Something feels very familiar these last two weeks. Its been a few years since I've felt an energy from casual sports fans during golf conversations and I only started to get this feeling late Monday afternoon. Maybe its been waiting to resurface. Maybe its been festering up inside fans, just begging for the right time to come out.

That thing I'm talking about? Positive, encouraged talk about Tiger Woods playing golf andexcitement that he is on fire and the Masters is just around the corner.

Tiger Woods is finally back, not to the most dominant form in the history of golf, but to playing consistent golf off the tee and on the green to the point that his swagger walking down the fairway is evident.

He's back to being a force to be reckoned with every week and that can go along way psychologically not only for him but also in putting a seed of doubt in the minds of his opponents when he starts heating up.

He's also back on top of the World Golf Rankings - a spot he owned for many years.

The golf media and fans have gone back and forth debating if he was finally back to his old self so many times since Woods came back to golf after his scandal that it became a running joke. A drive into the rough meant he would never win again and sinking a long putt meant it was time to start picking between Tiger and the field every week. That may be a bit of an over reaction, but it sure felt that way.

What's most encouraging this time around is Woods is fully healthy, controlling his drives off the tee and putting with confidence. We've seen bits and pieces of those characteristics at different times in the past, but now he's got all three locked in consistently.

At the very least, he's making casual sports fans come back to the game and take notice.