSR2 10.0 driver; TSR2 16.5, 21.0 fairways; U•505 4 iron, T100•S 5-P irons; Vokey Design SM9 50, 54, 58 wedges
Good luck to all of #TeamTitleist competing this week!