I would certainly agree with what other folks have been saying. This is a bad ruling as you are completely removing the reason most people take this feat. Also it is actually a reasonable thing to charge into combat shield first, using that to knock someone on their butt…….
— Michael White (@TahnGoldenmane) May 18, 2018
Narratively, it is reasonable to charge in with your shield first, but that has nothing to do with the words in the feat. My ruling boils down to the following: the feat does what it says. As always, the DM decides how things work at a particular table.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) May 18, 2018