The last time Jordan Spieth was on top of the golf world was nine years ago when he strolled down the 18th fairway at Royal Birkdale with the Claret Jug in hand. That Sunday, Spieth joined Jack Nicklaus as the only player to win three different majors at age 23 or younger. Everything was in front of him.

Things have been different for Spieth since that day at the 2017 Open when he painted his masterpiece. He has won only twice on the PGA Tour since and no majors. No longer golf’s wunderkind, Spieth arrives back at Birkdale changed by time and life.

“Both [on course and off] I’m very different; I’ve changed a lot,” Spieth told GOLF at the PGA Championship at Aronimink when asked about morphing from golf’s young hero to a star trying to find an ember to re-spark the flame.

That day outside Philadelphia, Spieth was adamant his game was in the best place it has been since his prime. Everything hadn’t clicked at the same time, but the game is all there, back at a level close to where he was that day in Southport. Something was just missing. Find it, and perhaps the dominoes would start to fall.

So, of course, when Spieth arrived back at Royal Birkdale, he went back to the place where he last was that Jordan Spieth.

“Walking up the 18th and remembering what it was like to walk up that 18th hole nine years ago, [I putted] to the pins that I putted to [that Sunday],” Spieth told the media on Monday.

There’s something to be said for returning to a place where you achieved your dreams and letting those memories fill your soul, pointing you to the path back. But you can also never be what you once were. Perhaps in that sense it’s perfect that a different Jordan Spieth arrives at a different Royal Birkdale.

When Spieth triumphed in Southport, he famously made an improbable bogey 5 on the 13th hole after he blew his tee shot right, hit a fan in the head and had to take an unplayable, eventually playing his third shot from the driving range. That won’t be an option this week. In the years since his victory, Royal Birkdale has made some changes. The area right of the 13th will be considered out of bounds this week; it’s now a fan village and the OB will start at the cart path right of the dunes.

That’s not the only change at the host of this year’s Open. The par-3 14th, where Spieth hit a brilliant 6-iron to 5 feet to kick off his winning birdie run, is no longer. The hole was removed during the renovation and the par-5 15th, where Spieth made a 50-foot eagle putt and shouted “Go get that!” to caddie Michael Greller, is now the 14th hole and that green has been moved to a more elevated position.

“Obviously, some of those holes coming in have changed,” Spieth said. “That [6-iron at 14] was maybe the best shot and [the eagle at 15 was the] best putt I’ve ever hit. They don’t exist anymore, which is a little unusual. Hope to create some more great memories here.

“In some regard, it’s kind of nice because I’ll never hit a shot that — this last time, it was like a walk-off. I go back and try to do it again and I don’t hit as good of a shot, then it’s not as cool.” Spieth said.

The canvas from Spieth’s Mona Lisa might be gone, but the belief and confidence that allowed him to paint it still remain. All that let’s left is to find what’s missing at the place he last had it.

Nine years ago, Jordan Spieth spent 20 minutes sorting through his options for a drop with the Claret Jug on the line. The wait seemed to last forever. The time since has flown by.

Just like that, the Open Championship is back at Royal Birkdale for the club’s 11th turn as host. Before play begins, here are some things to know about one of golf’s great championship venues.

It was born as a nine-hole course

The club first welcomed play in 1889 on what was then a nine-hole course. Eight years later, it moved to its current home in the Birkdale Hills, where 18 holes were laid out by George Lowe, the head pro at nearby Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

It’s in a golf-rich zip code

Public tee times are a no-go at Royal Birkdale this week. But there are plenty of other nearby places to play. An hour’s drive along the coast of the Irish Sea will get you to a constellation of outstanding courses, including Royal Lytham, Royal Liverpool, Wallasey, Formby, West Lancashire, Hillside and Southport & Ainsdale.

It’s a relative newcomer to the rota

Of all the clubs on the current Open rota, Royal Birkdale is the newest addition. Though it was founded in 1889, it didn’t host its first Open until 1954, when Peter Thomson claimed the Claret Jug.

