Where is it all going?

I have been working on grouping darts around key areas of the board which encourage straightness and improve my aiming in general. Something I have come to realise is that aiming is as much a dark art as it is a science when it comes to the human brain. By this I mean that the best players do not have a method so much as look at the target and then throw at the target. If you were to ask them which part of the hand lines up with the target etc. you would likely get an answer such as "I don't think about it." Aiming is a largely dynamic method with the brain calculating all sorts of variables and subtle changes as the throwing arm moves. In order to process all these calculations most efficiently the brain needs to be relaxed and actually unfocussed on the subject of aiming! I discovered this theory through an interesting article online (sorry I lost the link) regarding gun shooting and it also explained the perennial beginners' mistake of looking too much at the hand and not enough the target. I have therefore let go my search for a repeatable method to line my hand up with the target and some good things have happened as a result:

• Kill Bull personal best of 575
• Three double tops twice when going for double-double (which I spend 3mins on per practice)
• Usually 8 or 9 and an 11 target personal best at doubles when throwing at all 21 double targets. ie half the time I hit a double within 3 darts (equivalent to 17% success rate)
• When filming my follow through my action still looks good with only slight head nod and 90%+ follow through success. Body movement is minimal so long as I keep my height and don't over-lean.
• I hit my 7th 180 of the year too!

I have been asking myself what next when this month and my year of determined practice is up? To some extent moving house interfered with my momentum and improvement at darts but I am not sure things would be so different or better if I had stayed living where I was. I am aiming to achieve a 51 average but on a good day I just about touch or exceed this in only half my legs at the moment. I have had some bad results in the past week:losing at 501 to two good friends who I outscored but still lost to, and also losing to my computer set to 'pub b team' at 301 ds by quite a margin. If you could play back these legs however my scoring has been enough to get me to a double first in most of the 501 legs and in several legs (which would have changed the overall results) I have repeatedly wired attempts at winning doubles. The brutal and binary nature of darts is such that a few mm either way on the last dart is the principle deciding factor, unless you are playing cricket which can be slightly more forgiving of wayward darts.

I think the short answer is that I need to keep doing what I am doing which is thoroughly enjoying darts :) I also need to avoid mixing up this fun year-long challenge with midlife crisis-type life goal worries and anxieties which will probably ebb away once a certain key birthday comes around for me next year. I will definitely relax my determined practice routine in the new year, because I need to prioritise other more important aspects of my life. Treating this skill-learning task so seriously has been quite a burden at times but in the interests of proper scientific enquiry I have never gone more than two days or so without practice all year, and then only when ill or stuck away from home. I did not want to look back and blame a lack of effort on my part as ruining my chances to improve my darting ability. Anyway I still have 20 days left and better still, the world championships will be on TV soon which is what Christmas is all about!

Averages graphed

I have thrown a few games of 501 and recorded my winning averages. I should have also recorded losing games as well for a true average but I didn't know how to view and then subtract remaining points on my dodgy 501 phone app so I kept it simple. However I was starting to 'throw' or give away potentially losing games so they didn't harm my averages so in future I will record both winning and losing games! For the purposes of a quick measurement this graph does fairly illustrate my standard, and rather depressingly reveals my year long aim of  a regular 51 average is still a way off. However I have the rest of this month and all of December to try and improve things before a final test.

As you can see only 3/17 games dropped below the magic 30 dart leg standard I have been aiming for, although one of these was a personal best 18 darter complete with a 118 finish on the bull that left me buzzing for ages! The worst recorded leg was 42 so that is a 24 dart variance between best and worst legs which is on the one hand frustrating but on the other is understandable given how difficult it is to finish a game of darts sometimes.

When it come to finishing legs I am definitely improving and usually expect to double out in 1-3 visits. I am more consistent in my throwing action and in recent weeks have on occasion even sent all three darts into a tight grouping around the double, with the third dart as the money shot. I am always pleased If I can double out in 2 visits since I have noticed that psychologically when an opponent does this to me it is pretty much soul-crushing. A 17% checkout rate does not sound amazing as a target compared to professional standards of 40%+ (on tv) but in the real world of pub darts when an opponent is playing well finishing in 3 darts is pretty much unbeatable and within 6 darts looks just as tidy since the first 3 misses did not put them off, change their action or seemingly dent their confidence at all. You know when you face an opponent that can finish without fuss you have to outscore them by quite a margin to buy yourself those 3-6 darts to finish in before they do. This is the Phil Taylor effect that used to batter the confidence of all his opponents back in early 2000s: from the start of matches players knew they had to get to a double first because Phil would not miss doubles if his confidence soared. This extra pressure to outscore Phil meant that players games would fall apart if the first 6 darts they threw in a leg were less than spectacular. To compound the pressure Phil would win the toss and send his opponents out to bat first because he knew that the voices in their head shouting 'stay straight! stay straight!' would make their darts do anything but that!

I digress a little but the point is this: a good leg of 501 for me would be down to a double in 21-24 darts and then finishing in 6. So what does my ideal leg look like and is it really regularly achievable for me? If we postulate finishing on double top then 461-21 darts is 22 per dart for a scoring phase of 66 per three darts. This means if I throw a 100, for example then I can (and often do) follow it with a 26 and almost stay on track for the scoring phase of the game (63 mean score for those 2 visits). However if the next 3 darts drift I am pressurising the following 3 darts to be 100+ which is not realistic for my standard: I only hit tonne plus scores when I am relaxed. I tend to throw at least 3 wayward visits in a leg at the moment-say 26-30-28 (84) which would mean I have thrown away 9/21 scoring darts forcing the remaining 12 to score 31.4 per dart or a 94 scoring average for 4 more visits. It is not surprising that with such variance in the scoring phases I rarely finish in under 30 darts, but that when I do I can achieve much better legs such as my fantastic 18 darter where 3 tonne plus scores of 140, 100, 118 were mixed in with low scoring, drifting darts.

In conclusion I should be trying to secure 60 minimum per 3 darts in the scoring phase to buy myself 6 darts to finish legs in. I should not be angry at the occasional 45 or 26 but if this is more than 1 in 3 then I am never going to improve my 501 scores to the standard I wish to achieve. It is time to knuckle down and work on grouping and following the dart for the next 7 weeks to see if I can keep on the straight and narrow path towards darting excellence.

Still not settled

Moving to a new house has interrupted all aspects of my life including my quest to improve my darts averages through rigorous practice and filming of my technique. However my reduced practice time has forced me to be more economical with the time I do have. I am keeping to mostly straight dart routines and trying to avoid experimenting with technique. The only change in technique which has happened gradually since the summer is a widening of my stance feet for stability, combined with standing slightly further to the left so that my throwing arm aligns more easily with the 20 bed. Recent games have seen my throw smooth out a little and my confidence improve and as such I am finishing legs with less messing around on doubles. I took out a 70 finish last night for example with 18-12-tops; beat a better player in set play 501 last week and threw 2/3 legs of 501 in under 30 darts during a nice spell of practice this week.

I am still using my dartmate wherever there is room to set up for half an hour and I look forward to sorting out a permanent oche in the new house. For now though, decorating and other home improvements will have to take precedence. Also on my mind is that I need to devise a way to measure my progress at the end of December so I can see to what extent I have met my goal of a solid 51 average. I know I am capable of occasionally throwing legs of 501 in less than 30 darts, but I was always capable of that. What I have been aiming for this year, is to routinely throw this standard of darts. It would therefore make sense to measure my averages over a large number of throws to avoid skewing the data with short term variance, so perhaps I should be tracking my results carefully over the coming weeks so I have end of year statistics which are meaningful?

That will ruin his average!

