HOUSTON -- For eighteen months the eighteen holes at Inwood Forest Country Club have been silent.

On a chilly February day last year, members of club played their last rounds.

“I hear that they’re gonna build streets down the middle of the fairway and put low income housing on the course,” former club member Floyd Krennerich said.

But very little has happened since residents along the course have sued to block development.

“And we were told it would always be part of the golf course and that’s why everyone purchased their home on the golf course,” resident Clymer Wright, Jr. said.

The weeds have since taken over the sand traps. That’s because residents have convinced the city to enforce its anti-weed ordinance which allows nothing taller than nine inches, or else the golf course owners get charged $1,000 a day.

“So basically what you see here is an abandoned golf course that’s not in too bad a shape,” Wright said.

But the Quail Valley Country Club in Missouri City was a different story. There, the city took control of the course through eminent domain and reopened it as a public park.

Now State Senator John Whitmire is urging the City of Houston and Harris County to do the same thing.

“If they don’t provide leadership, I will explore what it will take for the state to make it an urban state park,” Sen. Whitmire said.

And Whitmire has experience with this sort of thing.

Last year, he quietly slipped in legislation that pumped enough state money into Houston’s 11th Street Park to save it. 

“It would certainly be something that we would look at closely and would probably be in favor of,” said Wright.

But that would mean spending millions of tax dollars to bring the golfers back to this empty course.

Inwood Forest Partners owns the golf course. Carrie Taylor, a spokesperson, told 11News "Given its location, the land has significant value for a mix of uses, including flood control and recreation. Our hope is that its reemployment will be a catalyst for positive change, reinvigorating property values in that part of Houston. We have been attempting to work with the City for smart and prudent redevelopment of this area. This would include preserving the visual integrity of the neighborhood, while increasing the land's use and value to the community."