Its “Royal” designation marked a rising reputation

Not every great links gets the royal treatment. Royal Birkdale earned its designation in 1951, when King George VI granted the club permission to add the coveted prefix to its name. The timing wasn’t incidental. In 1946 and 1948, Birkdale had shined while staging the British Amateur Championship and the Curtis Cup, respectively. Then, in 1951, six months before the monarch gave his official sign-off, the club had proved its mettle — and an even bigger tournament was still to come.

It was stadium golf before that became a thing

Long before the rise of man-made stadium courses, Royal Birkdale offered a natural example — the layout, which ranks 42nd on GOLF’s list of the Top 100 Courses in the World, runs through a landscape of towering dunes. Despite those dramatic features, the design itself is relatively understated, with mostly mellow contours and few blind shots. It is often referred to as the “fairest” Open test, though don’t try telling that to anyone who spends time in the riveted fairway bunkers, which are steep, devilishly placed and central to the course’s defense.

Its clubhouse breaks the links mold

Unlike the stately Victorian and Tudor clubhouses found at several Open venues, Royal Birkdale’s headquarters looks almost futuristic. The striking Art Deco building opened in 1935 after architects Fred Hawtree and J.H. Taylor rerouted the course, moving the opening hole and rendering the old pavilion obsolete.

Architect George Tonge won a design competition with a building inspired by an ocean liner. As he later explained, “I imagined the lines of a liner at sea; the perfect balance of the ship at whatever angle and from whatever side it was seen.”

Nearly a century later, it remains one of the most recognizable clubhouses in championship golf.

A career bookended by Birkdale

Thomson’s victory in 1954 was the first of three straight Open titles in a career that would ultimately include five. Royal Birkdale served as the bookends to that remarkable run, as it also hosted the ’65 Open, the last time Thomson hoisted the Claret Jug.

It has produced marquee winners — and unforgettable moments

Royal Birkdale’s roster of champions reads like a Hall of Fame ballot. Peter Thomson, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Padraig Harrington and Jordan Spieth have all lifted the Claret Jug here.

The near-misses have been almost as memorable.

In 1976, a 19-year-old Seve Ballesteros burst onto the international stage with a precocious performance punctuated by a deft chip from the fescue that bounded between bunkers to within tap-in range on the 18th hole, securing a tie for second with Jack Nicklaus.

Twenty-two years later came another breakout showing. This time it was 17-year-old amateur Justin Rose, who holed out from the rough on the final hole to finish fourth, a shot that gave rise to one of the Open’s more meme-worthy celebrations.

Then came Spieth in 2017.

The championship is remembered for a 20-minute rules discussion after his wayward drive on the 13th. But what followed was even more remarkable. Spieth salvaged bogey, then played his final five holes in five-under par, highlighted by an eagle at the par-5 15th and a hole-out from a greenside bunker at the 17th, turning one of the Open’s strangest detours into one of its finest finishes.

It’s not the same Birkdale Spieth conquered

Championship courses often get the architectural equivalent of nips and tucks between major events. Royal Birkdale has had something closer to a facelift.

Since Spieth’s victory in 2017, the club has made several substantial changes. The old 14th hole is gone, while the new 15th is an absolute brute — a par-3 that can stretch to 240 yards. After a scouting visit, Spieth described the new hole as compelling but suggested it could get “funky” with the tees in the wrong place, perhaps playing better when moved forward into more of a 6- or 7-iron range.

The 5th hole has also been transformed from a partially blind tee shot into a drivable par-4 after the removal of a large dune, giving players a clear look at the green. Beware the pond lurking to the right.

As for the new 15th, the first bunker by the green can mess with your mind. Sir Nick Faldo has described it as an “optical delusion” because, from the tee, it appears to sit directly in front of the putting surface when it’s actually offset to the left.