I have put to the back of my mind escalating ‘analysis paralysis’ regarding dart throwing technique and instead I have been thinking about how I can improve my average with a more structured change of practice routine. I am throwing at my target 51 or better average some of the time so to improve my average I need to reduce or eliminate the worst mistakes I make and let my good games take care of the rest. In recent legs of 501 my worst legs were thrown in 45, 44, 41 darts so I broke the legs down into sections and analysed my mistakes. Common themes were as follows:

·         A poor start-this gives any opponent a psychological advantage from the word go

·         Only 3 scores of 60+ in the scoring phase of the game

·         Drifting, mostly to the left, sometimes to the right

·         Very low scores in 150-90 set up range-as tension increases in the arm I guess

·         Accidental awkward set up shots hitting an odd number to leave a difficult finish

·         Double trouble or splitting a nice double with a wayward dart and making it more difficult than it was

In response to this analysis I propose to work more mindfully on the different phases of a game:

·         Scoring-I suspect drifting is  likely caused by a combination of rushing, bobbing of the head and as yet undiagnosed technique issues so I should continue to video my follow through aiming at 20s and other straight throw targets

·         Initial set up phase-perhaps throwing in random legs v computer during sessions to simulate the beginning of a game and the need to ‘settle in’ quickly. I could rehearse the timing and rhythm of my setup so it always looks the same no matter which phase of the game it is

·         Scoring phase- work towards a standard of 5 x scores of 60+ out of 8 visits (=58 ish average) or 350 in 18 darts. I need to play a game which counts accuracy on 20s and rewards 3 in a bed.

·         Setting up phase-to prevent nervousness approaching a finish I need to play more setup games such as legs of 170 vs computer or 120s in 9 incrementing the finish to reward success.

·         Doubling-to avoid blobbing on high pressure finishes such as 1 double 1. I should work on so called ‘muscle-memory’ of this particular nasty or 3 darts from 5 or 15 which are also ugly out shots that can ruin your average. I also need to work on concentration gathering before shots as I can get into a negative rhythm where I no longer expect to hit the target after a certain number of misses.

My new long practice routine now looks like:

·         Warm up and visualisation of throwing technique

·         101 bullseye challenge-10mins how many successful games in a row?

·         Or 20s routine on computer-I have not done this before so no PBs to date

·         FTS score/film 20s

·         FTS score/film bullseyes

·         3mins aim to hit double-double on double top

·         Gathering/visualisation

·         Cricket aim to score 14+

·         Doubles routine record score aim to beat PBs (10-12 successful shots regularly is my long term goal 14 = PB, best score 182 since I stated using the proper scoring system)

·         170s vs computer 4 legs or 120s play for 10 mins note finish number ( go up or down for success/miss)

·         Awkward finishes from 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15: how many in ten mins?

Aiming theory

I am now faced with the prospect of some time off from darts and this could not have come at a better time because I suffered total collapse of my game the other day. I could not hit the proverbial cow's backside with a banjo and my head has been in a complete spin as to how to combat this. What started out as a slight question in my mind about the best oche position (central or sided) has quickly escalated into the belief that I need to systematically get to grips with all the tiny elements of the throw I have so far neglected. Namely:

• Eye dominance-do I need to line up the dart and target more with my eye, or at least a point on my hand for reference
• Aiming- do I need to align and focus the dart (shooting theory) or the target as I have been trying to do. My natural inclination is to focus a part of the hand initially then the target on release but I have also experimented with focussing the target only but is this correct?-I need to find out or at least settle on a method
• Breathing-do I need to consider a breathing rhythm a la Phil Taylor to exhale and then throw for maximum stillness?
• Oche stance-do I need to experiment further with extreme oche positions or invest in a proper sight-right?
• Grip-I have always taken John Part's advice ('Part's darts' which I cannot find the link for) that the grip will evolve naturally if you take care of the other aspects of the throw but I could try a change to a more precise pencil grip and see if one or two fingers on barrel is best
• Rhythm-I suffer from overthinking the third dart so much that I need to devise a steady rhythm that works for me
• Wrist cocking-to what extent do I need to angle my wrist back?

As you can see I have gone completely mad: I actually like my stance, follow through and the overall progress in the smoothness of my throw and it is only one bad match has sent me into a spin. I may have just over-leaned for one session ( I do this when trying too hard) and thrown wobbly darts accordingly and so may not need to analyse everything and change my throw!

Looking at the list I have just concocted the most fundamental issues would seem to be aiming and grip. I could spend a session messing with grip and see if I am able to throw with alternative grips but I expect that forgetting about grip will end up being the best option. Aiming I have to admit is a key issue that I have been deferring sorting out and need to tie in with oche position as one affects your perception of the other. I could spend a couple of sessions throwing say, 100 darts from extreme left and right positions and the record the results. I should note not just targets achieved but also the angle the darts go into the board, since this will reveal which is the most consistent throw. I have done this sort of thing before but only with moderate shifts in oche position so more extreme shifts could well strengthen or counter my existing theories on the matter. I will also read up on how to exploit eye dominance because a lot of darting theorists are so sure that you must draw the dart back in front of your dominant eye but Tony O'shea for example has thrown a 9 dart finish drawing to his shoulder. Raymond Van Barneveld is another example that counters this theory because Barney draws to the side of his face and I am pretty sure feels the weight of the dart as his aiming mechanism instead of lining everything up like many armchair experts recommend. I think the best aiming method for me will turn out to be the one that gives my right (dominant) eye the best view of the board and allows my thumb to pull back towards my shoulder blade and then follow through with my arm in a straight plane: whether or not I can get the thumb or the dart in alignment with my dominant eye remains to be seen.

Everything Changes

I was chatting darts with a friend recently and we were having a good laugh about how everything changes with the third dart if the first two land plumb in the treble 20 bed. What started out as smooth rhythmic throw suddenly turns into a jerky fear-filled drawback perhaps catching on the collar of a shirt, with sensitive fingertips no longer sure where they should be on the barrel. Dealing with this maddening feeling of heightened consciousness is one of the great challenges for dart players but perversely this gets a lots worse for students of the game who wish to improve their technique as compared to casual throwers.

When everything changes in your dart throw it is tempting to believe that you have not eliminated enough variables in practice and that tinkering with your throw will fix things in time. I am not entirely sure this is a rational response to the problem, and neither is trying to forget about everything and attempting throwing with mindless freedom. In reality I think the solution lies somewhere in between these two extremes with a slow and systematic building of the throw as well as work on mental health basics such as relaxation and balance of rest and activity in life. You may end up changing your throw one day because you threw badly for example, but this was in fact due to tiredness.

In practice sessions it is useful to methodically and carefully try variations on the throw but only over time and systematically prioritising the aspects which stand to have the most impact on how the darts fly. I have already been doing this in my year of determined darting and if you have read my previous posts you will know I have concentrated on the effect of stance on head/body movement and have been aiming for consistency of follow through. To a lesser extent I have also worked on a method for always aiming the same way and always drawing back to the same point on my body.

