This month we profile Brandon Richardson, PGA. In addition to being ADM Certified, he has completed the PGA Specialized Professional Program in Teaching and Coaching. PGA Specialization “benefits my coaching business in that it communicates to students I am committed to their development by continuing my education in the teaching & coaching of the game,” said Brandon.
Facility: Golf with Freedom Lesson Center
Hometown: Junction City, OR
PGA Member Since: 2011
How did you get started in your golf career and who were your mentors?
At age 11, Brandon had won his first tournament and started playing in local and regional junior events around the Pacific Northwest. He continued to develop his game and had a successful high school career, including three District titles and one State title. The highlight of his playing career came in 2006 when he earned a spot in the Nationwide Tour’s Oregon Classic at Shadow Hills Country Club, his home course, by winning the Pacific Northwest PGA Section Qualifier.
“I dropped out of college to pursue playing and coaching in 2003. I was playing mini tours part time and started out as an assistant instructor, coaching junior camps and private lessons for the PGA Director of Instruction at Fiddler’s Green.”
Brandon joined the PGA as an apprentice in 2006, and became a Class A PGA Member in 2011.
“Joe Rauschenburg, Mark Keating, Fred Shoemaker and Jo Ann Hardy have been extraordinarily influential in my development as a coach and as a human being.”