There are five areas of personal practice that I have identified for discussion: Stroke, Physical Techniques/Setting Up, Improving Weaknesses, Math and Counting, and Sports Psychological Methods. The area I’m discussing in this article is Stroke.

 One of the most fundamental elements for throwing winning darts is developing and maintaining a smooth, complete, and repeatable arm stroke. Yet very few of the darters that I’ve played with actually emphasized this aspect of their game or worked to improve it dramatically. Some of you may be wondering to yourself "what are you talking about, Charles? If I can hit what I’m shooting at, what difference does it make." Well, it occurs to me that almost all of the great players, including most of the top players in our darting association, have a smooth and consistent stroke. The great players of this sport, like Phil Taylor, Paul Lim, John Lowe, Alan Warriner, Roger Carter, Gerald Verrier, Eric Bristow, Rod Harrington etc.., all have silky smooth, complete strokes that look graceful and each stroke looks the same.

What does this type of stroke do for your game? It makes your shots consistent, repeatable and accurate. With a good stroke, even if your aim needs work, you can consistently put three darts in the same tight area. That gives you more Ton-Eighties and Nine-Counts, not to mention those important Bull’s Eye game winners, when playing cricket. Another excellent benefit to a practiced and perfected stroke is that pressure tends to affect your game less, when you stroke the dart the same way over and over again. One time I asked Dieter Schutsch, an ADO ranked darter, how he made his double out shots so consistently under pressure. He told me that it was muscle memory from throwing for so many years. This is another description for an in-the-groove stroke, which Dieter has a great one. I admit if you play long enough you will develop a repeatable stroke. If you don’t work to improve it, you’ll end up with a stroke providing results than are less accomplished than what you are capable of.

So now to the nitty gritty. First, let me describe the elements of a good stroke and then I’ll give you a practice routine for working on it. Once you square up to the oche (I will cover stance, grip, throw and release and follow-through in the next article), bring your arm to the normal starting point for your throw. Most people start with their throwing forearm at a 90^o angle to their upper arm, although many successful darters begin with their hand closer to their face or arm almost fully extended. Any of these starting points are okay as long as they feel comfortable to you and produce good results (if not, try something else until you get good results). Let me emphasize this point again; comfort and results are the targets that you should always aim to get.

It is important, regardless of where you begin, that you take a full backstroke before moving your arm toward the board. When I say "full" I mean 6 inches or MORE if possible. A full backstroke provides you with the motion and energy necessary to easily propel the dart in a straight arc to the board without "pushing" or forcing the dart toward your intended target. I’ve noticed that some darters struggle with their whole body to get the dart to their intended target. Darts only weigh grams (16 to 28 grams are standard) and don’t require much effort to throw 9 feet. Those darters would benefit greatly by working on their stroke along with some release timing practice. It is much easier to completely follow through your stroke if you take a large draw back.

Next, make a smooth transition to thrust your shooting arm forward, at the same speed as your draw back. It is important for you to bring your arm fully forward so that your arm is completely extended. Try to end up pointing with your index finger at your intended target. This big forward and backward motion may feel uncomfortable at first, but will yield more consistent results.

Think about it for a moment. When you really feel the pressure in a dart match, and you know that you need one last single to win, many times you will throw a tense dart that totally misses the mark. I bet that missing dart was jerky and short in stroke, because you wanted to guide it toward the target and not stroke it. Right after the game, you will throw that same shot and "boom," you hit it perfectly. That shot had a longer and smoother stroke; check it out the next time you find yourself in that situation. Besides, the longer your stroke is, the more it takes to throw your shot off of the intended target. Longer strokes require greater energy to move the dart from it’s directional path. Try throwing darts with both a long and a short stroke to see what happens and judge for yourself.

Another element of stroke is alignment. You must try your best to ensure that the path of your dart stroke is straight back and then straight forward. This is easier if your arm is straight up and down instead of at an angle. It is also easier if your body is turned sideways, on your throwing arm side, toward the target. I say this because your arm is designed to move certain ways and not in others. The less twisting and turning means less effort to throw and is more consistent in vertical alignment. I also advocate keeping your wrist locked at the same angle, rather than moving your wrist like a whip. Moving your wrist adds one more variable to your throwing equation and makes it difficult to repeat the same stroke all the time. If you hold your UPPER ARM STILL and only move your forearm, while keeping the rest of your BODY STILL, you will find that a good, full stroke will put the dart in the same location time after time. This is what you want. Using your ELBOW as a HINGE is the key. The two most important technical lessons I’ve learned were keeping my head/body/shoulder/upper arm still and using my elbow as a hinge.

I practice the following routine almost every day and always before matches, to ensure a good stroke. It really does no good to aim at targets and hope to hit them with regularity until your stroke is strong and smooth. I start by throwing 100 darts on the out edges of the board, outside the point field. The reason for this is that I want to concentrate fully on stroke, with good alignment, without being distracted by hitting or missing targets. Twenty-five darts are thrown at each of the four compass points (above D20, right of D6, below D3, and left of D11). I know my stroke is coming together when all three darts are within an imaginary circle of about one inch in diameter. Keep with this routine and you will soon have a good stroke without thinking about it.

All The Best,

Charles Bradish