Recent filming has revealed I have an intermittent head-bob a little like Robert Thornton's nod he does, only I seem to time mine with the drawback on occasion so I need to eliminate this. I am also sagging the throwing elbow slightly on drawback which can be reduced by limiting how far back I pull the dart and by avoiding pausing on drawback. Elbow sag often leads to an incomplete follow through and wild darts especially on the third dart because of extra tension in the arm. In terms of life/darts balance and mental health things are on the up for me as I have been learning to relax more effectively in my spare time- a factor which has helped me secure convincing wins against old foes who I often get too nervous to play well against. Everything is changing for me at the moment in that I am moving house, so an important settler for me in the new home will be a new permanent oche which I am looking forward to setting up together with a new board and cabinet of course;)

Latest follow through stats are:
20s: 92,95,100,92,100,86,95,95,92,. mean 94.1%FTS which is a PB
bull:90,85,100,86,95,90, mean 91% FTS which is a fairly new stat and a PB also

Reasons to be cheerful

I have had a turbulent life of late, which I touched on in my last post. In the ongoing build up to moving house I have been spending chunks of free time on domestic issues and less and less time honing my darting skills.  I have not stopped throwing and undone the good work I put in during the first half of this year, it is just that other priorities have pushed away regular stat. keeping and blogging about my progress. In two recent matches I have shown signs of becoming a winning dart player and the big change in me has been an increased sense of calm and even a little a ruthlessness in completing legs of darts. It is almost as if my stress and mental energy has been so taken up with other issues that I have been able to throw darts for fun in a way, but also more accurately thanks to my regular practice up to this point.

So reasons to be cheerful about my darts of late are as follows:

I finished 88 and 90 in three darts in a recent match against a friend

In a match today I finished 25 in 2 darts (17 d4) the same way in two consecutive legs without even a glimmer of mental negativity about attempting the same finish twice in succession

I shot 12/20 doubles in a recent doubles practice game which is super good for me and a new PB

I am starting to follow the dart more and group three darts when shooting for the same spot

My laptop is able to record videos again and my follow through is not looking too bad-I am beginning to track stats again but have not accrued enough worth citing yet

When my opponents score big I often manage to find another gear and score well myself

I have hit 5 x180s so far this year and counting...
The other day I finished in under 30 darts twice and was down to a double comfortably under 30 darts in another

Whilst in the pub the other day I noticed from the published league statistics that the local darts team averages ran from 55 to 65 and above for three dart averages. I originally speculated that a 51 average would be enough to win most pub games of darts when I began my blog. A 51 average equates to a 30 dart leg which I can achieve when I am on form but not when I am missing doubles. When this year of determined dartedness is complete, even if I regularly throw under 30 darts, it looks like I will still have a way to go before I can challenge for a place in a pub team.

Balance problems

I have been without a computer for a while so have had to change my routine and not film practice sessions. This slight drift in focus has led to the inevitable tinkering with my stance and throw etc. This is a dangerous road to travel as many darters know it is easy to lose your feel for a good throw if you try and adjust too many variables at once. I have mostly been experimenting with my trailing foot position for three compelling reasons:

1. When I bring my trailing foot behind my front foot my head lines up more with my arm.
2. If I look in a mirror at this stance it looks more inline from dog arm elbow, to front elbow, to dart
3. John Lowe stood like this in his prime and had a fantastically smooth throw overall

The problem I am having with this method is that it is just not as stable as pushing the back foot out a little bit to form a more standard wider foot stance. In fact I can feel unbalanced with the John Lowe method depending on which shoes I am wearing and it can lead to a rocking a little bit as I throw the dart. Last night I went back to widening my stance on warm down and immediately felt more stable and balanced although an immediate return to a tight pain in my hips reminded me of another reason why the more in-line stance may be of long term benefit.

The other issue of balance I am having problems with is balance in terms of time management. I am struggling with long term health issues which drain my energy and an increasing need to simplify and re-prioritise everything I do in my life. Darts sessions have become shorter and slightly less frequent and since my laptop got sick (it is currently booted, but for how long I don't know!) I have been recording less stats and not playing vs the computer on dartscorer.  I am looking to buy a house at the moment though so things will settle down in a few months, when I will have the joy of setting up a permanent dartboard on the wall instead of using my dartmate!

My last batch of FTS statistics are as follows:

88,100,90,81,100 on 20s for 91.8% mean (a PB mean!)
90,67,81,76,90 on bull for 80.8% mean ( a new stat on bull shots for me and a lot of variance, so work to be done here)

The reality gap

Somewhere between a darter's actual ability and his/her belief of that ability is a murky mental space I have come to call the ability gap. I sketched a line to illustrate this during a frustrated moment when I threw and filmed a series of scoring darts that felt great but were revealed on playback to be below par by my current standards:

I was surprised when my darts felt good and flowing but on playback my head was bobbing, my throwing arm sagged on the pullback and my follow through was erratic and looked different each time. I believed that my ability was my 'A' game but in reality it was my 'C' or 'D' game.' What had occurred was that my growing self confidence had created a reality gap and if I had not been filming I would have carried on throwing with a false sense of security.

The difficulty for darters is that success relies on an unshakeable belief in your ability to hit the target: if doubt exists then the chances of success diminish. The further difficulty is that to improve in skill level is to somehow realistically appraise one's weaknesses (in order to work on them) without letting them become fuel for doubt. Raymond Van Barneveld for example is a darter whose reality gap is wide, since his insanely high level of skill is often at odds with his negatively skewed view of what he is capable of. A total beginner at darts who has a natural flair for hand-eye coordination has a small reality gap and consistently amazes themself about all the cool check outs and trebles they keep hitting! If you read Wayne Mardle's autobiographical account of a year on the PDC circuit his reality gap is non-existent because he actively tries not to think about his level of ability and puts it down to forces beyond his control. This last example demonstrates an extreme reaction to the mental problems darters develop as their skills improve: you often lose your natural instinct to point and throw and become too aware of the small details and what you think you are doing wrong. Poor old Wayne never came to terms with the mechanics of learning and did not develop his talent as far as it could have gone because he could not, or would not realistically appraise his own ability level. Think for a moment how much more of a contender Wayne could have been if he had studied his own mechanics and worked out the reason why his darts drifted to the 5 bed in moments of tension?

So what does all this over-intellectualising  mean for me then? Well the simple answer is that I was doing quite well improving my scoring darts, I struggled to develop my doubles and then spent a couple of weeks practising inefficiently, not filming my throw as often, but throwing with loads of confidence. My latest batch of FTS statistics are: 76,90,72,86,86,90,86,100,90,90,95,90,81,81,100. for a mean FTS percentage of 87.5% which is an improvement on 80% last time I measured. I am happy with my overall progress when it comes to throwing straight and I have proven this in a recent game in the pub where I surprised myself with a 24 dart leg straight out the blocks and took three legs in a row when my opponent became very frustrated at chasing every leg. The mental strength I possessed on this occasion was that I was expecting to throw fairly straight in the scoring phase, and I was also expecting to spend quite a while on doubles. My opponent on this occasion was too frustrated to notice (and therefore exploit) how long I was taking to check out in the second and third legs, and for my part I was calm about missing lots of darts at doubles because I was expecting to. The challenge for me now is to analyse and improve my darts around the board so I can expect to hit other areas besides the 20 bed. I must however remain aware of the potential for the reality gap to widen and I want any confidence I feel to be a product of actual ability and not false confidence which can grow when you do not have enough feedback and do not come to terms with your actual mechanics and results.

Reaching or struggling?

An important element of successful practice is to be working just outside of your comfort zone and reaching for new highs. The trick when deciding what and how to practice is setting targets to be just out of reach but not impossible: so called SMART target in education circles (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, Targets).  My goal for this year of determined darting was to get to a regular 51 average which in January did not seem impossible and was perhaps achievable if I worked at it. I am nearly a quarter of the way through the year and in some respects I am reaching and improving almost every practice session and in others I am struggling, frustrated and feel like it is back to square one. If you love your darts I think you know what is coming next: it's double trouble!

