Hi guys,
When I first started chucking arrows I was told that when I hit my first 180 they would become easier to come by and I would start hitting a load.
My first 180 came along in the early hours of the morning when chucking some darts to pass the time - boom! I thought that's it, I can do this all the time now.
Needless to say it didn't quite work out that way - it must have been a good few months until my second, and I know that by the time my third came about I had already moved out of my parents house.
Long story short, doing something once doesn't mean you can do it again and again, but it does prove that you can do it.
As I've played more and more I have come to realise that the trick isn't to specifically go up aiming for a maximum - instead I look to hit as good a score as possible by setting up the shot with my first dart. I'll aim at the top of the target in the hope that the dart will sit up nicely for me just above the treble, or just inside, so as I can follow in with my two remaining darts. Grouping, again, comes with time and I once heard Eric Bristow say that for beginners learning to group your darts is the most important thing - regardless of what segment your first dart lands, try to keep them together.
As an amateur player still trying to find my way in the local leagues, I know that I won't hit big scores every visit - maybe every other visit if I'm lucky. For me even a solid 60 is a good outcome as it's much more valuable than 26/30/11 etc...
I keep my game as simple as possible and just try to keep my darts in the upper segment as it's far easier to aim at an upright target than attempting to lob over it. Phil Taylor can do this no problem, but we don't have 16 world titles! Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
For amateurs such as myself keeping your line of throw is a priority - a good marker is to line your shoulder up with the 20. For a while I simply thought that holding the dart in front of the 20 was enough - while my dart was lined up, my whole arm wasn't and, in order to hit my target, I was having to force myself to almost throw with a crooked arm.
Focus on consistency as there isn't any point on hitting the big scores if you are only going to follow up with a small score and effectively cut you big shot in half.
I know what I have posted here will not be worth too much to many of the better players on this forum but, for me, as I was first learning the game focusing on consistent scores and not trying to hammer the red bit, as it were, is advice that couldn't have come soon enough.
Now when I hit the treble with my first dart I do almost expect to hit a 180, or at least 140 - unless you can hit back-to-back maximums, a 140 is every bit as good as a 180.
Hopefully this little tale from my experience can help at least someone out there. Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
When I first started chucking arrows I was told that when I hit my first 180 they would become easier to come by and I would start hitting a load.
My first 180 came along in the early hours of the morning when chucking some darts to pass the time - boom! I thought that's it, I can do this all the time now.
Needless to say it didn't quite work out that way - it must have been a good few months until my second, and I know that by the time my third came about I had already moved out of my parents house.
Long story short, doing something once doesn't mean you can do it again and again, but it does prove that you can do it.
As I've played more and more I have come to realise that the trick isn't to specifically go up aiming for a maximum - instead I look to hit as good a score as possible by setting up the shot with my first dart. I'll aim at the top of the target in the hope that the dart will sit up nicely for me just above the treble, or just inside, so as I can follow in with my two remaining darts. Grouping, again, comes with time and I once heard Eric Bristow say that for beginners learning to group your darts is the most important thing - regardless of what segment your first dart lands, try to keep them together.
As an amateur player still trying to find my way in the local leagues, I know that I won't hit big scores every visit - maybe every other visit if I'm lucky. For me even a solid 60 is a good outcome as it's much more valuable than 26/30/11 etc...
I keep my game as simple as possible and just try to keep my darts in the upper segment as it's far easier to aim at an upright target than attempting to lob over it. Phil Taylor can do this no problem, but we don't have 16 world titles! Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
For amateurs such as myself keeping your line of throw is a priority - a good marker is to line your shoulder up with the 20. For a while I simply thought that holding the dart in front of the 20 was enough - while my dart was lined up, my whole arm wasn't and, in order to hit my target, I was having to force myself to almost throw with a crooked arm.
Focus on consistency as there isn't any point on hitting the big scores if you are only going to follow up with a small score and effectively cut you big shot in half.
I know what I have posted here will not be worth too much to many of the better players on this forum but, for me, as I was first learning the game focusing on consistent scores and not trying to hammer the red bit, as it were, is advice that couldn't have come soon enough.
Now when I hit the treble with my first dart I do almost expect to hit a 180, or at least 140 - unless you can hit back-to-back maximums, a 140 is every bit as good as a 180.
Hopefully this little tale from my experience can help at least someone out there. Guests cannot see images in the messages. Please register at the forum by clicking here to see images.
