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Practice Routines

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Practice Routine #1 - Summary of Practice Routine #1 - Advanced Practice Routine #1
Practice Routine #2 - Practice Routine #3 - Practice Routine #4 - Practice Routine #5 - Call 3
Practice Routine #6 - For Cricket Players - Practice Routine #7 - Half It




Many of the dart professionals and excellent shooters that I know insist that they do not practice on a regular basis. However, these darters have honed their skills, i.e. their stance, stroke, grip, release as well as their strategy. Often this is after years of playing competitively and some practice along the way. Okay, a lot of practice along the way. If you're new to the game of darts, one way to help progress to the next skillful level of play is to practice. It is recommended that you keep a log book of your practice routines to evaluate and track your improvement.

Keep in mind that there is no right or wrong practice routine and as you play, you'll develop your own preferences and habits. The most important thing is to concentrate on what you're doing as you're practicing. If you lose interest or become bored, then you need to vary your practice routine, or come back to it when you are better able to concentrate. It does no good to simply chuck arrows at the board without much thought, just to go through the motions.

If you're a beginner and find yourself frustrated at the amount of time for a particular routine, break the practice routine down over several days. The point of practice is not to build your frustration levels but to help you become better, work on solid mental focus and to improve your confidence at the line.

As for time, some practice routines may take an hour or more, however, practice is meaningful even if it is only for 10 minutes a day. If you're having trouble finding the time to practice and so you're putting it off...then start with an abbreviated routine for 10 minutes per day.

Though you're not able to do this alone, the most important part of improving your game is playing competitively in league, draws, tournament play or any other challenging sparring partners. And remember: the reason you're playing darts in the first place is because you're having fun. When practicing, or even playing, is no longer fun then it's time to put down your darts.

For the darter practicing on a steel-tip board...invest in a "Champion's Choice" bristle board. The double and triple rings on this board are half the size of a regular dartboard. After practicing on the "Champion" board at home, the double and triple rings will be twice the size when you get to league play. This is a great confidence builder!

Good luck, and I'll see you at the line.

Practice Routine #1

The 20s are the highest number on the board and requires the most follow through so you may want to start by throwing several turns at the fat solid 20s

From there, move to the doubles starting with double-1 through double-20 and then the double-bull. Though not a race, you may want to keep track of the total time it takes to complete this round of doubles. Beginners will see a marked improvement from as much as 45 minutes or more to complete down to 15 minutes, more or less.

As your skill level progresses you may want to hit 2 of every double number or even 3 of every double number.

Next, move to the bull’s-eye by hitting 50 or even 100 bull’s-eyes. This will help you to focus on the bull’s-eye for the diddle (throwing at the middle to see who goes first) as well to help you improve your cricket game (if you cannot hit a bull, you will not win at cricket).

The cricket, or tactic numbers are next. This can be approached in several ways. As a beginner, hit 3 of each cricket number before moving to the next number. As you improve, you may want to hit a triple of each cricket number, then at least 2 of each triple cricket number and maybe 3 triples of each number. Another way to approach this is to hit 6 of each cricket number in a row, without the dart dropping into another number (singles are worth 1, doubles are worth 2 and triples are worth 3...hitting 6 single 20s in a row would count as 6 and then you would move to the next number).

In the '01 games, often times you need to "correct" or "fix" the score so that you may double out (i.e. get a score of 52, for example down to 32 so that you may double out with 1 dart, by hitting a single-20). Practice the 1s through the 20s by tossing a round at each while aiming for only the fat, solid part of the number and not the triple.

Summary of Practice Routine #1
Throw 3 rounds at the solid 20s.
Throw 1 each of the doubles from 1 through 20 and then the double-   bull.
Throw 50 bull’s-eyes.
Throw 3 of each cricket number.
Throw 1 round at each of the fat, solid numbers from 1 through 20.

Advanced Practice Routine #1
Throw 3 rounds at the solid 20s.
Throw 3 each of the doubles from 1 through 20 and then the double-   bull.
Throw 100 (or 150) bull’s-eyes.
Throw 9 of each cricket number (in a row without dropping into any    other numbers).
Throw 1 round at each of the fat, solid numbers from 1 through 20.

