Ex-Golfer Not Put Out to Pasture--He’s Lawn Bowling

The way Claude (Tag) Taggert figures it, lawn bowling has been sort of a lifesaver for him.

He’s a longtime physical-fitness buff whose pastimes such as golf and tennis were curtailed by asthma.

Ten years ago when a doctor suggested that Taggert join him in lawn bowling, “I told him I was too young for it.”

But two years ago Taggert decided it was a game for him, and the 78-year-old Costa Mesa man, who once set a world record in the high jump, now admits, “I wish I had started it then.”

The onetime Indiana farm boy set the world’s record in the Senior Olympics in the 70 to 75 age group. “I had just turned 70, so I had a lot more youth going for me than the rest of the competitors,” he quipped.

His jump of 4 feet, 8 inches, eclipsing the old mark by half an inch, has since been broken.

Taggert admits he was not a star athlete or close to it during his college days at Ball State University, where he played basketball and competed in track and field events, including the high jump.

“But I was always involved in sports,” said the physical education major, who placed a high priority on his spiritual beliefs after getting asthma.

In those early days, “I learned that keeping fit and eating the right kind of food helped keep a person healthy,” he said.

So during his years as a high school coach, a Navy officer in World War II and a salesman after that, Taggert kept himself fit with rigorous sports until a few years back when asthma got a grip on him.

Now Taggert is trying to lure others into lawn bowling, especially younger men. “You know, guys in their 50s and 60s,” teased the Newport Harbor Lawn Bowling Club member.

He points out that the United States is far behind other countries in promoting lawn bowling as a sport. “In new Zealand, they have a lot of young players,” he said.

To do his part in developing players, Taggert has been teaching lawn bowling at the Newport Harbor Lawn Bowling Club in Corona del Mar under the sponsorship of Coastline Community College.

“Lawn bowling is a game that’s very popular in the rest of the world, especially in the British Commonwealth, but relatively unknown in the United States,” he said. “College students only know it as a game played by seniors. That image would change if they would just try the sport.”

It appears that message is coming across, since 31 bowlers of various ages were attracted to a nine-week course that started in September.

Besides playing, the students learn the history of the game, rules, etiquette, scoring method, team play and strategy.

Taggert admits that while he was a “pretty good golfer” with an eight handicap, he’s just a fairly good bowler.

“A lot of bowlers are better than me,” he said.

Bowling is more than competition, he said. “It’s the greatest therapy for someone getting older because it keeps their joints and muscles flexible.”

But he adds that the game is also “challenging, interesting and more exciting than it looks.”

Don Boisseranc is in the custom house business, but for dogs.

“A lot of people want me to make the doghouse match their own house with windows and tile roofs,” said the Newport Beach man who calls his fledgling business Pedigree Estates.

When he isn’t contracting for dog houses he works in his cleverly named Corona BeFORE AND AFTer Marine Service.

Like custom luxury homes, custom dog houses bear hefty price tags.

They usually range from $350 to $750, although he once duplicated a client’s house for the owner’s dog at a cost of $1,500.