A NORTH-EAST golf professional has made an incredible return to competitive action after recovering from a rare medical condition which threatened to end his playing days.

Kevin Jackson, the head PGA Professional at Ramside Hall Hotel and Golf Club, is working the North East/North West PGA circuit once more, less than a year after fearing he might have to call time on playing on the pro circuit.

Not only has he been able to play after almost two years out of action, he has marked his comeback with three top-20 finishes in three regional PGA Tournaments at Rockliffe Hall, Ramside and Prudhoe.

It is an incredible turnaround given how Jackson had inexplicably lost all power in his left wrist in November 2012 and was faced with a rare condition known as ‘drop wrist.’ Doctors and neuro-surgeons discovered his radial nerve had died, causing the transmission of messages from his brain to his wrist and left hand to fail.

The 43-year-old said: “I was coaching on the range when I experienced a tingling sensation in my thumb. The following day the tingling turned into pain in my arm and then overnight I had no power in my wrist and it was completely limp.”

Doctors thought the nerve might regenerate itself if given sufficient rest and Jackson was forced to wear a wire cage on his left arm and wrist, fixing his fingers and thumb into place.

The metal cage was meant to help the 20cm long radial nerve to recover its function but, 12 months later, he was unable to grip or hinge the golf club and his condition deteriorated.

“It was quite simply my worst nightmare. I make a living teaching people to play golf and competing for money and I was left wondering if I would ever swing a club with two hands again,” said Jackson.

Specialist surgeons at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle operated twice on the damaged wrist, transferring and switching tendons in the hope it would stimulate his nervous system, both times without success.

But Jackson refused to give up. Together with his wife, a registered nurse, they persuaded his consultant surgeon to operate once more, using a final peripheral tendon from the front of his arm. That third surgery, in July 2014, proved successful and gradually power and movement has returned to his wrist enabling him to grip the club again.

He said: “It was a big risk but I didn’t want to accept I’d never be able to play golf competitively again. The tendon relocated in my wrist performs the opposite function to the one I needed, which means I’m limited with what I can do with my hand now - luckily one thing I can do is grip the golf club.”

Jackson is enrolled on a long term programme of physiotherapy and rehabilitation to strengthen his wrist and stimulate his nervous system. It has reaped the rewards of the strong finishes in the North East and North West Regional PGA Tournaments this year.

He is also a full-time golf coach and golf operations manager at Ramside Hall, where he delivers coaching to golfers of all ages and abilities including children, new starters, elite amateurs and golf club members.

Jackson said: “It’s a new lease of life for me. The old cliché is true, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and I’m so grateful for the support of my family, friends and all the members here at Ramside who urged me not to give up.

“I’m looking forward to rediscovering my love of playing and have one eye on the future where I’d like to see whether I have the game to qualify for and compete on The European Seniors Tour.”

Even during the darkest days of his injury Jackson didn’t give up. He took a group of golf students from Durham Gilesgate Sixth Form Centre to St Andrews to play the Old Course and insisted on playing it with them, one handed. He shot 89 and considers it one of his greatest achievements in golf.