I have made decent progress improving my stance, return point, rhythm and am now working on follow through every practice session. In games this more solid foundation of a throw has allowed me to hit the 20 bed more comfortably and more often. In practice sessions I can film my follow through, critique my throw and make tiny adjustments so I am always reaching to improve. The trouble is that if I want to work on doubles I am instantly struggling and quickly become fed up. The reason for this is that hitting such small targets is literally too difficult for me at the moment and I need to break the task down into steps or change it altogether. Conventional darting wisdom, in my opinion has the method of practising doubles all wrong. I cannot simply play Bob's 27 (or a similar doubles drill) until I get better for the following reasons:

1. Repeatedly missing small targets is disparaging and I want to feel positive when practising
2. Merely aiming at a double does not simulate normal game conditions, the high pressure of a double to finish is not there when you can have three or more shots at it from cold
3. Doubles drills do not reward close attempts in practice, so do not positively reinforce progress towards the eventual goal
4. I do not have a totally reliable follow through yet
5. I do not have a totally reliable aiming point with the dart yet
6. Repeatedly aiming at the same target does not necessarily make you better at hitting that target

The last three are the most pertinent to my situation and my current ability level and the last point is possibly a wee bit controversial if you have not come across it before. The fact is that to get better at hitting one spot you need to modulate or vary your muscle movement around the spot: or to put it another way you need to be able to miss on purpose! If I could already follow through beautifully and aim reliably then there may be more sense in practicing doubles drills and even more so on high pressure finishing games, but I am not that far down the line with my skills development. All of which leaves me undecided on how best to progress. I have tried replacing full legs of darts with just finishing from awkward numbers like 2 and 5 which is o.k because it is good pressure practice, but it still leads to a lot of frustration and not much success within an individual practice session. I am just spit-balling here but maybe I could:

1. Practise single numbers until perfect then think about doubles later
2. Invent a near-doubles game such as 'put all three near the wire' (story of my life lol!)
3. Use post-it notes on the doubles as targets and try and group the darts as an initial target
4. Stick to the most useful doubles 20-16-1 and vary my oche pos'n to work on muscle modulation and film my follow through
5. Develop my aim point on a more familiar part of the board such as treble 20 or bull until it is reliable, then try aiming at doubles

As you can see I am undecided about how to best approach this problem so watch this space!

PS My latest follow through stats when aiming at the 20 bed are:

78,83,81,66,76,81,80,86,62,71,100,88,71,86,74,96,86. Mean 80% which is moving nicely towards the 90% I theorised would be possible, and enough to see significant improvement in my scoring. I even surprised myself with 100% one time! And the other day I hit my 3rd 180 of the year, which was nice:)

Aiming to improve

I have had some encouraging results and runs of good form in recent practice sessions, but as any self improver knows when you expand the gap between your 'A' game and your 'B,C or D' games your expectation raises and so does the resulting frustration when things do not go so well. To put it bluntly you start expecting treble 20s and finishing doubles to happen and when they do not is is easy to think "well I was hitting these yesterday why can't I...." or "This is typical, I always get ahead in legs and then blow a good lead." Notice that these sorts of thoughts are irrational because it is unreasonable to expect every dart to land where you want it: everyone misses, sometimes.

To keep a lid on frustration and still make improvements to my game I have had a look at my practice routine and analysed what is working and what is not. The most obvious success has been filming my throw and then gradually fine tuning aspects of my technique. I have solidified my stance, improved my rhythm and identified the features or makeup of a poor throw. I have also defined the most important statistic for my own improvement: the FTS% (follow through success percentage). I have built my practice around routines on 20s, double top, bullseye, double three, double 16 and games of double-start 301 vs the computer. My routine, which is heavy on straight darts does seem to have improved my straight throw. It has also given me a consistent reference point to tinker with other aspects of the throw, such as oche position by small degrees, whilst still being able to return to the same basic throw when needed. By this I mean my arm knows what it feels like to throw straight and if I lose the feel of this through too much experimentation I can reset and get back to it.

My last batch of fts% filmed sessions= 81,58,78,79,87,88,83,90= 80.5 mean. which is a significant improvement on my last stats. The downside of my current practice routine is that I do not move around the board much so in future I need to build in some kind of round the board routine, perhaps incremental so I can keep score and challenge my own PBs. I am also finding it hard to shake of losses against the computer, since I often score better but rarely hit a winning double. Doubles are such a small target to hit and I need to think about a way to practise doubles whilst still rewarding near misses, or darts against the wire so I can build confidence and remain philosophical about the doubles that got away. Traditional doubles routines for example Bob's 27s are built around a greater degree of competence than I possess and so I will often become knocked out straight away and become disheartened when I play them.

Aiming the dart has become a key issue when I practise because I have unfocused my aiming of late to concentrate on the action of the throw, but now I must develop an aiming mechanism if I am to hit doubles at the ends of legs. I also have two competing methods of aiming at present and so need to resolve these into one method: if I am aiming high I sight vaguely with the V shaped crook between the bottom of my thumb and my index finger and if I aim low I line up the flight with the target. In the coming weeks I will concentrate on sighting the target and the dart together (the dart will be blurred of course) and then stare at the target so my follow through arm knows where to aim. I will also try to keep the dart nearer my dominant eye to begin with, to try and make the action more repeatable and consistently accurate.

A milestone in practice

I have just reached a milestone in practice casually playing against the computer at 501. I achieved a 3 dart average of 50.94 over four legs and won 4-0. It is a short sample size I know, but I have never before achieved this level of consistency over a number of legs and my confidence level has never felt so high over more that one or two legs. A 51 average is the standard I hope to attain consistently by the end of my year of dedicated practice and today I had a glimpse of what it is like to throw at 'good pub player' standard for a sustained period.

For the most part I threw my usual combination of promising 60 scores, 85s and tonnes littered with 26, 41 etc. The key difference I found was that my improved follow through action gave me more solid set up and double shots around the board towards the end of legs. I also felt more confident scoring, as if bad darts were not the norm and that I would soon return to hitting 20s if I just concentrated and kept my action consistent.

In practice sessions leading up to today my success % in following through with the throwing hand was: 61,52,86,62,71,62,(65.6 mean).I have also been consistently filming my throw and only made slight changes here and there to see the effect on my action. Results such as my 50.94 average are good to know and build my confidence, but I am certain that % follow through success (%FTS) is the single most important stat that will give me valuable feedback on my progress in my year of determined darting.

When watching videos of my own throw one sure discovery this week has been the importance of a slightly higher throwing arm when aiming. This in turn leads to a draw back that resists sagging downwards in the elbow, which in turn encourages a more whipped follow through in the acceleration phase of my throw. I have also ignored my home made sight right experiment which indicated I should stand on the right, and instead I toe the treble 5 and compromise a right side stance with a more central one which seems to work best for me.

Progress report: working on follow through

This week I have started every practice session the same way by filming and counting the number of successful follow though motions I make with my throwing arm. I noted in my last post that I am erratic when releasing the dart and sometimes my hand jerks in an incomplete follow through. When I watch back footage of my throw I am counting a success as a smooth or near smooth extension of the arm that ends with the palm facing downwards. I may have miscounted my initial baseline reading as this was 52% success rate but stated 36% in my notebook.

This week I have thrown 71%,71%,77%,62%,79% follow through success rate when aiming at the 20 bed which feels like progress, especially since my stance is fairly solid at the moment and looks good on playback. I theorised in a previous post that at least a 76% follow through success would be needed to have real impact on my scoring consistency but now I am starting to think that I could achieve higher, and that it is not too unreasonable to aim for say, 90% . I follow through best with the dart when I aim a little nearer my face with the dart cocked up at an angle slightly (Robert Thornton-ish), and pull back towards my shoulder in an almost Tony O'Shea style of throw. I am also experimenting with sighting the dart using the 'v' shaped groove inbetween my thumb and first finger of my throwing hand, which may help me to avoid falling below the target, a common problem I suffer from.

