"I used to play in eight or nine New Zealand amateur events so it took a while to get my head around not being able to play."
The grants officer with the legal aid unit of the Department of Justice in Napier, who went on to dutifully replace his divots at one interprovincials and was a reserve in three others, didn't despair.
The former Havelock North High School pupil didn't have to look far to find his new competitive fix. He eventually reconciled the end of an era with no regrets after taking stock of his accomplishments. That included rubbing shoulders on the fairway and exchanging scorecards with golfing royalty such as Phil Tataurangi and David Smail in their amateur days.
"They are big professionals now so I beat them sometimes and lost to them other times.
"You always look back and think you could be better," he says mindful he was caught up in an era when having a few drinks with his mates took precedence over what the contemporary crop of amateurs do - take a more professional approach.
"I gave it a decent crack so I'm pretty happy."
It was simply time to turn to his father, Bob Hall, who is the president of the Havelock North Bowling Club, for some inspiration.
"I really enjoyed playing alongside dad who is a very good bowler and was a Hawke's Bay rep," says Hall who took to his new sport with aplomb.
Within the first year, he made the Bay junior men's rep team while a member for two years at the Kia Toa Bowling Club.
The golfer, who collected numerous East Coast Championship, Hawke's Bay Championship HB Golf Club and Hastings Golf Club strokeplay titles in an almost two-decade existence as a top-10 men's amateur, was beginning to etch his name on bowls silverware.
"I relate bowling to putting," says Hall who was a plus 1.9 handicapper at the peak of his golfing career before signing off as a scratchie as a member of the Bay and Hastings clubs.
"Putting is all about pace and line so delivering bowls is all about that."
For Hall, bowls can be as competitive as he wants it to be. He's "jumping right into it" rather than trying to tame his instincts of pushing boundaries in the sporting arena.
After five years of compulsory existence in the junior ranks, he is embracing every discipline the code offers - singles, pairs, triples and fours - with the same zest as when he planted his tee on the golfing mound before launching dimpled titanium balls into orbit.
Rolling out the mat on the manicured lawns with such enterprise has already landed him two junior men's singles club crowns for Kia Toa and Havelock North and just as many men's pairs clubs titles for the same establishments.
In his maiden year at Kia Toa, he became singles champion as well as the fours. Last month, he claimed the centre champion-of-champion pairs bragging rights with his father.
"I'm trying to be as good as I can be," he says, adding he puts in a fair amount of training time into bowls, especially over summer but also absorbing a fair bit simply by watching more experienced players.
Hall is single but has a 23-year-old son, Jamie, who works for Wellington City Council while finishing university studies.
He is mindful many people perceive bowls as a sport for the oldies "but there's enough challenge for the young to get into it".
The emergence of young champions at national level in the mould of Canterbury's Katelyn Inch and Napier-born sisters Mandy and Angela Boyd, to name a few, lends credence to his theory.
Hall hasn't been following the pursuits of Bay amateur golf but notes the senior men's rep team were languishing near the tail of the interprovincials.
He ponders on whether that is the result of an exodus of senior players but points out that, in his day, several nationally ranked golfers kept them in good stead.
His most memorable time was at the interpovincials at Coringa Golf Club, Christchurch, in 2003 with former teammates Darryn Turley, Henry Heather and Phil Wedd.
"It was an enjoyable time with those guys even though we did not make the semis," he says, adding he had played alongside Turley at Manawatu/Wanganui as well.
Hastings PGA professional and former NZ Academy coach Brian Doyle and Ben Warren were his most influential coaches.
"Ben was at Sharpies when I was working there and he was excellent.
"Brian was Hawke's Bay coach over the years so he was always there and he's been doing well in the junior men's Hawke's Bay bowls team," Hall says of Doyle who has taken up the lawn code because of a dodgy back while coaching at Golflands in Hastings.
"He brings a golfing side to bowls as well."
