As we enter Masters Week, the talk is of new Official Golf Rankings No. 1 Tiger Woods and his resurgent form.

Is he back or isn’t he?

Well, not for me. Not yet. Tiger wins PGA Tour events like he’s shelling peas and I doubt he’s consider himself back until he wins a major. Where better (and more likely) than Augusta to do that?

But let’s talk about Tiger the icon.

My golfing idols when I was growing up spanned three decades. They were Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper, Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros and Lee Trevino. Now six may seem a lot but they were all quite different, but the one thing they all had was charisma, bucket loads of it. When they walked on the tee it was special. They had a great rapport with the crowd and whist they were combative, I always felt that they were enjoying it and that made me enjoy it too.

It’s ironic that none of the six was the reason I took an interest in golf. That credit goes to Tony Jacklin. Even though he won his first Major in 1969, Jacklin was still a force to be reckoned with by 1973 when I first picked up a club, with multiple wins on both sides of the Atlantic and he was British. Jacklin was a fierce competitor as a player (and later as a Ryder Cup captain) but for whatever reason didn’t project the same aura that the aforementioned did.

Now of course there have been some pretty amazing golfers in recent years. Watson, Miller, Norman, Faldo, Lyle and Woosnam to name a few (all except Miller won the Masters), but the six I’ve chosen were, to me, extra special.

Then in 1994, a young man named Tiger Woods announced his presence by winning the first of his three Amateur titles. To date Tiger has won more than 160 tournaments, amateur and professional, and is a multi-million dollar business in his own right and possibly the most famous sports star on the planet.

Tiger Woods shows off his muscles to Golf Digest.

Tiger has — undoubtedly from a fitness perspective — positively influenced his fellow tour players and aspiring amateurs. Just look at how much more athletic golfers are. I believe that this is largely due to knowledge of Tiger’s regime and an acknowledgement that to stay close to him, every golfer has to “up their game” both physically and mentally. This positive influence has permeated the amateur ranks and it augurs well for the ever-rising standard of golf.

From a social view point, it’s fair to say that Tiger has been extremely influential. For years barriers have existed at clubs both in respect of age, gender and race. While there are still some examples of this, Tiger has been a key influencer in opening doors for African Americans and the black golfing community globally, and this will have encouraged the black community to look at golf as a sport it should play and be accepted into.

Did you know that the PGA of America had a Caucasian-only clause right up until 1961? Incredible isn’t it? So let’s not forget those that played such an important part in paving the way for a Tiger to emerge. John Schippen, an African-American and Shinneock Indian mixed-race man, played in the second U.S. Open in 1896. Charlie Sifford, Pete Brown, Lee Elder, Calvin Peete all made it onto the tour and there were many others, black and white, that fought hard for equality in other areas of the game.

Has Tiger grown the game? I don’t know because there are so many contradicting statistics, but I do think that he got it back in the news and gave it a younger and more exciting image, so that has to be a good thing His emergence certainly came at a time when many greats were on the way down and the game needed a bit of excitement with so few characters on the tour. And as someone in the industry, I am extremely grateful for that.

But I believe that there is so much more he can do with little effort. On the several occasions that I’ve been up close in tournament play and on the range, I’ve witnessed considerable energy channeled toward him with people willing him to do well. Unfortunately I’ve not seen him truly engage with the fans either on the range or on the course. I appreciate the need to focus, but I’d love him to relax and show some enjoyment and appreciation of the goodwill that’s directed at him.

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When I last watched Tiger at Bay Hill in 2008, I recalled walking up the left of No. 18 and after he played his approach I was asking fans if they thought he’d hole the 25-foot putt to beat Bart Bryant. The vast majority said yes, but some actually said they didn’t want him to but they believed he would. So even his detractors were giving him positive energy. The reason I was asking so many people is because I’m fascinated by the power that positivity has. Look at the delight of the fans after he holed the putt. They were grateful just to have witnessed the event.

When Tiger encountered his personal problems (and I saw them as just that, personal. Nobody else’s business.) and after the ill-advised and cringing public apology, Tiger’s attitude changed. He suddenly seemed more accessible, more engaging and more receptive to the fans’ appreciation of his talent and to an extent their empathy. But sadly this was short-lived. Was the stage-managed apology really just a commercial exercise?

So back to now and some incredible performances and wins at Doral and again at Bay Hill. Is Tiger almost back where he was? He may just be getting back to the towering and intimidating figure on the tour that made Sundays so exciting. I hope so, because how I miss those days.

So I think no matter which way you look at it, Tiger has been good for the game. But he could do so much more.