I have been enjoying this new focus on technique not results in my practice sessions as it has allowed me to chase an achievable target that should ultimately improve my results when I move on to concentrate on specific numbers or doubles. I am yet to reap the rewards when playing legs vs the computer and am currently playing a pub B standard with around a 50% win rate at double start 301, my favourite practice game. I can often get to the finishing double first but then miss 15+ darts at the double which is what hurts my win rate and makes my averages laughable. I believe I will never improve at darts until my technique is solid so I only play a couple of legs per session to stay match fit as it were, and I do not read too deeply into averages or results at the moment. I will continue to film follow through scoring sessions and then move on to film and measure in the same way at another target when my average follow through success is consistently higher.

Process not performance

I have just come out of a period of recording some mediocre results (even for me) every day. I was in a way practising to practise and not to get better I suppose. Effective practice is measured for sure, but the essence of what you are trying to achieve when developing a skill should be to concentrate on the mechanics, the process. On my determined mission to improve this year I have distilled this skill into steps and as I am now relatively happy with my stance I am now concentrating on the follow through. Today, when shooting fat 20s I achieved a 36% success rate on proper follow through of the shooting hand. By 'proper' I mean the hand continues with the throwing motion and extends forwards after the release until it is completely flattened out before dropping off. In Barneveld's throw for example this is a soft follow through which I think of as 'patting the dog' and MVG throws with an exaggerated curl of the hand to whip the darts in a straighter trajectory. My throw is often awkward with a twitchy after-thought of a follow through, so I must now work on this skill daily to get my percentage over 76%. If I can follow through successfully more than 2/3 of the time this should result in more 60s and less 45s and 26s when aiming for the 20 bed. As it stands my low success rate explains the part of the darting process I am missing the most, and which contributes to my wildly inconsistent results.

Injury, time off and the weight of darts

I woke up the other day with a terrible pain in my right bicep. It hurt so much that I could barely lift my arm above chest height and took a few days to get better. I managed one practice session using light darts and one with my regular darts before man-flu set in and I have been resting up since! I have had to miss a game with friends because of this unfortunate turn of events and I will probably not be able to practise for another day or so whilst my head is so full of snot:(

When my arm was still sore I threw a brief session with light darts it was surprising to me how little difference they contributed to my throw. I am used to the thunk of 23g darts hitting the board but when I picked up my 18g knitting needles I expected to have to make major adjustments. My initial throws were a bit flighty and the darts were entering into the board at all kinds of angles but after a quick change of flights to a larger style the angles became more consistent and I was happily throwing straight at the 20 bed with the lighter arrows. Of course I was terrible when it came time to hit a double but that is not unusual even with my regular darts.

This experience has taught me (or at least reminded me of ) a valuable truth: the next time I desire a new set of darts and imagine they will transform my game and take me to the next level I am going to save that £25 and spend it on something better, because we all throw darts our own unique way and the darts are effectively incidental to the end result. If you want further proof of this go and watch archive footage of Taylor or Barneveld who have both messed around with their darts' style and weight over the years: both players have hit the heights and thrown spanners with their various types of dart and when it comes down to it your state of mind, and your arm have a much greater effect.

Progress report

I have had a few ups and downs in practice recently, and in the past couple of days it feels like more downs than ups. I have settled on a stance I am comfortable with which is wide foot (Martin Adams- esque) right of centre stance tucking my elbow in and setting the arm vertically to throw. I am still concentrating on developing a straight throw and trying not to get caught up in the idea that I should be covering the whole board in practice sessions. I have explained my reasoning behind this in an earlier post and I am confident that I will be able to translate the basic throw around the board once it is steady and straight. The problem I am having is the perennial inconsistency and bouts of total frustration.

Flicking back through my practice diary on recent days I have had 4 solid sessions just working on the follow through and filming results, plus 4 solid sessions working on straight throwing and recording progress. I think this methodical approach is useful and I may repeat the pattern again next week and return to working on my follow through, which is often erratic and only totally smooth every 3-4 throws or so.

Results wise in the last week or so I had one really good session on scoring and double top throwing; a good session on bull throwing scoring 325 on 'kill bull' http://www.winmau.com/practicezone/videos/#prettyPhoto[gallery]/40/; a close attempt at 3 bulls in a throw (pictured-the 2nd dart was 25 although I couldn't tell when throwing the 3rd because of a shadow!); regularly hitting single or double 3 in the first few visits and I also had a session sustaining 51+ ave scoring for 8 visits in a row.

The inconsistency I have suffered has affected around 3 practice sessions and has led to frustration and me spontaneously changing my action and randomly throwing at improvised targets for periods of time. My problem is likely one of expectation: hitting the highs such as the near 150 shot above, and 2 x 180s last month has raised my hopes to unrealistic levels. I want to be throwing these sort of darts more often but if I did that I would be a professional, or league player rather than a solid pub player which is my aim. Sometimes I begin a practice session with an aimlessness that I need to eradicate because it is easy to think "I am throwing badly today" if you are not focused on a target or goal. I think I need to redraft my routine to include a more useful warm up and include more short games that I can quickly measure progress with. I will stick with my stance and action and continue only making minute changes that I then film for a period to see how it is working rather than rely on the instant feedback of 3 darts.

I am competing against old rivals soon and based on experience I know I will probably get beaten yet again, so this is also weighing heavy on my mind. I am still a long way off regular 30 dart legs and I always get nervous and throw even more erratically when the pressure is on, so even if I go ahead in legs my doubling will often be scrappy. One of the reasons for this is that the people I play against do not practice so much and do not have the hang up of expectation when they throw. I need to also shorten my practice sessions and when I have time for longer sessions maybe split them into 2 bouts of filming, then games/measuring with a break in between so I do not tire out my mind and my arm. I think it will also do my confidence some good to develop skills on a double other than double top so I will experiment with and phase in a double 16 game into my routine in the coming weeks.

Settling on a stance

I am becoming close to settling on key aspects of my stance following sustained bouts of filming my own throw. I have also been watching John Lowe and Phil Taylor videos regularly to try and burn into my brain the image of a good solid stance. There is a stillness in both of these players' setups before throwing that leads me to believe they are the ideal models for angled foot and 90 degrees front foot stances respectively.

I am still undecided on overall height and the degree of twist and lean towards the shoulder but I have settled on a simple mantra for oche postion which is 'stand right, steer left.' When I checked my overall oche position a while back using a homemade 'sight-right' (for the original sight right see http://www.winmau.com/det/909/sightright/) I discovered that for a central viewing position I need to stand a little right of centre bull, but at first this seemed counter intuitive. I have always suffered from darts drifting to the left so I thought that if I stood right and threw to the left it would exacerbate this phenomenon. The mistake I was making was one of perception because if I stand slightly right I think I am looking leftwards at the middle of the board but in fact I am facing it. This subtle shift in perception has allowed me to retrain my angles a little and be more comfortable with where exactly I am standing and in order to throw straight.

I have identified that a likely factor in darts drifting to the left is a slight twist or jerk in my abdominal muscles and have been trying subtle stance variations to eliminate this. On one night this week I had good results steering my throw slightly to the right by shifting my back foot out to the left a little: I threw straight darts including 5mins with a 51+ scoring average with no significant drifting. My next experiment will be to try and keep my weight centered over my front leg a little more to see if this resists body twist and wobble on the oche. I am inclining towards a relaxed oche stance instead of forcing a more upright one, so I continue to use this method without exaggerating the sunken posture too much and scrunching the muscles in my lower back. I am also pleased to report I threw another 180 the other day, which makes 2 in January so far! I threw 3x180s in total last year so I am hopeful that this is an indicator things are heading in the right direction.

