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THE GOG BLOG by RORY SPEARS,, Director of Content and Creation. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy, and on Linkedin, Facebook and now Instagram.

TIME TO GET ON MY SOAPBOX and clean up a few things.

I said a couple of weeks back when the question kept getting asked about having three tournaments within three hours of one another the same week and why would some organization or organizations or tours do that, that I was going to have something to say about it. Well here goes.

It’s now been almost two weeks since what should have been one of the best weeks in golf in the state of Illinois turned into almost one of the worst. Why you ask ! well the problem is that ego’s get in the way and think their event can stand on it’s own, and who cares about anyone else. Regardless of what the organizations say for the record, the bottom line is that all three tournaments the week of July 9-15 that got played head-to-head got their bottom line affected by really, really poor scheduling.

In all honesty, I’m still mad about how it all played out, and I am far from being alone. During the second week of July my column “Triple Play” broke down the three tournaments, in the end all three were played by the powers that be. So were the fans, the media, the volunteers or lack of them, and those watching at home with choices to make on the big screen.

Question #1 seems to be, who is to blame. As of now the finger is pointing at the PGA Champions Tour for piling on a crowded golf week in the State of Illinois, since they were the last tournament to schedule the date. The PGA Tour that ying-yanged around the John Deere Classic, had not put them back into their normal week 2 of July so the USGA jumped in and took it. Then after one year in August, the JDC got moved back into July.

It’s hard to fault to John Deere, but a little communication between the PGA Tour and the USGA could have avoided the mix-up. But communicate they didn’t. The USGA might have had the dates first, but even they are not locked into week 2 of July for a regular playing of the U.S. Sr. Women’s Open. Laura Davies who won the first one at the Chicago Golf Club, only gets to be the champion for 10 months, since the U.S. Sr. Women’s Open date for 2019 is now in May. Where it can go head-to-head with the Men’s PGA Championship at Bethpage on Long Island. The women will play in North Carolina in Southern Pines near Pinehurst.

I know it’s easy to say,can why can’t get everyone in the same room and get them talking with schedules in hand. Easy to say and hard to do. In fact in 2017 at the PGA Merchandise Show, many of the same people were in the media dining room one day, and none of them would move over two tables to speak with one another. Then came the bad news that some media days were going to get scheduled the same day five months later. i found myself playing go-between to keep that from happening.

All three of our tournaments from two weeks ago ended up selling less corporate hospitality, all were short on volunteers, and ticket sales, and merchandise sales and most of all, fans. That might not get admitted to, but it’s the truth. While the media members who got stretched to far, all came up short in wallet and left regular employers scrambling to find other help. I didn’t enjoy missing the John Deere Classic for the first time in 30 years. All three tournaments deserved their own stage, instead of one that was shared and over-crowded.

The second week of July was not the only screw-up. Two weeks earlier the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship came to town at Kemper Lakes, while the top women amateur players were competing at Mistwood. The Women’s Western Golf Association (WWGA) that ran it’s national amateur championship at Mistwood apparently is guilty of the piling on in this case. On a smaller scale, the Illinois Women’s Open also played at Mistwood last week, over-lapped with the Illinois State Amateur.

Where does this end, it doesn’t. Next year there are some women’s events over-lapping including a round at the famed Augusta National GC, and the ANA LPGA major. The PGA of America Juniors and the USGA Junior Girls will crossover as well so I’m told.

What’s amazing is when spokesman for various golf organizations are asked about conflicts, they will actually say something like this, “it’s the only day or days we could do it.” Really, they need to look in a mirror and realize how dumb it makes them sound. A major loss of credibility goes right along with it.

Maybe what’s needed is to lift a tip from the airlines, who impose “Blackout dates”. So that once a market is spoken for, no other organization can schedule on top of them. I don’t know if that could be done or not, but common sense needs to start somewhere, but so far based on next year’s issues already on the calendar, it is not happening yet.

When that happens, golf loses, everyone loses, and that is sad. RS