If you've been watching the 2023 US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, right in the heart of the City of Angels, you've no doubt heard a few strange animal sounds coming through on TV. You might have heard a monkey or another animal that might sound like it belongs in a zoo, not near a golf course.
However, there is no zoo close to Los Angeles Country Club, so why are there monkey sounds and other animal noises at the 2023 US Open?
As it turns out, the reason for the animal sounds is the Playboy Mansion. Hugh Hufner's old Playboy Mansion is located just off the 14th hole at Los Angeles Country Club's North Course, and there are a variety of wild animals at the property, including squirrel monkeys. There are also some peacocks, which sound almost like crying human babies, which are making noise that can be heard by the golfers and spectators alike.
Hefner died in 2017, and the property was purchased by the ultra-wealthy Daren Metropoulos of Metropoulos & Co. in August 2016. As he was renovating the property, Metropoulos decided he would keep the animals Hefner had at the property, and they've remained in the nearly seven years since.
There may be as many as 50 squirrel monkeys in cages that are visible from the tee box on the par-5 14th hole. Further, there have been monkeys, cockatoos, African cranes, parrots, toucans, pelicans and doves among the birdlife there.
It's a bit of a disconcerting sound for a golfer that might be expecting other Los Angeles noises -- helicopters, traffic, something people-related -- in the background during the national championship. In the end, though, exotic animals making noise at a freakishly rich person's home is absolutely a thing that would happen in Los Angeles (and probably Florida, too).
There's really nothing the USGA or anyone related to the club can do about the animal sounds, so expect them to continue throughout the week -- and perhaps unnerve golfers at an inopportune time as they go for the third men's major of the calendar year.