Variables

There are many tiny variables in a dart throw which have an exponential effect on the trajectory of the arrow. A hint of drift as it leaves the hand for example can easily send the dart skewing into the 5 or worse still the 12 bed instead of a straight 20. It is therefore important to eliminate all stray movement in the throw and in a recent video of my own throw I noted a tiny lurch forwards every now and again.

To tackle the problem of body and head movement I have been altering one variable in my stance every session and recording videos of straight throwing.  I then watch back the footage and make notes on stray movements which work against a smooth consistent throw. To begin with I tried sinking into my stance a little before throwing which felt solid straight away. I even threw a maximum 180 shortly after changing to this stance from my former more upright position.

As anyone who has experimented with alterations to their throw knows that this one moment of darting perfection was more than likely the result of a short term increase in concentration than a product of the stance, so it will take further research before I am totally confident in how I hold my body ready to throw. In a subsequent session I then varied this stance by widening my feet placement to create a more stable platform but in turn this altered my entire balance and orientation, so it felt too different to be a simple variation on the one basic stance. Interaction of the variables in a darts throw is the root cause of the frustration we all experience when trying to put it all together and make improvements to our game.

What I have discovered is that if I compare my most recent video with earlier takes I am definitely becoming more stable in the upper body but there is still work to be done because my new stance is hard on my lower back. Whilst a twist in the body lines up the arm nicely with the middle of the board it forces my head into a slight lean towards my shoulder which I expect is not great for back pain in the long run either. The overall lower height of the stance also leaves me feeling as though I have to tilt my head up to look at the treble 20, but then in between each throw my head will sink back down a little. I have also learned that a slight twist in my lower abdomen is often the cause of drift into the 5 bed aka the dreaded 'Mardle drift.' The other recurring errors I make are an overly paused and exaggerated draw back in the throw which leads to an odd follow through and usually a dart that loops too high over double top. I have also noticed a deterioration in the quality of my stance over time which manifests itself in more body wobble and an indecisive setting of the aim point before throwing. This last observation explains how I can start throwing a 501 leg with promising straight darts, deteriorate a little with a couple of 45s and then completely slide into uncontrollable wild throwing and 22s when the total creeps down below 200. I used to think that this problem was a mental one and that I could concentrate my way out if, or think positive and throw positive. I am now of the opinion that this is a declining stance issue because my oche position it is not solid and repeatable. Furthermore wild darts are the result of a pull back and follow through issue that I intend to focus on once my stance is improved.

In my quest to work on one variable per practice session I am surely in this for the long haul and it is very difficult to watch and assess my own footage whilst remaining focused on one aspect of the throw. My mind is very quick to forget that I am watching like a hawk for head bobbing for example and I start thinking about the angle of setup, or follow through hand positions for example. This tendency for the mind to flit about and latch onto new variables, combined with the interaction of the variables is surely the reason why so many darters go slightly mad or lose focus and do not progress. I am determined to be methodical in the deconstruction of my throw because I have spent years developing a semi-useful dart throw that is all too easily ruined by a wobble on release, a pause on drawback, or an odd follow through. I am keen to move onto experiments with other aspects of the throw but the next variable I will work on will be the height of throw again: I am not totally convinced by the sunken stance and I think that if I can use the best features of this method in a more upright stance I will lessen the pressure on my lower back and give myself a more repeatable throw that I can settle into more easily on the oche.

Stance variations post filming

I have spent the weekend investigating slight variations to my stance with the intention of providing a more solid platform for throwing without any body movement. Today I watched back several clips and was pleased to note I am able to limit the forward rocking most of the time, by setting a more upright and yet relaxed stance to begin with. The trouble I have had with this stance however is that I am very inaccurate with my throwing in this position and my weight does not feel balanced between both feet or from side to side. I feel a slight sideways wobble when setting up for the throw that is completely off putting.

I decided to investigate a couple of variations to the idea of a sunk-back stance and was immediately more successful with a Van Gerwen-esque stance. I approach the oche and sight the target with a slight lean forward then let my torso sink downwards and settle as I simultaneously lift my chin to look up at the target. I warmed down using this new method and comfortably scored to my usual average with some attractive grouping of the darts. In my next round of filming I will check back to see if this throw does in fact limit lurching in the body and that these positive results were not just variance or the short term positive effects of wishful thinking. I was pleased to find that this stance automatically lines up the top of my my shoulder with the dart so I can measure the drawback to the same place in a fairly straight line. It is one of my short term performance targets to gain a more consistent and smooth drawback so if I persist with this method it may solve more than one issue with my throw.

The downsides of a more sunken stance are that double top feels a mile away at the moment and in the past I suspected that this stance also increased lower back pain. When I used to use this stance as my default method it was when I also twisted the front foot completely sideways to the oche which I do not do any more. I am hopeful that the stance will hurt less with a more angled John Lowe style front foot as there will be less torsion in the leg and lower back.

Filming straight throws and fine tuning

Today I worked on the pure mechanics of straight throwing and decided to film myself again as the instant feedback this provides should in theory override any imaginative and spontaneous ideas I might have about how to modify my throw. It is all too easy to throw tonnes of shots at the 20 bed and lose track of what or how you are practicing and I need to make better use of time, not least of all because I am a long term sufferer of both rsi, back pain and sciatica.

I set about a three part practice session: part one concentrating on only one aspect of the throw at a piece of paper on the board with my performance target written on it; part two was to video a few minutes of straight throwing at the fat 20 bed and part three analysis and note taking. In a previous recording of my own throw I had diagnosed problems with drawing back the dart too far and pausing before release so I started with the idea of drawing back less far and releasing in one smooth movement.

After I had watched my first playback I noticed that my worst throws were the result of slight body movement and that my slightly sketchy drawback was present in both my best and worst visits to the board. The logical conclusion I drew from this (albeit small) sample size is that my drawback may be problematic but if I cannot keep my body still I will be fighting against drifting darts forever more. I also noticed that my chin is not pointing upward and therefore sometimes the dart does not sit below my eye line. I almost anticipate the throw with a lean forward and slight head tilt downwards as I move through the shot which is subtle but may well be the root cause of issues with accuracy in the vertical plane as well.

I decided on a second round of practice to lean slightly less far forward and in fact to sink back a little in my stance so that if I relax my torso after the first dart, my body will remain in the same place for the second and third. I figured that a slightly sunk back and yet still upright stance would provide a little more resistance to the forward momentum of throwing than the leaning method. I videod a second round of throwing and was pleased to note that out of all the throws I made in a few minutes around 7 were quite smooth with no overly-paused drawback and I even hit a 140 with my new sunk back stance. Both of these features represent improvement in my throw but the jury is out on whether the stance it is ultimately limiting sideways drift in the dart.  I will proceed with the new stance method in my next practice sessions as it takes some of the tension out of my setup and I think a relaxed throw will be a smoother throw with hopefully less body movement.

Post match analysis

Last night I got together with quite a few darting friends for a game because we are interested in regular competitive play again, perhaps even reforming our old team. My last post culminated in a to-do list I was aiming for in terms of conduct and mood control. I decided not to set myself performance targets as I have over-practiced darts of late and I felt like my arrows would most likely flow if I took my mind off technique.

