Tiger Woods still has "no timetable" for his return to golf following back surgery but has issued a positive update on his progress.
Woods posted a video of himself hitting a nine-iron on his home simulator last week in response to rumours he had suffered a setback in his rehabilitation.
In a statement on his official website, the 40-year-old insisted he remained determined to play "at the highest level again", but said he will not return until he feels he is healthy enough to compete.
"As I announced last week, I am starting to feel a lot better," said Woods, who has not played since undergoing his third back operation in September and has now tumbled to 446th in the world rankings.
"I have been chipping and putting at home, and recently started hitting 9 irons. That's been so nice. My son Charlie and I compete in just about everything and have three-hole chipping contests. The loser has to do push-ups. My short game feels pretty sharp.
"The big thing right now is trying to get stronger and more flexible. Sitting out as long as I did, some weakening occurred, and I have a lot of work ahead of me.
"While there is no timetable on my return to competitive golf, I want to play this game at the highest level again. In order to do that, I have to get healthy.
"I've received many nice calls and texts from my fellow PGA Tour players and want to thank them for their support and encouragement. It's a fraternity out there, and we're all in this together."
Woods has rarely been seen since undergoing a microdisectomy in September which required a follow-up procedure the following month, and he admitted he was "struggling to find light at the end of the tunnel" when he hosted the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December.
But after tweeting the video of himself making a smooth swing with a nine-iron, Woods then attended a Ryder Cup party held by Jack Nicklaus during last week's Honda Classic at PGA National.
Nicklaus was delighted to see that Woods seemed "very healthy" and added: "He really misses playing. So that's good. He says he was feeling great, and he was able to stand over a putt and chip now without having any leg pain and so forth. We didn't really talk a whole lot about it."