Practice Routine #2

Find an out-chart and practice your outs starting with the number 40 and working your way up the chart. Play for a set limit of time and track your progress.

Practice Routine #3

Play 50-out for a set limit of time or a set number of throws to work on hitting your solid numbers and your doubles. Basically, you have 50 points and 3 darts to double-out any way that you can. Again, 50-out is played with 3 darts only and no score is kept except for a mark each time that you hit 50-out. Throw one dart at the double-bull. If you hit the double-bull, you get a mark for hitting 50-out.

If you miss the double-bull with the 1st dart and hit, let's say the 20...you now have 30 points (50 points minus 20, leaves you with 30 left). Use your next 2 darts to hit the double-15 for 30 points. When you hit the double with the next couple of darts, you get a mark for hitting 50-out.

Play 101-out for a set limit of time or a set number of throws. This is similar to 50 out, however, you can toss as many darts that are needed until you successfully double-out to bring your score down to zero. Keep track of the number of darts needed to take 101 out.

Practice Routine #4

This routine is used to practice throwing at particular numbers and allows you to track your points per dart. Select any number(s) such as 15s through 20s. Throw 50 rounds at each number keeping track of how many you hit. For example, if I toss a single-20, single-20 and triple-20 this would be considered 1 round and you would write down 80 points. Do this for 50 rounds for the same number that you are aiming for. Add up your total number of points and divide by 150 (the number of darts thrown). This will give you your points per dart. Again, this may be used to track your improvement as you become more skillful.

In this case, the cricket numbers were selected. You may also track marks per round. With a single-20, single-20 and triple-20, you would write down 5 marks for that round. Continue throwing rounds until you have thrown 50, then tabulate your marks per round.

Practice Routine #5 - Call 3

This routine is "Call 3". You will select any random 3 numbers on the board and attempt to hit them in the order that you have called them. This practice routine will help you to switch gears so to speak and aim for a new number, which you often have to do when playing cricket. To make this game more interesting, call out a single, double or a triple of each of the 3 numbers and count only those darts that target that particular part of the number. You get one point for each dart that hits the intended target. To facilitate selection of numbers you may want to put each number on a piece of paper, add them all to a bowl and randomly draw 3 at the start of each turn.

Practice Routine #6 - For Cricket Players

This routine simulates having a consistent cricket opponent. The game should be set up for two players, yourself and a "ghost" player. After throwing the first round, give your "ghost" opponent three marks (starting with the 20s). Your opponent, in fact, will be given three marks for every turn. If you point against your opponent, give your "ghost" opponent 3 marks, and point first to take the lead.

Practice Routine #7 - Half It

This is a great game to play by yourself, to see how many points you can accumulate as well as to play against others as even the most advanced player sometimes misses. You're going to setup a game that looks like cricket, indicating the following numbers to be shot at, in the order which they appear:

15
16
Double (any double)
17
18
Triple (any triple)
19
20
Bull

Your first round, or first three darts will be thrown at the 15s. Record 15 points for every 15 that you hit. For example, if you miss the 15s you will have zero points. If you hit 4 15s, you will have 60 points.

The second round will be thrown at the 16s. Again, record 16 points for every 16 that you hit. If you miss the 16s, cut your score in half. If your score was previously zero, and you miss the number that you are targeting, then your score remains at zero (it does not go into negative numbers).

The next round is thrown at any double on the board, and again, use all three darts to try and hit 3 doubles. Add these points to your score, or cut your score in half! Follow this by a round each at the 17s, 18s, triples (again, any triple works), the 19s, the 20s and the bulls-eye. Once you are more advanced, you may want to substitute the double-bull for the bull. Good luck!

© February 1998 by Karlheinz Zöchling

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Attention: Ms Lyn Gould
PO Box 380
West Heidelberg, VIC 3081
Phone: 03 9440 1729
Fax:     03 9440 1732
E-mail: nette552001@yahoo.com.au
Last Update: Monday 16th January 2012