For drivers passing by on Louisiana Avenue, the Lafayette municipal golf course is a sea of green in the urban heart of the city, dotted with live oaks, water hazards and golf carts visible through a three-story high netting that lines the roadway.
For non-golfers, the course provides a pleasant backdrop to their daily commute. For residents of north Lafayette, it’s a 100-year-old anchor of the community, a place where generations have grown up working part-time jobs and swimming at the nearby Domingue Recreation Center. And for people like District 5 Lafayette council member Kenneth Boudreaux, and Herb Schilling of Schilling Distributing Company, the course is a core part of their personal histories — a place that has shaped careers and friendships over decades.
Advocate Staff Photograph by Arthur D. Lauck. Picture shot on 6-1-99 USL golf team member Greg Sonnier works with Barret Richard, 8, during Tuesday’s free Junior Golf Clinic held at Links of Lafayette. The four day clinic is sponsored by the Sheriff Don Breaux Golf Classic. After the clinic each child will play in a golf tournament to be held June 14th and 15th at Lafayette Municipal Golf Course. Keyword Aid
“This is the first place I ever hit a golf ball,” said Schilling, sharing memories at the Jay & Lionel Hebert Municipal Golf Course Centennial Kickoff Celebration, held on Friday, March 20 in the clubhouse.
“I ended up playing golf for USL. Went to the city championship. I ended up living a life because of golf that I never could have imagined. I look forward to the course continuing to grow, and making it the very best that it can be.”
The Lafayette municipal golf course was founded in 1926 at the old Lafayette fair grounds, and just seven years later, a 10-year-old named Jay Hebert would begin caddying at the course, according to speaker Matthew Marsiglia, who reported on the golf course’s history at the centennial kick-off event.
The club house of the Lafayette municipal golf course shown in 1927. The golf course, Lafayette’s oldest, today is named the Jay and Lionel Hebert Municipal Golf Course, after local brothers who won the PGA Championship.
“He earned $1 that day, and decided it was a good deal because it was more than he was making as a bat boy. So he continued to caddy until 1936, when his 8-year-old brother Lionel joined his brother to caddy at Muni,” said Marsiglia.
Jay and Lionel Hebert grew up to become renowned golfers, and the only brothers to both win a PGA championship. November 15, 1960 was officially designated as Jay and Lionel Hebert Day in Lafayette, and in 2001 the course was renamed for the brothers in recognition of their legacy.
Lionel Hebert’s granddaughter, Danielle Doucet, represented the Hebert family at the centennial kick-off. “I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of my family, for keeping this place alive and keeping his legacy alive, and allowing stories to continue to be told around the table, over some drinks and smiles,” she said.
City officials, golf course staff and supporters and family members of Jay and Lionel Hebert at the Jay & Lionel Hebert Municipal Golf Course Centennial Kickoff Celebration on March 20, 2026, at the municipal golf course at 1121 Mudd Ave., Lafayette, LA.
Mayor-President Boulet and Lafayette District 5 representative Boudreaux both stated their goal to continue supporting the municipal course through city investments in the area and highlighting the course as a unique asset for the community.
“My kids have played here. My husband has played here. It’s a part of the community that’s really special,” said Boulet. “Since 1926 it’s been a gathering place, sitting among some of our community’s greatest assets — like the newly renovated Fire Station No. 2.
“It’s across the street from the future home of the new library, which I’m very excited about. The O.J. Mouton pool is also not very far away, and it’s one of only two Olympic-sized pools in the whole state — and we’re about to bring it back to life too.”
Boudreaux agreed with the Mayor-President’s rosy outlook for the course and surrounding neighborhood, calling District 5 “God’s country.”
“When I have colleagues come in from all over the country, they are in disbelief that we have a full-fledged, 18-hole golf course in the center of Lafayette, in this community, in this neighborhood. I can tell you it has a huge impact,” he said. “Know that the Jay and Lionel Hebert Municipal Golf Course is here to stay. We’re going to continue to provide the necessary funding so it can grow, so it can remain modern, so it can continue to keep up.”
