I've Developed a Slice

[brenthahn]

Within the last week or so, my darts have all started landing a bit point-to-the-right, flight-to-the-left. Same darts, same grip, same stance, same everything. Or so it seems, but obviously not. I've shot video of myself and it all looks okay, but then again I have no video of what I looked like pre-slice. 20's are now 1's, 60's are 3's, and I'm losing my mind. Anything like this ever happen to you?

[gumbo2176]

I sometimes have the same thing happen to me if I don't keep my forearm perpendicular to the floor. If my elbow gets off center and kicks a bit to the right (I'm right handed), then the darts stray more often than not.

Are you throwing in the same area as far as where the board is set up? Is there a bit of a cross draft that could possible have a bearing on how your darts are flying? In my man cave I have a large window A/C mounted in the wall about 20 ft. from where my boards are set up and it blows right to left. If I don't direct the air upwards to hit the ceiling first, it makes my darts do exactly what yours are doing.

[REBEL]

All that I would do is take a note of your foot placement - if your toe points straight ahead (12 o'clock) point it slightly left (11 o'clock) - this should be enough to get your eye in in my opinion.

It sounds like its mainly in your head if you are saying nothing has changed with grip/stance etc


Maybe a change of foot placement for the short term to get the darts back in the 20 bed could work for your confidence long term?

Good luck with it either way.

[ChrisTheFish]

I do that a lot warming up, hit T1 with all three darts on a regular basis. Usually settles after 5-10 mins once I remember where to put the finger that rests on the taper of the storm.

[brenthahn]

Thanks for the replies, fellas. I guess I wasn't entirely clear -- by "slice" I mean my darts are actually curving to the right and hitting the board at an angle. If it's all in my head, I need a new head. And no, I wish it was the air currents. Just now, though, I tried pulling my elbow in and making my forearm more straight up and down. It's uncomfortable but it does seem to help.

[REBEL]

Reason I mentioned it could be in your head is that with these things, pulling darts, darts dipping etc the more I think about it, where I am going wrong etc the more I pull the darts or the more they dip.

Sometimes to just have 15mins or so firing at the board without aiming, without thinking, just throw after throw at the board - let you mind wander - then once your warmed up start with a clean slate - hopefully that may help.

Other than that I dont really know what else I would do aside from maybe have a day or two break from throwing to reset the old co-ordination Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.

[bkbum]

If your darts are now landing in the board pointing to the right, it may be that you are releasing them pointing slightly to the left and they are over-correcting in flight. Could be a slight problem with your wrist positioning. Or your fingers may be applying more pressure than your thumb (I'm assuming you are right-handed) skewing the dart on release.

[Islander]

It's in your release. A finger or your thumb still on the dart. Clean the barrels of your darts.

[AWESOMENAR]

I occasionally have the same issue. Normally my darts enter the board almost perfectly perpendicular to the board, but occasionally I get a little lazy with my release and notice a little horizontal wobble with the dart.

[Regulatori]

If your darts are now landing in the board pointing to the right, it may be that you are releasing them pointing slightly to the left and they are over-correcting in flight. Could be a slight problem with your wrist positioning. Or your fingers may be applying more pressure than your thumb (I'm assuming you are right-handed) skewing the dart on release.

Yep.
Usually when darts land angled sideways, the tip is slightly angled upon release. You can even try it with your regular throw....just angle the tip sideways even a smidgen and the darts will land at an angle.

One thing you can try is take some white yarn and run it down the middle of the dartboard splitting the 20/bull/3 in half.
Then when you throw, try to visualize following that string with your hand or the dart's point. The string method often gets me back into a smooth throw if I'm all of a sudden throwing off.

[Islander]

I'm sure with time it will happen for you. But on the bright side if you can bury 2 for 120 on a fairly regular basis I'm sure you will win most if not all of your matches as long as you can double out!

[BluntOne80]

My slice was because of foot placement.

[Ni518079]

Happens to me sometimes still. A while ago it was happening more often than acceptable and I noticed it was my thumb placement. More specifically what part of my thumb was touching the barrel.