The U.S. Open is going to get weird

This isn’t your typical U.S. Open. From the off-the-beaten-path location in the Pacific Northwest to the style of Chambers Bay, things are going to look new this year. The 2015 U.S. Open requires an atypical skill set more likely suited for The Open than … The Open That Likes Punishing Rough And Trees And Precise Target Golf.

If you want the best sampling of what Chambers Bay has to offer during the U.S. Open, there are some specific things to watch. Along with the nuances of the course, and all its nooks and crannies and punishing spots for misses, there are some unique shots to be played and strategies to be deployed.

Watch the 12th hole. Despite being significantly uphill, the 12th hole is a drivable par-4 that plays, at its longest, 311 yards. It’s not your typical risk/reward, though: The bailout areas are better when attempting to drive the green than when simply trying to lay up. Players are going to go at it, and there are express lanes on the green that can funnel a ball towards the hole. It’s also a green where you can putt up a slope to have it horseshoe back down to the hole. Players have gotten close with drives in practice rounds. Maybe someone will jar one.

The 15th hole could play 123 yards … or double that. Depending on the mood of USGA executive director Mike Davis, No. 15 could be a short tee shot that players can attack or a long iron that makes for a nerve-wracking approach. The card lists three lengths -- 123, 167 and 246 yards -- because variety is the spice of life.

No. 9 is going to be wild. With the ability to have the tee shot play either dramatically downhill or dramatically uphill, how the ninth is set up is a mental challenge right away. How the green slopes changes: Back-to-front from the lower tees and left-to-right from the upper tees.

At one point on Wednesday, a player took out a driver after playing a normal tee shot with an iron. He proceeded to start the ball on a line to the left of the grandstands by the green, cutting it all the way back in an effort to catch what was the backstop for the lower tees to take the ball from the far left edge of the green to the far right. It was the act of either a desperate man who has given up solving the problem, or someone who had a eureka moment and conquered his challenge with the least obvious solution.

Then again, an amateur aced the hole from the upper tee boxes on Wednesday. Maybe it’s not so bad.

I’m not even sure what 17 is. It’s like No. 9 lite. It can play downhill or uphill, long or short. And unless you want to get evil, the pin location becomes a process of elimination game. On the left is a massive, banked turn-like slope. On the right, anything a few paces on will funnel back to a collection area that hangs perilously above a bunker. You can put pins in those locations if you like 10-putts, though.

Someone is going to have to play from out of the ridiculous bunker on 18. It’s situated about 120 yards short of the green, right near the layup area when the finishing hole plays as a par-5. It doesn’t look like much from a distance: you can’t see much of it from 18 green, and it looks like a measly fairway bunker from the tee. And then you step into it and stare at a 13-foot wall. Good luck.

Players are going to putt from everywhere. You can’t tell where the fairway ends and the green begins in a lot of places, and that means putting. It’s safer, too: Long is dead in a lot of places, and even the slightest mis-hit could prove disastrous. Thus, pros will do what you and I do: Putt because we’re scared of sculling a shot 30 feet over the green.

Chipping on the green is in play. This is Phil Mickelson’s favorite party trick. Because of the undulations on the greens and the sheer size of them, it wouldn’t be surprising to see someone try to chip on the green. And Phil might do it to play to the grandstand.

I could see every club in a bag being used as a chipping device. Players are hitting typical wedges from green side collection areas, but they’re also hitting every iron under the sun including hybrids, as well as the putter. Would it shock me to see someone get a driver or 3-wood out from beside the green? Nothing would shock me at this point.

There’s an empty hole and it’s going to look odd. The 8th hole runs along the property line at the upper edge of the course. Because Chambers Bay is built in a gravel pit and the 8th is on the upper shelf, it’s impossible to watch the action from alongside the fairways. So you’ll see … nothing. Instead of spectators lining the fairway and green, there’ll be grass and silence.

You’ll hear trains. They won’t blow their horns, but the trains are loud down along the bottom of the property near the water. If you’re not on 15, 16, 17 or 18 tee, the trains are hardly noticeable. The noise of the engines and creaking of cars as a train meanders past Chambers Bay is a different experience, but shouldn’t change much for the players -- though it might be wise to hold a tee shot on 18 Sunday if a train is coming by. Sitting on 17 for about an hour on Wednesday, I saw three or four trains, though, and it’s likely you’ll see a steady stream of them throughout the tournament.

If you’re wondering about train noise power rankings:

1. Freight trains

2. Amtrak regular cars

3. Amtrak Cascades

4. I think that’s all that runs here anyway

If you look down, you’ll miss the view. The first thing you’ll notice is the color: Chambers Bay is mostly brown with specs of light green. It doesn’t look like a U.S. Open, and it’s not going to play like one. But look up, everyone, once in a while, and not just to follow the flight of a ball. Chambers Bay is such a stunning piece of property for the views. From the top of the course, up by Nos. 8 and 9, there’s a superb view of Puget Sound.

The course may look odd, but the surroundings will make for some great TV shots.

SB Nation video archives: The toughest holes in all of golf (2014)