Dart Tips To Gain An Edge: Volume #3
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Even More Dart Tips - The Third Edition
Here is another installment of those unique, one-off questions for dart tips to gain an edge that I have gotten a few times from readers. If you haven't seen Volume #1 and Volume #2, have a look before you continue with this third edition of the dart tips trilogy. Enjoy.
Why do so many professional players
use the 17 as a cover shot in 501?
I must admit, as a younger player this one baffled me as well. It didn’t make sense. Why would a world class player not shoot the 19, or even the 18, as a cover shot? After all, those numbers are higher.
Once I figured it out, these dart tips made a lot of sense. It is all about the math and the early setups before getting to an out. Since the game starts out at 501, if you go 20, 20, 17, you leave 444, which in theory means you don’t have to leave the 20 again until you shoot the out (assuming supreme acumen). A 20, 20, 51 scores 91 leaving 410. This allows for the same contingency of being able to stay on the 20 afterwards. A 60, 20, 51 scores 131 leaving 370. Mathematically, if you went 60, 60, 51 (however unlikely a path), that scores 171 leaving 350, which is most ideal in thinking about a 9-dart set-up.
Shooting the 19 requires a triple in order to stay on the 20 after that until the out. Same with the 18. The 18s and 19s will require you to cover away from the 20 again if you only hit a single. Shooting 17 leaves a 4 or 0 as the last digit (the one's column) in whatever you leave which is advantageous for setting up. Try out these dart tips for yourself and see how it feels.
What are the pros & cons of a practice board?
For those of you not familiar with this product, a practice board (sometimes called a training board) in its most common iteration is a dartboard that has doubles triples, and sometimes the bullseye at half of their normal width. Triples and doubles are normally about 8 mm thick, meaning these are 4mm thick. I enjoy putting up a practice board every now and then and is one of the best dart tips to give you that edge. The skinny triples and doubles are a bit odd to size up at first, but after a few minutes, you get past it. There are a few companies that make them, with slight variations to each, but that is the gist of all of them.
Scoring Areas
In theory, if you can hit the skinnier ones, you can hit the official sized ones. The thing that needs to be remembered: The overall circumference of the scoring area is the same. In order for the doubles and triples to be half the thickness, the inner wire of each has been moved.
What does this mean? It means that darts that are slightly low on the skinny triple 20 would likely be in the triple on a regulation board, but darts that are high on triple 20 on the practice board will still be high on a regulation board. This is something that the brain doesn’t necessarily process in the moment. We think aiming at the smaller target just makes us focus more efficiently.
Missing on the inner rings should be the greater goal if you are going to miss. Missing on the inner wire should actually make you feel good. Missing on the outer wire is the same miss on the standard board. It takes a moment of pause to process this, but when you do, these dart tips makes sense and you can understand your practice better.
The further unique but worthy challenge of a practice board is the change of perspective back to the regulation board. The regulation board triples and double end up looking much bigger. It briefly breeds an overconfidence.
Your Dart Angle Matters
More dart tips to consider with skinny doubles and triples is the angle of your dart. I would argue that not only do practice dartboards train you to aim for a smaller target, they almost force you to come in more level. Darts that come in more level certainly penetrate and hold the board better. When it comes to the practice boards with embedded wires closer together, it is a harder angle of approach if you normally have your darts land with flights up. This might be the greatest takeaway of these dart tips.
I have talked about the angle of darts in the board in relation to board innovation before. While there may have been a unique advantage to players with a high angle when the wires were round and stapled on top, board innovation has made that less desirable.
Dart Tips for Your Board
With new rules going into effect for the 2024 PDC season about the types of dart tips that will be allowed for competitive play, it is worth it for amateur players of all levels to follow the guidelines. For those who have gotten used to having aggressive dart tips to hold the fibers of high-angled darts, getting a practice board might be a great way to learn to get in on the triples at a lower angle.
If you're interested on learning about different dart tips and point aggression, I highly recommend A-Z Darts' blog on dart tips.
Practice Dartboard Options
The Winmau Dual Core Green Zone was developed by the Junior Darts Corporation in conjunction with Winmau as the official board used for their youth development program. The green of the single bull extends out of the bull ring to about the circumference of a baseball. It is described as a handicap system.
After youth players put in time with their prescribed sessions, they get graded into a “color level” that translates into a particular handicap to play others of different levels. The rest of the board is standard.
The Winmau Blade Champions Choice Practice Dartboard is another training board offered by Winmau with narrower doubles and triples. It features a Dual Core Technology that provides a lower compression at the outer core to reduce bounceouts. Even the blade of the wires have been reduced from 90-degrees to 60-degrees to further reduce the possibility of bounce outs as you practice.
Instead of the typical green and red colored segments of official dartboards, this practice board has yellow and green segments.
The One80 Dot Trainer Plus has dots and circles painted in each segment throughout the entire board. The circles and dots serve as mini bullseyes for your dart tips to land in.
