When Tiger Woods was starting out on the PGA Tour, he thought playing hurt was just part of what it took to become a successful golfer.

“I think when we are younger, we feel more bullet proof, or invulnerable, because we heal so much faster,” Woods said on Tuesday.

The 36-year-old says he now understands the difference between rehabilitating an injury properly and rushing back to competition.

On top of that, he has had to learn to balance his rehab with a strict training regime that has helped propel him to 14 major championships.

“The more we age, the more time we need to heal,” Woods said.

“I understand training way better now than I did before. Wearing myself out for no reason at all – which we all did when we were younger. I have to train smarter, practise smarter.

“I have proven to myself I can play hurt as well as injured. But that is a double-edged sword because I can go out there and play like I did at the 2008 (US) Open and not feel my best and still win a golf tournament.

“So where is the line of demarcation between injury and pain? That is what I have always struggled with in the past because I don’t know where the line is, because I can be successful either way.”

Woods makes his 2012 US PGA Tour debut starting on Thursday at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am which is also the same venue where he posted one of his most dominant major championship wins at the 2000 US Open.

It is also his first appearance at Pebble Beach since tying for 12th in 2002.

“My body’s feeling explosive again and, consequently, I am hitting the ball further,” said Woods, who shared third place two weeks ago in his only other start of the year in Abu Dhabi.

“I haven’t played (Pebble Beach) and it has been scheduling. This time, it fits perfectly into my schedule.”

Pebble Beach was not only the site of his crushing 15-stroke US Open victory but also where he rallied from a seven-shot deficit that same year to win the Pro-Am tournament.

Former world No.1 Woods has won once and finished third twice in his past three tournaments as he looks to recapture the form that made him the most dominant PGA Tour player over the past 10 years.

That was before the 2009 sex scandal and injuries to his neck and knee that left his personal life and golf game in shambles.

His only victory since came in December at the post-season World Challenge event.

Now he’s looking to build on that with a “W” in an official tour event.

He says he continues to improve and cement the swing changes he has worked to implement with coach Sean Foley.

Woods heads into the Pebble Beach tournament ranked 17th in the world after starting the season at No.23.