Talkin' Symetra Tour at Circling Raven, and other stuff

For whatever reason, readers seem to love “notes” columns.

You know, a little of this and a smidge of that — rather than deep examination of a single subject.

Unless, of course, the subject in question is something they feel passionate about.

We do our best to address those obvious issues in some depth but, sure, a few bing-bang-boom columns are fun every once in a while, too.

So let’s put one on the road…

ITEM: Golf season is finally winding down — unless you’re a snowbird who gets to tee it up half the year in Arizona or Palm Springs.

Either way, if your game didn’t improve this summer, I have good news.

Instead of watching every stroke of the Masters or the U.S. Open — hey, those guys are playing a different sport entirely — you’re better off paying attention to women professionals.

They tend to swing more smoothly and execute the fundamentals that weekend players need, because not many ladies can just batter a golf course to its knees like Brooks Koepka.

You can see some up-and-comers in the women’s game next August, when the Symetra Tour — whose top 10 season finishers graduate to the LPGA — comes to Circling Raven, the spectacular layout down by Worley.

I’ve covered one of these events (in Decatur, Ill.), and I was hugely and happily surprised on two counts.

First, these ladies can play. Seriously play.

Watch and learn.

By the way, when I say you can see them, I mean see them up close.

Despite how important these events may be in pursuit of an LPGA card, almost all the players happily interact with spectators — definitely after they’ve played but sometimes even during a round.

I’ll write more about this when it gets closer, but trust me…

It’s a fantastic time and you can learn a whole lot about your golf swing.

Watch this space.

ITEM: We’ll do a full examination for you sometime during the MLB playoffs, but I can tell you now that all systems are go in the Mariners rebuilding project.

Several of the more advanced minor league prospects got a feel for The Show during the final month of the season, and frankly, they looked like they belonged.

Kyle Lewis set a major-league record by hitting homers in four of his first six games.

Lewis needs more plate discipline, which hopefully will come with time and experience, but his bat speed is at the blur level — which you realize when he’s crushing upper deck bombs to right field as a right-handed hitter.

This guy doesn’t need a juiced baseball to hit rockets.

Pitchers Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn, both projected starters down the line, each looked nervous when landing in the big leagues.

Both, however, settled down and began to get plenty of impressive outs as the season wound down.

You can see why the Mariners organization is high on both of them.

Add in gifted starters like Logan Gilbert and George Kirby — both a tad behind Sheffield and Dunn — and you can visualize a pretty salty rotation.

There are plenty more prospects at various levels.

Jarred Kelenic (just 20 years old) and Julio Rodriguez (18) so far look like potential outfield starters, for instance.

Yes, things can always go wrong with kids, but…

The M’s seem to have so many top-class youngsters that it appears Jerry Dipoto’s “step back” plan could ultimately be worth the short-term pain.

ITEM: This is legit hockey country.

Sometimes it’s tough to notice because, although the Chiefs can give you a fix over in Spokane and there are local leagues at Frontier Ice Arena, there’s been one giant gap.

Seattle hasn’t had an NHL team.

That’s about to change, and boasting the highest-quality hockey in Seattle, beginning with the 2021-22 season, will knit things together throughout the region.

So far, the new franchise has done everything right, including the savvy hiring of Ron Francis as general manager.

(Quick aside: I know Tim and Tod Leiweke from way back, when they were running an indoor soccer team in Kansas City and giving away tickets in grocery stores. They’ve come a long way since then, as Tim is part of the Seattle ownership group and Tod will be CEO of the franchise.)

It’s especially pleasing, though, to see the hiring of Hall of Famer Cammi Granato as one of Seattle’s first five pro scouts.

Granato, who led the USA to an upset victory over Canada in the gold medal game at the 1998 Olympics, is the first woman to land such a position.

To be fair, other organizations have women scouting the amateur circuit — San Jose, Anaheim and Toronto have been out front in that area (Haley Wickenheiser was hired last year as an assistant director of player development for the Maple Leafs).

The 48-year-old Granato, however, is opening new territory in the pro scouting ranks.

Now if the Seattle “Whatevers” would finally settle on a team name, things would be really be rocking.

It’s not like the Leiwekes to pass up a chance to sell a few million team sweaters carrying the club insignia.

Well?

We’re waiting.

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns for The Press appear on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Steve also contributes the “Zags Tracker” package on Gonzaga basketball once monthly during the offseason.

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