WATCH: Tiger Woods chipping for first time since back surgery, DUI arrest
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WATCH: Tiger Woods chipping for first time since back surgery, DUI arrest

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Tiger Woods is back...chipping on a practice range. But he's back! Doing golf stuff!

The 14-time major champion took to Twitter on Thursday, the day before the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs starts at the Dell Technologies Championship, to share some slow-mo footage of him chipping a golf ball. Woods indicated in the tweet that his doctor had given him the all clear to begin chipping again.

This is the first golf action of any kind we've seen publicly from Woods since undergoing a spinal fusion surgery in April, his fourth back procedure dating back to March 2014. That surgery, a fusion of the L5/S1 joint in his back, typically comes with a lengthy recovery time, somewhere in the area of 9 months if a patient is fortunate and aggressive. Woods said initially he hoped to recover from the surgery in 6 months' time.

At the four-month mark, Woods is now able to chip a golf ball. There's no indication from Woods what more he is cleared to do, nor did he offer a timetable for a potential expansion of his golf activities. Woods hasn't played since withdrawing from the Dubai Desert Classic in February after a birdie-free, first-round 77 in the United Arab Emirates. Woods withdrew from planned starts in the U.S., citing discomfort, and made a last-ditch effort to prepare to play in the Masters before choosing to skip that as well. Shortly after announcing a new golf course design at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri, Woods had the spinal fusion procedure.

Woods has been in the public spotlight since the surgery for less-than-desirable reasons. He was arrested on Memorial Day weekend on suspicion of driving under the influence, with a report later revealing Woods was medicated with a series of heavy painkillers, anxiety medication and legal marijuana. He pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge in exchange for agreeing to enter into a first-time offender program.

Woods' privacy was also invaded through a hack of his ex-girlfriend and champion skier Lindsey Vonn, with nude photos of the pair posted -- then quickly removed under the threat of legal action -- from a website called Celeb Jihad.

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Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is the founder, owner and operator of Golf News Net.

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