Phil Mickelson said his design firm placed a bid on the project that eventually became Chambers Bay, site of this year's U.S. Open, which starts Thursday.

"I thought it was a spectacular piece of property. But it wouldn't have turned out anything like this," Mickelson said. "Not good or bad, I think it's a wonderful course. My vision was totally different."

And that's no surprise. With trains and flip-flopping holes, this might be the strangest course ever to hold a major championship.

Former Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Dave Parker once hit a minor-league home run that landed in a freight train as it passed a Charleston, W. Va., ballpark. The ball ended up in Cincinnati. "Longest home run ever hit," the locals still call it.

The way Tiger Woods is driving the ball, one of his tee shots could end up in Canada.

Here are nine quirky characteristics of Chambers Bay, where the guy who wants to be U.S. Open champ will have to be open-minded:

The clubhouse is a one-story building about the size of a typical suburban home. The course is publicly funded, so there is little opulence. Inside the clubhouse are a pro shop, bathrooms and a restaurant, not much else. County officials are in talks with developers for a privately funded clubhouse, which might be part of a larger housing development near the course.

The site of the course was a gravel pit just eight years ago.

Freight and passenger trains chug along tracks that run alongside the 16th and 17th holes.

Chambers Bay doesn't have a locker room for the players. Stars won't be putting on their shoes in the parking lot, however. Tents, built by the USGA, include locker facilities and dressing rooms.

There is one tree on the course and it's not even in play. Lone Fir stands near the 16th tee box.

The course is part of a large public park -- Central Meadow, which hosts touch football games, kite-flying, dog-walkers and sun bathers. There are hiking and biking trails and the Playground by the Sound.

An 800-foot pedestrian bridge, built for $3 million, gives residents access to the beach over the railroad tracks.

With multiple tee boxes, holes Nos. 1 and 18 each will switch between pars 4s and par 5s. When one is a par 4, the other will be a par 5, and vice versa, to keep par at 70.

The par-3 ninth can play uphill or downhill, depending on the tee box.

New Jersey's Morgan Hoffmann is one of 11 players who competed at Chambers Bay in 2010 for the U.S. Amateur. He likes the course. Or so he says.

"Oh, it will be exciting, absolutely," Hoffmann said. "There's going to be shots you see on TV that they're going to replay and you're going to say, 'How did that happen?' Because you can't see anywhere near what the slopes are."

But the trains? Those you can see coming.

Kevin Manahan may be reached at kmanahan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevinCManahan. Find NJ.com on Facebook.