Fixing your throw:

Ok, I tell people to practice all the time. So someone asked me last night how many darts she was going to have to throw before she got good. I watched her throw and told her about a billion. Why so many you ask? Because she did not have a good throw. If you don’t have a good throw, you can get better at it, but it’s going to take a long long time. If you want to lay down on the ground, throw the dart in the air, and kick it up to the board, do it a billion times and you would probably get decent at doing it that way. However, if you don’t have that kind of time on your hands, maybe it would be easier to correct your basic throw.

ANYONE can learn the mechanics of a good throw in about 10 minutes. Then spend 10 minutes a day actively practicing with it, and I promise you that your game will improve in the first month.

So what makes a good throw. Let’s assume for a minute that we wanted to make a machine that would throw a perfect dart every time. What would we need?

First, it would have to throw the dart the exact same way every single time. No variations. So what we would want is an unmovable base (this is going to be your upper arm). Then we need a movable lever (your forearm) and something that holds the dart and releases it at the same point every time (your hand). See the diagram below:

The forearm would be the only part of the arm moving, it would stay perfectly straight (in relation to the upper arm) and would follow through to the furthest point (B). The dart would be released at the height of the arch (A) and would be released perfectly parallel to the floor allowing the dart to fly level and true the whole flight.

Doesn’t sound so tough does it? Well if it was as simple as it sounds, we would all be great. So what are the problems?

ONE PART MOVING. This is most peoples biggest problem. It only makes sense that to be good in darts, you have to throw the dart the same way EVERY SINGLE TIME. When you get your forearm moving, your upper arm moving, your body swaying, your legs moving, and your head bobbing, you now have a dozen different things moving that you have to move the exact same way, every time. This is impossible.


Let’s break it down:

If you are one of the few people who stand with your body parallel to the board (facing the board). You do not have a choice but to have your forearm, your upper arm, and your shoulder all moving at the same time in order to throw the dart. So instead of having one part moving, you have 3. You will never get to the top this way. You have to stand sideways (or mostly sideways) to the board in order to get your arm straight out so that only your forearm needs to move.

If you are one of the people who lunges as they throw each dart. Think about how you are possibly going to get your entire body to lunge the exact same way, every time.

If you are one of the people who kick their leg up (or worse, keep one foot off the floor entirely), you are now off balance. I don’t care how balanced or nimble you think you are, you are weaving from side to side at least a little bit (and more if you drink like most people while playing darts). Now you have 100– 300 pounds moving _ - 2 inches from side to side and you have to do this the same way every time, while releasing your dart at the exact same time during that weaving. CAN’T BE DONE.

If you (like a LOT) of people jerk your arm back half way through your throw instead of following through. Do you honestly believe that you can jerk your arm back at the exact same time, every time, and not be an inch or two off each time. This is the biggest problem I see with new people. If your hand doesn’t cross your target, how can you expect the dart to hit it?

Are you one of the people who leans over so far that it looks like your trying to stick the dart in the board instead of throwing it. This would be ok if you could lean to the exact same position every time (which you can’t) but even if you could. Do you honestly believe that you can throw better when you are off balance? If you are leaning way over and start to get body parts moving, you only throw yourself off by being off balance. Remember that we don’t want your upper arm to move at all.

Last point. You have to release the dart parallel to the floor. If your dart is bobbing all the way to the board, you are going to miss even if you throw all three darts the exact same way. When you release the dart at an angle to the floor instead of parallel, it has to correct itself. It overcorrects, then overcorrects a little less, a little less, and finally levels out (hopefully before it hits the board). So if you are one of the many people who line up with your dart parallel to the board instead of the floor, you need to either fix this or back up and learn to shoot from 20 feet away so your dart has plenty of time to correct itself.

Finally, if you are unsure about your throw, get someone who knows what they are doing to watch you throw. You can also practice looking into a mirror to watch your arm and body. If your upper arm is moving side to side, or your forearm isn’t staying straight up and down, this is probably why you are missing. Most people I know own video cameras now. Tape yourself throwing from in front and behind. Look to see if you are weaving, throwing your elbow out, not following through etc. Trust me, once you get the basic throw down, this game gets a WHOLE LOT easier.

There are dozens of players in the Masters league who are great shots that would be willing to help you figure out what you are doing wrong, but most of them are not going to tell you what you are doing wrong unless you ask. If you want to see some people doing things the right way watch Lucky Newberry and how straight his arm stays. Watch Rick Kerska and notice how he cocks his wrist at the top of his throw to make sure the dart leaves parallel to the floor every time (except when he throws a rattler). Watch Dave Fatum and Bob Castillo follow through. Their hand will be pointing at what they want it to hit at the end of their throw. These guys did not get to the top by trying to make a bad throw work.

One final note, for those people who have a bad throw or bad habit like standing on one foot, kicking your leg way up, or lunging. Some people are going to tell me “I do those things and I’m a good shooter:”. This is absolutely true. But think how many millions of darts you have had to throw to make that style work. Then think about this. If someone had fixed your basic throw back when you were starting and you had played as long as you have with good habits, how good do you think you would be then? I’m willing to bet a lot better.