BASTROP, Texas — Nothing is ever quite as satisfying as "the good old days." Just ask Gilbert Cervantes.

"I'd walk up here with my cousins and we'd share clubs and play golf," Cervantes said.

Cervantes misses the greens he spent many decades walking. Now, the course he remembers is unrecognizable.

"A lot of growth and weeds, and something that kind of bothers me because of what it used to be like," said Cervantes.

Back in its prime, the Lost Pines Golf Club was a beloved spot for Bastrop golfers.

"I was able to get a full golf scholarship to Baylor University, and playing here at this golf course afforded me that opportunity," said Christy Rivera, Cervantes’s oldest daughter.

Since the golf course closed two years ago, Rivera says the community has felt the loss.

"You're robbing students and juniors and families and seniors and women the opportunity to come and play at a place that's affordable, that's convenient and that is the heart of the City of Bastrop," Rivera said.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department put out a request when the course closed calling for a new owner to step in and maintain it.

But after eight months, that request went unanswered.

"It wasn't in parks and wildlife's interest to close the course,” said Jamie Creacy with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. “It being historic to the very fabric to our historical national landmark here, we wanted to keep it operational."

Since the desire to keep it open wasn't met by city and county officials, the parks department is now moving forward.

"We're not looking at it as a golf course, we are looking at our other options,” Creacy said. “There's a lot of interest in our community in additional trails, outdoor education, a visitor's center has been in need at this park for years and years."

Despite plans for a future without the course, some in the community still hold out hope that this piece of their treasured past will be restored.

"Let's bring this golf course back to life. And you bring dreams and opportunities back to life with it,” said Renee Cervantes, Gilbert’s youngest daughter.

The Lost Pines Golf Club dates back to 1937. It was originally a nine-hole course, but was expanded to 18 holes in the 1990s.