Expert: Dr Darts Date: 6/28/2008 Subject: Dart problem
Question Over the last two years I have consistenly been pulling my darts to the left and keep on hitting 5's.
I very rarely hit a 1.
It doesn't matter where I stand on the oche, I still keep doing it.
Any ideas
Iggy
Answer This is a difficult problem to overcome. I know because I (had and still occasionally suffer) it.
My first attempts were to adjust my starting stance. Most darters line up the dart in some way when preparing to throw. I simoply adjusted my 'startiing point' to the left. After a few hours of practice (30 min practice sessions only) , this had a noticeable effect.
Mty next step was to forget 20's and begin to practice at varying segments around the board. D10's, T13's small 7 segments , Ring of the number 8.....any area that could be focussed on. The idea was to begin to get more effective at hitting ANY area wherever it was on the board.
Focussing practice on T20's can lead to boredom, and when a problem develops like ours, the mental strain of trying to hit it can in itself cause innaccuracy.
Finally I increased my dart weight by 2 grams and moved to short stems from medium. I have often found that changing darts has pulled me out of a down turn in performance.
We are all different but the above programme worked for me. I sell darts on EBAY so trying different weights was easy and free for me. Don't change weights until you have tried a set out by borrowing some. To add 2g weights you can buy addagrams , they are screw in pieces that add 2 gram weight to your current darts. I have them but not in my shop. if you would like a set they are £1.50 inc ppost. let me know at drdarts@btinternet.com.
If you are in a team , most of the players will have some old sets knocking about - try borrowing them as an alternative.