I was expecting around 4 darters on the night but even with a last minute change of venue 8 players in all turned up. Half were from our old team and half partners and friends so we settled into rounds of doubles 301 SIDO to get warmed up. My first target was to avoid over-anxiousness but as it happens I did not have time to become too introspective and worry about the finer points of my throw.  When I was not throwing I was occupied chatting, buying drinks, wrestling with the scoring machine and greeting new players as they arrived. The first few legs flew by and after my customary awful first leg I put together a few unspectacular but fairly steady rounds including a solid finish in one leg without messing around. If I reflect back on my personal targets I definitely failed when it came to resting my eyes and mind between shots. Big tv screens, quiz night on the mic, a crowded oche and loads of banter from my darting friends meant the classic sporting 'focus' was definitely not happening!

The subject of gamesmanship is one that routinely comes up in darts and with good reason. The game is played in the pub, which sells alcohol, which removes inhibitions, which loosens gobs! I knew with the old team getting together there would be some trash talking, especially since I know these players from the punk rock scene which is a breeding ground for hecklers. I also invited a new player who is a grand master of hissing comments designed to unsettle you both on and off shot. I decided in advance that I would laugh off gamesmanship attempts and also to butt out of other people's games and avoid heckling myself. I was fairly successful ignoring the odd comment aimed my way, but at a couple of points found myself borderline needling other players and may have caused a bit of grumbling. In some spots even asking a question such as "what (shot) are you on?" was enough to illicit a bout of chuntering. With so many players all watching at once the atmosphere was quite tense and gladiatorial but I did not do or say anything particularly out of order and even tried to talk one player down from the ledge when darts tilt sent him to a dark place. In a climactic game of halve it I became the Peter Manley of the night after showboating a 140 to shoot ahead, so I was pretty much the target of heckling rather than the instigator which suits me anyway.

With so many new and some inexperienced darters toeing the oche I was mindful to compliment good throws and even though I am often accused of a sarcastic tone of voice I was able to do my bit to build some team spirit. There was in fact quite a bit to get excited about if we are going to form a regular team and compete in the area: steady scoring from at least 2 players who have clearly benefited from recent practice, an 82 finish, 2 wired tonne plus finish attempts, 2 or 3 clinical finishes from a recovering dartitis suffer, and a cool finish from an old friend on double 13 to close a leg in which I unwisely gave the throw away Phil Taylor style! For my part I hit a couple of tonnes early doors, a couple of decent finishes and held my own overall. My throw however was unpredictable and felt disjointed and jerky most of the time, so for some reason I kept shuffling about on the oche to try and fix things. When I get back on the practice board I am going to fix my oche position again, and go back to working on rhythm and straight throwing. A continual niggle has been the aim point as well so I will refocus on how I line up the barrel with the target and try to come up with a consistent method that works.

Preparing for a game

Recently I have put in some respectable darts performances against friends when a casual leg or two has fired up on a night out in between other activities. I have even hit some personal bests such as a 10 dart 301 leg and proudly taken a couple of legs off a better player who usually beats me. This week I will get together for a darts night with some friends who I used to regularly throw with, and a couple of other people who reckon they will be up for some regular games. The atmosphere will be different: everyone will be psyched to play and ready to nick legs off each other and some will likely stick the needle in afterwards!

I need to make sure I am mentally prepared for this event because there is more at stake than just reputations: if everything goes well we could bond and form a fun darts team like we once had a few years back. At one stage we had a regular game against a rival team of darters from the local music scene and it would be fun to get back to semi-regular competitive darts. I therefore need to forget being results dependent, or even performance dependent, I need to judge my performance based on my mood and behavior. I am a notorious bad loser who is capable of quickly ruining the atmosphere on any night out when some form of competition goes down.

A method I have been using to remain on an even keel during competition is to use the red head/blue head method Daniel Coyle writes about in his brilliant blog (and related book) "The Talent Code." Put simply when you start losing it is easy to lose mindfulness and let all semblance of control erode little by little until you feel helpless to control your performance.  Coyle refers to this as 'red head' and it is virtually guaranteed that when a leg or two of darts slips away I start to get my red head on. If I am not careful my mood will then plummet accordingly and I will start griping, making excuses and create bad vibes. The alternative is to use a mental cue or trigger to call forth your 'blue head' which is the rational, in control side of your personality that understands you can only control certain things and sets about the business of measured, mindful actions.

My personal mental trigger is to picture a tree with roots of experience, a trunk of knowledge, and branches of skill reaching out and growing. I know this sounds daft but it works for me and is instantly calming and helps me get back to blue head mode. It reminds me of the elements of skill I do have, and that I am always reaching and growing which is a realistic, positive thought. This focus on the positive pushes out irrational thoughts to do with lack of perfection, or wish to control things which I cannot (E.g. an opponent's purple patch), which is the root of red head thinking.

I will therefore consider my performance this week to be a success if I do the following:

• Use calming measures such as breath control, or mental imagery to stop over anxiousness
• Rest my mind and eyes in between throws instead of watching my opponent's throw (which conserves energy)
• Laugh off or smile and ignore an attempt at gamesmanship by an opponent
• Butt out of other people's games: E.g no heckling, advising of finishes, commentating
• Compliment good throwing
• Keep my recent good form to myself and not brag, or complain that my form has suddenly evaporated

Searching for a rhythm

I had a Eureka moment yesterday when I theorised that the way to smooth out the rhythm of my throw might be to put some music on and try to set up, aim, pull back and throw in time to the beat. Since I am a musician I figured that all I have to do is train to a well known song then in competition I can imagine the song and then throw to the beat in my head. I know this sounds a little bit like over-thinking the throw but since I am trying to resist pausing on drawback I need all the creative ideas I can muster to beat this cursed lack of smoothness!

I experimented today with this idea of a measured drawback and  on a hunch I started by listening to "That's the way I like it" by KC and the sunshine band in my head as a potential song that would provide the right tempo.  I tried to put to the back of my mind the fact that I dislike disco music as a general rule, and how desperately uncool the KC song would be as a walk on tune if I became hooked on it! The initial benefit of this method was a glorious lack of thought and pure instinctive throwing for 5-10 mins as I pumped darts into the board with a 'four to the floor' measured throw of 'arm-aim-pullback-shoot' type pattern exactly with the beat. I quickly discovered however that a dart throw is not completely even and that the 'arm' and 'aim' portions of the throw need more time than the 'pull' and 'shoot' portions with accelerate the trajectory of the dart. The need to quickly the pull back and snap follow through on the beat was also leaving me with a half finished or soft follow through which I have heard Steve Beaton refer to as 'short-arming' the dart on one of his online tutorials.

I then put on some slower groovy music on and for a while 'Fire and Water' by Free was helping me cement the first part of the throw rhythmically but the pullback and release was still troublesome, uneven and overextended, hitting my shoulder again. In fact the slower speed was allowing my brain to kick in and start thinking too hard about the throw, which is what I am trying to interrupt in order to relearn a smoother throw. I then experimented with just a metronome click to measure the beats, so I could establish a workable tempo before deciding on a song that would suit it. The closest to a satisfactory solution I found was faster 1/8th notes at 122-125 bpm and to ensure the first part of the throw gets sufficient time I count the 'arm' and 'aim' for two beats each and the 'pull back' gets only one.

Once I turned the clicking metronome sound off and practiced on sections of the board in my usual routine I found that a rhythmic approach which also allowed time to position the arm works as follows: take stance/look at target (2 clicks) position elbow towards target(2 clicks) aim/sight the target with arm at 90o degrees to horizontal(2 clicks) pull back (1 click) and then release gives me a rhythmic framework to try again next practice. I have always taken my time on the setup part of the shot but sometimes overly so, and this method could hopefully systematise my setup and lay the foundation for a more measured throw with rhythmic momentum aiding the transition to and through the drawback and release. There is of course a danger of going down the Andy Hamilton road of an over complicated throw so I will video myself throwing again soon to check my progress.

