My darts challenge...........

[Matt50]

I know a few people on here like watching the darts, and for those of you that dont - then dont bother reading any further 

Since i was forced to give up playing football through injury a couple of years ago i havent really taken on another hobby, a few rounds of golf but the game frustrates the hell out of me.
I love watching the darts on tv and was talking to the missus about it and she said 'why dont we buy a dart board'.
Now me being me, i cant just buy a dart board to mess about on and play a little bit - i have now set myself a couple of targets;
Firstly, i am going to practice enough that i can be good enough to join a local team and play in a few local open tournaments.
Secondly, and the big challenge - to become good enough to try and qualify for a major dart tournament!!

I know this is a long shot and i havent thrown a dart for about 15 years, but i'm sure that with lots of practice i can give it a good go.
If after a few months i am still no better then at least i have a dart board to mess about with at home!!!

The main reason for posting on here is so that i stay commited to it after a few weeks if things dont start well!

I have made the space in the Kids playroom, been and brought said dart board, darts etc and will be putting it up tonight.

A couple of questions;
Does anyone know the best kind of darts to get - i assume the ones i have brought with the dart board will be pretty basic - should i be looking to buy a really good set?
What are the best ways to practice - i was thinking about trying to go round the board in numerical order in as few darts as possible - things like that?

Let the journey begin....................... 

[Jedwick]

if u have a laptop then download a program called DartPro, it has quite a few different practise games and it also keeps scores and averages and makes charts to show your progress!

[gatso]

pm fuglybaz, he had a crack at the pro circuit

[AndrewT]

Someone's had a crack at this before.

Before - http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/apr/06/childrensservices.charitymanagement

After - http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2006/feb/05/features.sport6

The book - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Darts-Board-Justin-Irwin/dp/1906032041

[sweet potata!]

Good luck with this mate, i will look forward to the updates

I have a dartboard in my room and my mates keep saying to me just 3 hours a day and i will be able to take on the BDO in a year ! If only it was that easy

Some Basic Tips, I would suggest you try out a couple of different weighted darts to see what you feel most comfortable with,
                        Try and get a stance and Grip that you can replicate over and over theres  no point chopping and changing everyday or you will never be consistent

GL Game on !!!!

[Manfred McMuscleman]

A couple of questions;
Does anyone know the best kind of darts to get - i assume the ones i have brought with the dart board will be pretty basic - should i be looking to buy a really good set?
What are the best ways to practice - i was thinking about trying to go round the board in numerical order in as few darts as possible - things like that?

Let the journey begin....................... 

I'd assume that the darts that come with the board will be brass, meaning they're v.lightweight.

Quite difficult to answer which are the bets darts to buy, different styles suit different people, i would recommend searching through www.dartscorner.co.uk probably the best online Darts store around imo. You'll probably find out whats best for you once you get a consistant stance/throw. There's so many out there but you can get a decent set of 80% Tungsten darts for around a tenner, its very much a trial and error sort of thing. In terms of weight i'd suggest something between 19-24 Grams for a beginner, but again you wil find out what suits you so i'll leave you to experiment! (As an aside i went through 3-4 sets before i felt comfortable).

As for practice i'd recommend spending the first 10 minutes on Double Top to get a feel for the right weight. Then move onto 20's and Bull. I enjoy working on checkouts from 120-170, you can even set targets each day etc. On top of the around the board idea id say going around the clock on doubles/trebles is a good pracice regime, although very difficult so i only tackle this once you feel comfortable with your throw otherwise its a reall confidence knocker sometimes (is for me anyway).

Hope this helps, good luck with it.

[ACE2M]

i'm a bit of a natural sportsman and do well at almost every sport or game i try apart from darts, girls beat me, i'm completely fucking hopeless. Nobody would play me at pool in the end but they would queue up to take my money on the oche. So you must need some specific gene or something for darts.

Friends i have had who were good at darts used to say that a good way to start was throwing at the bull over and over until your hitting bull or outer almost everytime, it gets your eye in apparently. Then go round the clock on doubles and other stuff.

I love watching darts and hope to see you on TV at some point, good luck with it.

[pokerfan]

slim darts are a must,its easier to fit em all in the t20.make sure they have a decent gnarled finish on em for grip as hours at the board make sweaty hands!
weight totally depends on individual but you may as well buy a couple of sets to get the right ones.There`s no point practicing for a month with the first set you get then finding out they never suited you.
For the best stockist google tommys darts.
oh and ffs make sure you set the board at the right height and get the oche length spot on!

[kukushkin88]

The comment about the slim darts is funny, if you're throwing well enough to worry about there being less space in the T20 because of the width of your dart (probably approx an eighth of an inch worst case) then you really have nothing to worry about at all, other than how to beat Phil Taylor obv.

[TheChipPrince]

pm fuglybaz, he had a crack at the pro circuit

Hasn't logged on for over 2 months tho, thought he was getting into the swing of it a while back...

[pokerfan]

The comment about the slim darts is funny, if you're throwing well enough to worry about there being less space in the T20 because of the width of your dart (probably approx an eighth of an inch worst case) then you really have nothing to worry about at all, other than how to beat Phil Taylor obv.

i played against Taylor once this is what he said to me; what you need to do is take a quarter of an inch off your stems, im not sure it will improve your throwing but they will definitely fit in the bin!

[Matt50]

Thanks for all the replies and advice guys.

I put the board up last night (at the right height pokerfan) and spent a couple of hours throwing darts, changing my stance etc to see what felt right.
The darts are fairly lightweight, so i am going to look to get a decent heavier set.

Jedwick - dartspro looks a really good shout - i am going to spend a while getting my eye in and a bit of consistency before i start to record averages and the like though.

For what its worth after an hour or so i was fairly consistent around the 20 5 and 1 and had a couple of nice 100 shots (T20,20,20).
I'd forgotten how difficult it was to hit those doubles though!!!

[TheChipPrince]

To practice finishing and keep things interesting play ''6-dart finish''  (or you can even adapt this to 9-dart's if 6-dart is a bit hard)...

Start off on 101 and give yourself 6 darts to finish. If you do it add 10, so try and finish from 111, if you fail  take away 10, so start off on 91...

If you get up to 151/161 your doing very well!

[AndrewT]

To practice finishing and keep things interesting play ''6-dart finish''  (or you can even adapt this to 9-dart's if 6-dart is a bit hard)...

Start off on 101 and give yourself 6 darts to finish. If you do it add 10, so try and finish from 111, if you fail  take away 10, so start off on 91...

If you get up to 151/161 your doing very well!

If you manage to do it, go out and buy yourself a speedboat...

[Colchester Kev]

To practice finishing and keep things interesting play ''6-dart finish''  (or you can even adapt this to 9-dart's if 6-dart is a bit hard)...

Start off on 101 and give yourself 6 darts to finish. If you do it add 10, so try and finish from 111, if you fail  take away 10, so start off on 91...

If you get up to 151/161 your doing very well!

If you manage to do it, go out and buy yourself a speedboat...