January 1, 2009

Hello fellow darters!  My name is Tony Harris and I am fairly new to blogging.  I have been playing darts for about ten years now and I have belonged to many associations and leagues throughout the years.  I thought I would start this blog and share some of my ideas and thoughts with you on the game of darts.  I am excited to share with you some of the articles I have read about things going on in the world of darts and talk about ways that I have found to improve my game.

I am going to start this blog off by talking a little about some of the basics of the game of darts.  Let’s face it, not everyone that loves darts is a professional dart player.  When I first started playing darts I purchased my first bristle board to hang in my basement rec room.  I was so excited to shoot my first round of darts.  However, I quickly realized that I had never actually had to hang my own dartboard before.  How high did I need to hang it?  How far back do I have to stand?  I did my research to find that the dartboard should be hung so that the bullseye is 5 feet 8 inches from the floor.  Why that height?  It is eye level for a six foot person.  The line behind which the throwing player must stand is generally about 7 feet 9 ¼ inches from the face of the dartboard.   It’s always a good idea to put some kind of board around the dartboard to protect the wall from complete misses….not that I’ve ever had any!

As a younger dart player, I frequently found myself throwing the third dart short of the target.  My first and second darts were right on target but that third dart was frequently an issue.  I purchased two identical sets of darts for a few reasons.  One reason was to try to fix this third dart problem.  I would grab four darts and throw all four darts at a particular target on the dartboard.  I focused completely on my delivery.  I would practice one hour a day in this way and within a week or so I noticed that the problem had almost completely disappeared.  I think this drill has to do with mental confidence and forces you to learn to use the same delivery mechanics on your third dart that you did on the first two darts.  It worked for me and it may work for you too!

Until next time!
Tony

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