Throw pics and analysis (side view)

I filmed my throw yesterday so I could make a 'to do' list in terms of technique and it was quite revealing although not how I had expected. I have taken screen grabs (above) to illustrate the 3 stages of my throw.

1. The aim/setup. I am quite pleased that this is close to the 90degree arm that you see Phil Taylor using and I am hopeful that this is more or less correct technique. I try to angle the dart back a bit so I can see along the barrel and through to the 20 bed. I have noticed this is how Raymond Van Barneveld sights the dart before throwing and I am a fan of his technique and not far off Barney in terms of overall height.

2. The drawback. This is where it all starts to go wrong for me as you can clearly see the dart hits my shoulder. This has caused all sorts of problems in the past with the flight hooking onto the collar of my shirt and it is a habit I need to break. The problem I have is that I have almost come to rely on it for timing the throw: as I feel the dart touch my shoulder I can measure the extent of the drawback and gain some consistency.

3. The follow through. I have mixed feelings about my follow through since my hand has an exaggerated curl and and pushes through quite deliberately. If you study Barney's throw for example or MVG's the hand ends up quickly flicking at the end but mine is a slower shaping of the hand.

Overall I am pleasantly surprised watching my own throw as I expected a tonne of elbow and body movement which is just not there. However the video footage also reveals a tragic pause on the drawback that hints at potential dartitis problems further down the road. I would also like to experiment with bringing my elbow inwards a little to point more consistently at the target, as you can see on the middle picture it pokes out slightly to the right on drawback. I think that the snagging and pausing on pull back of the dart is the worst aspect of my game so I need to pull less far, perhaps brushing my cheek to fix a new point to come back to, or just keep the dart along its current trajectory but pull back less far. My follow through has taken a long time to develop and still feels inconsistent but I think it is fairly workable and is less of an issue than the other weaknesses I have now identified.

Practice routine (second half)

After I have finished straight throw training I play a round or two of 'cricket' to concentrate on accuracy. This is the Dartscorer software version of the game aiming for 20,19,18,17,16,15 and bull. If I score less than 14 I repeat the round because this score is equivalent to two singles per target, which based on my experience is the minimum accuracy to avoid a sound whooping in a pub game. I am actually aiming for the treble bed each time I shoot, so in a way is preparation for hitting big cover shots and set up trebles in matches. It could be argued that as a poor pub standard player I should forget about trebles and aim for the big number as there is a greater chance I might hit it. I tend to disagree with this theory because I think I gain more by practicing the art of aiming itself, since I am rehearsing the feeling of concentrating on a small target which is the best way to throw any shot. Awareness of this fact allows me to be realistic about my chances of hitting the trebles whilst at the same time pushing myself to throw at a small target which is a happy learning zone to be in and prevents me from frustration at failing regular cover shot trebles. Or to put it another way I can be extremely positive about chalking up '1' point for a single if I concentrated hard on the treble bed and threw near, but not in it.

The next routine I follow depends on my confidence level. If I am throwing reasonably well I will play Dartsnutz doubles routine and mark my score which the software automatically records on Dartscorer. My aim is to throw repeated darts at certain doubles so If I am really confident I will also play Bob's 27s double routine which also takes away points for missing a bed. I mention confidence since I believe it is important not to stand throwing missed darts over and over. The hitting of a double requires good technique, concentration and the total belief that you can hit the target. I also like to play against the computer starting from low numbers such as 60 and 48 to add realistic match pressure to finishing with a single then a double. It must be said that I am not totally happy about the effectiveness of my doubles routines but I wander how much of this is down to my slightly dodgy throw to begin with. I am in the process of refining my throw and I expect I will streamline my doubles routine to be quicker and easier to score, to facilitate more instant feedback and little bits of  progress within a session once I have done this. At the moment I find that my straight throw does not translate well around the board because of too much elbow and drawback deviation, so I often flail at doubles and get annoyed towards the end of a practice session. A long doubles routine seems to compound problems and I need to find a quicker routine and perhaps segue way into a new game to end practice sessions on a more positive note.

Practice routine (first half)

I base my practice around short addictive games since repetition is important to develop any motor skill, along with an achievable target that you can get to in a short amount of time without slogging at it for too long. I warm up for a few throws by throwing the first dart and then trying to hit it again with subsequent darts, as this is a nice loosener that depends on the follow through of the arm without too much focus on the aiming point to begin with.  I then play two legs against the computer, since any darter should be able to step up to the oche and play with very little warm up as this happens all the time in pub darts. I then focus on developing a straight throw by watching some videos of players with great throws. John Lowe's 9 dart video is a favourite of mine: Lowe keeps so still when throwing and his arm moves like a well oiled piston in an engine. I try to recreate this movement and aim to score 101 or more in 6 darts. This is the classic challenge from TV's Bullseye programme and if I can do it in 6 then I know I am scoring a 50.5 average which puts me on track for the magic 51 ave. I am aiming for long term. The other game I play at this stage is to put 3 darts in the fat 20 bed since grouping darts closely together is a key skill. I then move onto try and score 50 in a turn aiming just at the bullseye, since this would equate to  around a 50 average for a turn and also prepares my arm for 'middle for diddle' sessions when winning the bull can give you a huge advantage. My next challenge is to score 9 or more in a turn hitting only single three or double three which again, keeps my arm straight and gives me valuable extra practice on a tricky area of the board. I then spend the next 5mins trying to get two double 20s in a turn since this is the most important double on the board.

I know I finished the last paragraph on a hugely contentious point so I thought I would let it hang there for a bit before justifying my statement: double top is the most important double to practice because it is a straight throw. A straight throw is the fundamental challenge of darts for me since my darts waver, wibble and weep all over the shop at the best of times. Practice on double top also supports practice of high scoring 20s which is essential to win legs, and bullseyes which can give you first throw and a psychological edge in a leg. I also find that since I can sometimes hit two double tops in a throw I feel more confident throwing just one dart into the target in a pressure situation. Not only that but I also feel more able to hit double 1 or 5 since they require very little deviation in the straight throw.

Having said all this I do recognise that double 16 is numerically the best double to end up on on a competitive game since it splits down to x8-x4-x2-x1 if you go inside and miss which in my matches is more or less inevitable. Today when practising I did not make it to the second half of my practice routine because I lost my discipline on the 2x tops game and carried on way past 5mins. I practiced myself into a deep black hole of crapness. I got further and further away from a solid throw and nowhere near the tops-tops shot I was aiming for, to the point where my arm ached and I could not hit the back of a cow with a banjo! I hope to regain my composure next time when I will also detail the second half of my practice routine and the other short games I play to hone in on the different phases of a darts match.

About

Hello there, I am a darts addict and perpetual self-improver. If you have read my blog on microstakes poker (http://microdonkey.blogspot.co.uk/) then you will know that I analyse everything to the Nth degree and become totally absorbed in my pursuits and in the pursuit of excellence itself.  I have loved darts since I was a young boy and I play with the determination and concentration of Phil Taylor but sadly throw with the accuracy and consistency of an angry monkey throwing poo. I have played for years and practice darts relentlessly so you would expect a reasonable level of competency but here is the thing: a decent pub darts player should average around 51 point per visit and I am not even close to this. On my best day with everything working I can just about touch this standard for one leg, but mostly I average only slightly better than pure fluke which would equate to around 32 points per visit!

I am therefore on a self-improvement mission to get to the magic 51 average every time I play and I have already begun on that journey with a complete overhaul of my oche position, stance and aiming of the dart. I am using a custom practice routine which is finally making a positive difference to my throw and I hope to achieve my goal within the next 12 months. I will post thoughts and musings, competitive match reports, practice milestones and problems as well as the odd comment on professional matches. Game on:)