At the end of 2011, White (43) was ranked 31st in the New Zealand Professional Bowls Association.
The Dunedin waterproofer is now at the top and will represent New Zealand in the PBA transtasman test against Australia next month.
''I have given up alcohol and put my mind on bowls and that's what's done it,'' he told the Otago Daily Times.
''I wanted to give up the drink and bowls has been my inspiration for it.''
It was not an easy task.
''It has been very hard. I thought about it for two years before I stopped and I haven't had a drink for 18 months.
''I had a 25-year love affair with the booze and giving it up was one of the toughest things I've ever done.''
White grew up in Dunedin and was educated at Macandrew Intermediate and King's High School.
He represented Otago at hockey as a teenager before a dislocated elbow forced him out of all sports.
''Then the booze kicked in for the next 25 years,'' he said.
White has played bowls for 15 years and won two Bowls Dunedin titles. He is now putting more of his energy into the sport.
''I always used to practise but now that I look back on it, maybe the alcohol was stopping the progression,'' he said.
''I can now concentrate so much better.''
White joined the PBA in 2004. He struggled to progress beyond the quarterfinals in a singles event, but in the past 18 months, he has only once not reached the quarterfinals.
White's run started at the end of 2011, when he reached the final of a ranking pairs event, and last year he won a ranking singles.
His rapid rise to the top of the New Zealand PBA accelerated this year when he won the ranking singles and qualified for the national final of the Scottish International singles.
He added another top performance when he finished runner-up to Doug Thomas (North East Valley) in the qualifying event for the world indoor singles.
His quick acceleration up the PBA ranking list has surprised White.
''I had it at the back of my mind for next year but the results have come much quicker, and I have just got to take it when I can,'' he said.