It is not one that I have ever used, and despite it looking busier, I can see arguments for its utility. It provided another way to focus smaller on the doubles and triples, as well as providing nickel-sized rings in the fat of the singles that can serve as unique targets for setups.
If you like soft tip, the Gran Darts Gran Board 132 Trainer is an excellent option for a soft tip practice board. Compared to the Gran Board 3s, the 132 Trainer is a bit smaller at 13.2 inches in diameter. This means that the scoring areas are smaller as well, contrary to steel tip practice dartboards. It may take a while to get used to the smaller training board and transition into the official soft tip dartboards.
You can use it just the same as any other electronic dartboard with your iPad or tablet and a set of soft tip darts.
There are other, less common training boards as well. The Unicorn Contender is not widely available but this board that has much bigger triples and doubles. While I have never used it, I could see this being an encouraging tool for developing the youth game in the way Tee-ball would for baseball.
When is the right time to go to my first tournament ?
This a great question that I get often, but it needs to be parsed more finely. I wasn't sure how to provide dart tips to this question before I agreed to be someone's doubles partner at my first tournament. I had been asked multiple times in my first couple of years to go to a tournament, but based on who had been asking me, I wasn’t confident that they had a sense of what being a “good” darts player was. When a top national shooter asked me to be his partner, it most assuredly let me know I was ready. While I was apprehensive and unknowing of the success I was to have, I knew confidently that this was the right time to say, “yes”.
Asking Yourself the Right Question
In trying to consider if you are ready for your first tournament, I would pose a few further questions… If the question more specifically is, "Am I ready to win at a tournament?" you may never take the plunge. This should not be the standard you hold yourself to. Don’t wait until you think you are good enough to win. I believe I did myself a bit of a disservice by waiting until I thought I was competent enough to win something. Though I won an event at my inaugural tournament and placed high in others, I could have been learning more about myself and my game had I stepped out sooner.
The more important question is, "What can I learn from tournament experience?"
Tournament experience is extremely valuable for dart tips even if you don’t aspire to tour the country. Firstly, you get out of your own fishbowl of playing the smaller pool of players in your locale. Playing new players keeps you on your toes because you don’t know what to expect. You are also engaging your nerves in a new way; playing to hopefully win some money back. Learning how to deal with perceived pressure is a valuable tool. At the very least, you will desensitize yourself to the pressure of local league play.
Getting past your first round match is an admiral goal for a first tournament. If by chance you draw a strong national shooter, you have gotten your money’s worth in soaking up an experience that few in your local league may have ever gotten. What I would recommend before going to a sanctioned national event is to start by stepping outside your comfort zone and going to an area Luck of the Draw (LOD) or Drop-in. This is a great, inexpensive way to get exposure playing different players and creating a newer, different level of pressure.
The experience is more important than the outcome. Go for it.
What are some unique things you carry in your darts bag?
While this may not be the dart tip to top all dart tips out there, I find that having some of these unique items in my darts bag helps me while I'm on the go and looking to play darts. I encourage you to go out and experiment with what works best for you as well.
When I travel throughout New York City working with players, I often travel with my own dartboard. You never know how bad a bar's dartboard might be. It is worth everyone keeping the nicer Winmau screws and leveling wheels from old boards. Most places throw them away when the board has been thoroughly used. There have been times when having an extra one has come in handy.
I am a big fan of dartboard wedges. I keep 4 of them in my bag. How many times have you needed a handful of folded/broken coasters to level a board on a severely beat up backboard? There have even been times when the adjustable wheels don’t touch the wall because of how torn up a backboard is. Wedges are a much quicker fix.
iPad Charging cord. This has become a must. Many bars that are hardcore into darts usually have tablets and cords, but there are still plenty of one-off places that don’t. Even if you are not responsible for the tablet or scoring, it sucks if a tablet goes out in the middle of a match. I still travel with a dry erase marker too (I have given up on the messy box of chalk though).
Any more book recommendations?
Books are a great supplement to your darts practice routines and are often full of invaluable dart tips. If you like to read up on dart tips, you'll surely liken yourself to the following recommendations too:
- Choke by Sian Beilock
An expert on performance and brain science talks about why we blunder when the stakes are high. This is an awesome read all around. I highly recommend it as a supplement to these dart tips.
- Darts Finishing Mastery by Jim Chatterton
I don’t often read “How To” books specifically about darts (there aren’t many, and fewer that are written well) but this series of 4 books that are plainly stated and detailed. Recently I finished, Advanced Strategies and found it a refreshing study of high-level set-ups and dart tips. Some of the information may be second nature for some, but Jim is clear and comprehensive in his approach. These books are worth reading and keeping on your shelf.
- The Darts League King by Keith Lee Morris
Easy-read fiction that actually has darts as the backdrop of its lurid tale of drugs and murder. I read this long ago and was recently reminded of it when asked if there was a darts novel.
Respectfully,
Dax
Dr. Manhattan
Dax Munna is an international darts instructor who works with players of all levels; from beginner to PDC professional, online and in-person.
Reach out on Facebook or DaxMunna@gmail.com with questions and coaching inquiries.
