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.