Introduction
This article covers darts tips for beginners, I’m going to assume you are an absolute novice to the game of darts. You’ve never played before in your life or you just got into darts recently, threw a few darts at the board not really knowing what you were doing.
Practice, Practice, Practice practicing is the key point for improving your game. You know the saying among dart players: 'Three rules for becoming a good player? Practice, practice, practice!' But practicing is not only tossing darts on a dartboard for several hours with an automatic getting-better result. Practice makes perfect. The best way to shoot consistent darts is to feel confident when you are at the line. The best way to feel confident is to pay your dues. Practice your dart game using the practice guidelines on this site. Some people think that any practice is good practice. That’s just not good advice.
This article is meant to be an introduction for absolute beginners to the game, nonetheless it will be jammed packed with information that regardless of your skill level you will still be able to take away something.
I’m going to walk you through every step of the dart playingprocess to give you a better understanding of the game and help teach you howto play.
Measurements and BoardRegulation
The below image is from the world darts federation website.
Lets start from the beginning, I’ll assume you have your ownboard, the first thing to know is that there are official setup measurementsfor the game of darts.
There’s a whole international organization, the world dartsfederation, that orchestrates tournaments all over the world,
and the officialmeasurements they have come up with is 173 cm or 5 feet 8 inches from the floorto the center of the dartboard and 237 cm or 7 feet 9 and ¼ inches from thefront of the dartboard to the back of the throw line.
So the first tip is to make sure you’re playing with the right measurements, you have your board hung from the right height and you’re shooting from the right distance. This is the very important first step that can make or break your darts experience.
How to throw
Most people myself included find the throwing of darts very exciting, fun, it’s what gets us captivated by the game in the first place. As such knowing how to throw properly will be the first of my darts tips for beginners.
You may be relieved to know that there is no “right way” tothrow a dart, or no rules or regulations on how you are supposed to throw it.
That’s right, you can pretty much throw the dart as youplease, but even though there is no particular way you are forced to throw adart by tournament guidelines or whoever, there are still guidelines or bestpractices on how you should throw a dart for better results.
Extensive research have gone into the very simple movement ofswinging your arm back and forth to release a dart to give you the best methodsto optimize your throw.
First thing is thestance
Yeah your stance is actually a big part of your throw, whowould have guessed?
Pros of the game have given extensive advice on stance, theycite it as one of the critical components of the throw and you’ll begin to seewhy in a moment.
How you actually stand is completely up to you, depends onwhat you’re most comfortable with.
There are three common recognized stances, though everyplayer has their own variation.
The first is standing with both feet facing the throw line,this stance was more common in the beginning of the game and is less common nowbecause it makes it harder to balance.
The more common stance now is standing with your dominantfoot in front and your other foot behind with your weight slightly shifted ontoyour front foot, this stance allows for good balance.
The last stance is turning completely to the side, with yourdominant foot in front and your other foot in the back. It’s left with you to trythem out and see which you prefer.
Position of stance
A concept not popularly debated but I find very important iswhere behind the throwline you make your stance.
This is something that I’ve experimented with and find veryimportant to throwing. Basically depending on where you decide to positionyourself behind the throw line you will be facing the board at a certain angle.
Depending on where you stand you can position yourselfdirectly in front of the center of the board, or to either side of the bull ifyou were to throw in a straight line.
Proper positioning can set you up for a good throw, if youput yourself in a straight line with the triple 20 for example you make hittingyour mark a lot easier, as oppose to aiming from the sides.
Positioning of arm
Once again people take darts very seriously, winners of darts competitions can walk away with hundreds of thousands of dollars in price money.
As such extensive research have gone into the throwing of a dart, and what they have found makes for a good throw is having your shoulders still when you throw.
Your hand should be lifted at a 180 degree angle from yourbody, straight in front basically, and your forearm from your elbow lifted at a90 degree angle, straight up, as I’m sure you’ve seen.
What happens after that is completely up to you.
People naturally swing their hand back before they throw,this is a natural part of the throwing motion, there is no research on any bestpractice for this motion as of my knowledge, a slight swing is normal andnatural to me.
Types of grips
A part of the throw that came as a surprise to me is the grip, apparently there are multiple types of grips, insane. I go into full detail in this article Dart Throwing Hold.
It’s astounding how complex a simple motion of throwing adart can be, and every aspect has the potential to massively impact yourchances of hitting your target.
So for grip it ranges from 5 finger, to a 2 finger grip, andthe finger count just represents how many fingers you have touching the dartwhen you throw.
Game Pigeon Darts Practice Guide
The most common grip is a 3 finger grip but the more fingersyou use the more control you have over the dart, but be careful because addingmore fingers makes the release more difficult.
It’s a matter of personal preference, trying out thedifferent grips and seeing which one works for you.
There’s also the matter of how tightly you squeeze the dartwhen you throw it, it’s actually not advised you use an excessive amount offorce, the recognized standard is to have a relaxed but stable hold on thedart.
