PAR EXCELLENCE ON OLD COURSES Hiking spots open as Mother Nature takes over where golfers once roamed

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The cart paths are a bit more rugged along the back nine, but easily manageable. A large wooden bridge takes visitors over a scenic marsh area. The holes are less discernible on the Middletown side, where secondary succession is well under way as cedars and birches grow where fairways and greens once were. hiking trails and other passive activities.

The property is beautiful with a mix of huge trees and fields — an oasis in a highly developed area with I-91 buzzing along much of its western border and residential areas surrounding the rest. The Mill Brook snakes through much of the property and the town has done a nice job replacing some of the bridges that were impassable.

Although marked trails are being developed, the best way to explore the golf course is along the cart paths. The town has put in a few temporary signs marked “clubhouse” to direct visitors back to the parking area. But it’s pretty easy to navigate the old course.

Last month, the Mill Brook open space steering committee concluded Tradition’s future should be “an open space park that complements existing parks and trails and is readily accessible for passive recreation and environmental education in harmony with the natural environment.”

Both Pistol Creek and Tradition have been returning to that world ever since the last ball was putted into the 18th hole.

Hartford Democrat Matt Ritter is majority leader in the state House of Representatives. His title was incorrect in a story on page A1 Saturday.

PETER MARTEKA/HARTFORD COURANT PHOTOS An abandoned hole at Pistol Creek from tee-off area to the fairway to the weed-filled green below.

In this week’s Nature column, Peter Marteka describes visits to abandoned golf courses reclaimed by Mother Nature and now open to the public as nature preserves. An old cart bridge crosses a swamp at the abandoned Pistol Creek Golf Course in Middletown.

A view from the top of Pistol Creek.