McInnes Still Bowling Over Competition

Neil McInnes rolled the draw , curved the yard then unleashed the drive .

Having demonstrated, with ease and accuracy, the three basic shots that have made him an American legend in his sport, McInnes turned toward an onlooker at the Pasadena Lawn Bowling Club and grinned.

“It’s really a mental game. It’s all up here,” says McInnes, pointing to his head. “If you can’t handle it in your head, then you’ve got problems.”

McInnes has presented opponents with dilemmas on the greens since 1971, when he won the first of his 11 U. S. (U. S. citizens only) and National (open) lawn-bowling titles in singles, pairs and triples competition.

This weekend, the 61-year-old Glendale resident is expected to contend for his first major title in five years when he takes part in the U. S. National Open Tournament, which will be contested at various sites in Orange County.

“I rely a lot more on experience than anything else,” says McInnes, who was born in Scotland and came to the United States in 1964. “I keep telling these young guys I’m not dead yet.”

Indeed McInnes, 6-foot, 170 pounds, is a live wire in an otherwise sedate sport in which most recreational players are senior citizens and top competitors are in their 40s and 50s.

Employing the concentration of an archer, the patience of a hunter and the tenacity of a boxer, McInnes is wont to laugh and shout as he stalks younger opponents on the green.

“I like to say he’s overtly aggressive,” says Lloyd Kennedy, 30, who will play triples with McInnes this weekend. “His presence on the green is sometimes enough to really throw opponents off.

“He’s pretty cunning. He knows what to say to certain people to really rattle them.”

To the casual observer, lawn bowling appears anything but unsettling.

The game, which in various forms dates back to the time of Caesar, is played on a 120-foot-square green that can accommodate eight rinks. Ideally, the grass is a dried, greenish-brown, which gives the surface the consistency of a pool table’s felt.

Each player has four matching bowls, which can be as small as 4 3/4 inches in diameter and as large as 5 1/8. The bowls, manufactured in Australia, England and Scotland, are made of hard plastic and are weighted off-center to make them curve when rolled.

Points are awarded for bunching the most bowls nearest the jack, a small white ball that serves as a target. Players, therefore, must become skilled at knocking an opponents’ bowl away from the target since points are scored for each bowl inside an opponent’s nearest bowl.

Games are generally to 18 or 21 points and disputes are settled by tape measure.

McInnes, who works as a carpenter, hones his skills by practicing four to five times a week.

“You can’t be too mechanical or too stiff,” McInnes says. “A lot of bowlers are very mechanical instead of letting the body flow.

“You also have to be able to handle pressure. A lot of people are good bowlers, but they fold like a house of cards when they get into real competition.”

McInnes was 29 when he was introduced to competitive lawn bowling in Australia in 1958. He spent three years in Australia before returning to his native Scotland. He eventually came to the U. S. intent on earning enough money to return to Australia.

McInnes, however, remained in California, obtained U. S. citizenship a few years later and began his ascent to the top of the national lawn-bowling scene.

The sport has allowed McInnes to compete in such places as Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa.

“One of the best things about lawn bowling is the comradeship with the other players,” McInnes said. “It’s a sport where you form lifetime friendships with people from all over the world.”

If McInnes does well this weekend--and also the following week at the the U. S. Championships in Beverly Hills--he will almost assuredly be selected to the eight-man team that will represent the U. S. in the World Bowls, a quadrennial event that will be held next year in Worthing, England.

Unlike many of the sport’s observers, who believe that the World Bowls will be his last hurrah, McInnes thinks some of his best-lawn bowling days lay ahead.

“When I was young I could bowl all day and I could go dancing at night,” McInnes says. “I can’t do that anymore. I’ve got to pace myself.

“But I’ll be competitive as long as my legs last--as long as I can bend and get that right knee down and so I don’t dump the ball like the old people.

“Once you can’t get down, forget it.”