Zoo Animals at the U.S. Open? Explaining the Strange Noises Behind LACC’s 14th Tee
LOS ANGELES — Golf isn’t really a game of sounds—or at least it’s not supposed to be. But competition adds more audio into the mix: gentle applause, a precautionary “fore!,” the occasional “mashed potatoes” from the crowd. Any other noise-making in golf, however, is considered unconventional, distracting or even frowned upon.
The sounds one can hear from No. 14 at Los Angeles Country Club aren’t just unconventional, though, they’re flat-out bizarre: a chorus of screeching monkeys and cawing peacocks—which sound more like crying babies—echo near the 13th green and 14th tee at the ultra-exclusive private country club that is hosting the 123rd U.S. Open.
The strangely placed sample of wildlife is actually part of a licensed zoo, but this is no ordinary zoo. It’s a part of Hugh Hefner’s former home. That’s right, the former Playboy Mansion borders the site of the season's third major.
The pop-culture icon and Playboy magazine editor-in-chief died in 2017, but the zoo now lives on under the operation of its new owner. Billionaire Daren Metropoulos of Metropoulos & Co purchased the mansion in August 2016, and according to Page Six, decided to keep the animals while renovating the property and combining it with his own home next door. Walking down the 13th fairway, the upper third of the mansion is visible above some overgrown hedges.
As the best golfers in the world rotated through that corner of the golf course during practice rounds—hitting various chip shots on 13 and roasting drives down the 623-yard par-5 14th—squeals and wails reverberated in the background, as did a few pieces of construction equipment.
“Yeah, you can hear the monkeys almost every time you go back there. There’s a bunch of other wildlife back there that you can hear occasionally,” Patrick Cantlay said. Cantlay, a native of Long Beach, Calif., played college golf just down the road at UCLA, and has been around LACC dozens of times.
Walk around the back of the 14th tee (with inside-the-ropes access) and you can actually see the monkey cage, which is filled with what might be more than 50 squirrel monkeys. At the sight of humans, the troop becomes even more vocal.
Zac Blair, a PGA Tour player, told the Golfer’s Journal that in 2015, he played a round at LACC with some members, who frequently visited the cage while passing through the back nine. Blair attempted to feed the creatures a banana that he had picked up at the halfway house—despite warnings that the monkeys are “a little wild”—and was bitten.
“It kind of sounds like the L.A. Zoo. There are monkey sounds and you couple that with golfers coming by and saying their two cents about the Playboy Mansion," Brian Corter, a marshal stationed at the hole, told Sports Illustrated. “I think everybody says, ‘boy I’d like to get a peek in there and see what happened,’ and then they realize it’s been quite a few years since Hef has been around.”
In 2014, Crystal Hefner, Hugh’s third wife, told The Hollywood Reporter that monkeys, cockatoos, peacocks, African cranes, parrots, toucans, pelicans, and doves resided on the property, which stretches for 5.3 acres. Hefner bought the mansion in 1971 for $1.1 million.
“The first thing he did when he bought the property was add the animals and the zoo and just make it a great environment for them,” she said. “It’s like an oasis here. We live in paradise.”
Any golfer might add that the mansion’s location, just steps from an iconic George Thomas design, makes it even more desirable. But it turns out that the property’s location wasn’t useful for Hefner in that sense.
His request for membership at the club was allegedly rejected, as LACC is famous for keeping out Hollywood elites. With the help of a few furry friends, however, Hefner’s presence at the course was nevertheless significant—and it still is.