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.