The actual throw
After all that we finally get to throw the thing! This issomething I actually had to adjust when I first started, I tend to have a veryforceful nature and that followed me to darts.
I had a very strong throw to start, almost putting a holethrough the electronic dartboard, good thing I had some mates to advise me onthe proper technique.
As such it is not necessary that you use excessive force whenthrowing a dart, not much force is necessary at all. Just a precise fluidmotion.
Follow through orconsistency
Darts is a unique sport in that it relies a lot onconsistency.
Unlike football or basketball where you can throw the ballfrom anywhere on the field, darts require you to perform the same task from astationary position over and over perfectly.
To accomplish this is no easy feat, it requires a lot offocus and discipline. You must master your throw until you are able toreproduce it over and over again, just how the pros do it.
This means staying calm until you are finished throwing all three of your darts, try to make as little deviations in your stance after each throw.
When you watch the pros you’re see they remain very calmafter each throw, often not celebrating until the ending of a leg.
Trying different darts
So once you learn how to throw, i.e. you find the stance, grip, and release that works for you, one of the essential darts tips for beginners is finding the right dart for your throw.
Believe me there’s tons of different variations of the dart out there, made with a myriad of different materials, with varying weights, which would be one of the more important factors to look at, also the makeup material.
You can view some of them here Best Steel Tip Darts.
More professionalstend to settle with darts made of tungsten, they tend to give you more weightper size, which is all around better for hitting multiple high targets in group.
Weight is important because heavier darts stick to the boardbetter and are easier to throw. So if you find you are lacking something inyour throw, it may be beneficial to look into some different darts, it coulddrastically improve your game.
Find a role model
Depending on how serious you want to take this,
the whole dart playing thing I mean, I’m not really sure whatyou goal here is, do you just want to get a leg up on your buddies? Or are youtrying to become the next Phil Taylor?
He has the most successful darts record in the world, with 16world championship titles.
Game Pigeon Darts Practice Tips
Whatever your goal, a key darts tips for beginners is finding a player you can model yourself after, a professional that has a similar style to yours that you can learn from.
Odds are that whatever tactic you are trying to learn yourrole model would have already perfected it, so if you prefer a 5 finger or 4finger grip, find someone that uses that grip and see how they coordinate otherparts of their throw.
The mental side ofdarts
Game Pigeon Darts Practice Games
Those who have gone far in the game know that darts is as much a mental game as it is a physical game, as such one of the important darts tips for beginners is to cultivate “inner game”.
A common trait of all professionals you’re notice is they allhave a composed demeanor while playing, that’s not something easy toaccomplish, it comes from having the right mental attitude.
For a better physical darts performance you must have theright internal attitude, the right mindset.
You have to remain positive, you have to keep your composure.You have to motivate yourself.
Whole books have been written on the right mindset to havewhen playing darts, it’s all very important.
Darts may be even more a mental game than it is a physicalone.
Knowing how to alleviate your anxiety under pressure is verykey, you may be able to throw when you’re alone with no pressure but when youare playing in a crowd it’s a different story.
Even the best of players have expressed some sort of anxiety,all these little factors must be dealt with.
How to cope when you miss a dire point, you must be able tokeep your composure and follow through, you can’t let your frustration get thebetter of you. Having the right mindset is a very key component of darts.
Learn the key dartgames
Let’s get out of the abstract and focus on something moreconcrete. Before you get to the point of modeling yourself after a professionalor having the right mental attitude you’re going to have to learn the rules ofthe game.
Starting out you may have thought darts was one game with oneset of rules.
That is not the case, what makes dart unique is that thereare multiple games that can be played on a dartboard, more than 50 to myknowledge, though there is a standard.
The most common dart games played in the US are cricket, andthe x01 games like 301, and 501.
For a beginner those would be the games to learn if you planon entering tournaments and the like.
Those are also the game that are played at competitions and out at social gatherings because everyone knows them.
Practice makes perfect
Once you have your stance down and you know the basic dart games, the final darts tips for beginners is knowing the importance of practice.
In darts consistency is key and to build consistency you must practice. There are simpler dart games that you can use for practice.These games help you build important skills like accuracy,and hitting doubles and triples when you want.
It is advised to practice consistency first, being able tohit the same mark over and over, another crucial skill of the pros is beingable to score high points, like triple 20s.
Your aim should be accuracy before points. It’s of no use ifyou can hit the triple twenty but you can’t hit anything else or you can’t hitit consistently.
Game Pigeon Darts Practice Games
Your focus should be perfecting your aim on every number, andthe way to do that is to practice “grouping”, basically throwing all threedarts in the same area.
Game Pigeon Darts Practice Rules
In conclusion
Game Pigeon Darts Practice Test
So there you have it folks my darts tips for beginners, basicthings I think all new players to the game should know.