People think that tournaments or league play will improve their game (which will improve strategy, but not skill). Forget it, the best most efficient way to get better is to practice alone.
Why it should be solitare
practicing alone is the best way

solitare practicing is much more valuable than practicing with friends or practicing only by playing as much matches as possible. Mathplay is of course also very important, but if I should give a ratio I'd say a good one is one third matchplay, two thirds (or even more) solitare.

The reasons behind this are not really obvious, especially because many players experience that they are doing well in solitare and (relatively) suck in matchplay, so they are thinking it's the lack of matchplay practice that causes that. That is, however, wrong.

As a matter of fact every player plays worse in matchplay than he does in practice. It is of course hard to believe, but even the pros do. And this not only in darts, it is valid for any other sport. To increase our matchplay performance to NEARLY (exactly of course would be great but it is in fact impossible!) the level of our practice performance we must mainly use sports psychology, because the mental aspects of matchplay are the reason for this phenomenon (if you are a regular reader of TDT you know that the mental aspect is the most important issue in this project). And note - if you are one of these rare players who say they do better in matchplay than they do in practice, the reason (and the ONLY reason!) is the following: You don't practice enough, period.

But it is still not clear why solitare practicing is that important. As a personal summary, I'd say this: "Practicing with partners, no matter if they are better or worse than you, forces you to raise your limit above theirs. Practicing alone constantly forces you to raise your limit above yourself, and this limit is higher than you might dream of!" So you can nearly infinitely improve your game only by always trying to beat your limit. No matter how good you are, you can always be better. No friendly or rivalry matchplay practice can do this when your opponents stick to their level. To say it literally - the only way to make your current personal limit your future standard is practicing alone.













Citation: Tripod, The dart thrower.

big edit so bump

i like to practice alone saber it means there is no distractions of any 1 plus means i can put my mind to 1 certain thing mate then once i have done that then choose another thing to practice at dont get me wrong it is good to practice against some1 else but i think you put your mind in a better zone when you are by yourself mate like you said mate its better practice alone saber mate

But isnt that to compete against yourself? I heard that you shouldnt do this.

I think that you need both the matchplay and practice alone.

And if you only got yourself maybe that isnt so bad to try to outdo your old scores etc. ?

I really enjoy practicing on my own as I can set my own routines and work through them at my own pace but there is nothing like playing against an opponent as they force you to do things that you cant do or dont do when playing alone. The pressure of having to win can make you play a whole different game to playing alone as you can just stop when you feel you have done enough. I can see some logic in what you say but 4 me there is nothing like tingle that goes through your body when the caller shouts Game On you never get that when playing alone.

So would you rather hit 5 nine darters at home alone in practice or 1 nine darter at a comp or County match? I know I would always take the matchplay/public option. So for me I think playing against people especially better players than yourself is the better way to improve your game cos I can beat anyone at home but not so when in a comp. Play some good quality ladies too as that will put you under some good pressure.

I think the solitary practice is good for focussing on your weak points.

Donkey wrote:

But isnt that to compete against yourself? I heard that you shouldnt do this.

I think that you need both the matchplay and practice alone.

And if you only got yourself maybe that isnt so bad to try to outdo your old scores etc. ?

No competing against yourself mate. Have you joined Flight school?

i feel like im over thinking everything when im practicing alone.

i practice alone but all the top pros say get a practice partner

m1ghty wrote:

i feel like im over thinking everything when im practicing alone.

Darts not a thinking man's game .

lion180 wrote:

i practice alone but all the top pros say get a practice partner

Totally different Lion,
I stand by what I say in solo practice. Practice partners provide competition totally different. I practice solo 80% of the time. I do have a practice partner in which we compete against each other. We don't do practice routines ! My practice partner not going to stand by while I throw at the bull for 100 hits, that kind of practice done solo !!

I practice solo if I cant get 1 of my mates that is as good if not better than me to come over for a game.

I dont like practicing with the missus as she is only around a 12 ave player.

Jimbo21 wrote:

I practice solo if I cant get 1 of my mates that is as good if not better than me to come over for a game.

I dont like practicing with the missus as she is only around a 12 ave player.

I think you got the right idea mate !

I get bored easily when I practice alone. I do different routines but have trouble focusing. Not sure why you are not supposed to play your self in a match as this is about the only way I can keep myself focused.

It is odd, it is as though I separate into two different people. I get excited when I hit good numbers as my opponent, and feel the pressure to counter, just like I would in a match. I play equally hard as both players.

I do hate when I lose to myself though...

Why is it not good to compete against yourself?

ASk George Silverzahn ! pm him he will give you the best answer !

jake8380 wrote:

I get bored easily when I practice alone. I do different routines but have trouble focusing. Not sure why you are not supposed to play your self in a match as this is about the only way I can keep myself focused.

It is odd, it is as though I separate into two different people. I get excited when I hit good numbers as my opponent, and feel the pressure to counter, just like I would in a match. I play equally hard as both players.

I do hate when I lose to myself though...

Why is it not good to compete against yourself?

Here's something to consider:
Practicing alone is not really practice - it should be learning control over the flight path of your darts.
Competing is not really practice - it is learning to put your practice (learning) to use.
>
The one person you can never defeat is you.
Set an expectation and reach it - you feel you should have done better.
Set an expectation and not reach it - you feel you failed.
In either case - dissapointment to some degree.
>Improve your practice(learning) to improve your competitive game.
> Flight School is designed to provide satisfaction with every solitary learning session so you can obtain more satisfaction from your competition

For me personally I need a little bit of both. I am a flight schooler and agree with everything George has set up for it and I practice religiously solo, but I also play as many tournaments as possible and I play with friends and the mrs. at home. Practicing at home with them is still practice just a slightly different practice which takes some of the boredom out of it.

Hat

George Silberzahn wrote:

Here's something to consider:
Practicing alone is not really practice - it should be learning control over the flight path of your darts.
Competing is not really practice - it is learning to put your practice (learning) to use.
>
The one person you can never defeat is you.
Set an expectation and reach it - you feel you should have done better.
Set an expectation and not reach it - you feel you failed.
In either case - dissapointment to some degree.
>Improve your practice(learning) to improve your competitive game.
> Flight School is designed to provide satisfaction with every solitary learning session so you can obtain more satisfaction from your competition

Thank you George. You are well respected and admired for what you do for the game and players.

I do have several different practice routines that I practice. Round the clock on singles, doubles, triples and Shanghai all as separate games. Miss a target in 3 darts drop back a number. Cricket scoring 3 or better in order and out of order. 31 bulls. "Bob's 27 with a slight variation. I track my progress and try to set a goal of doing better. The only practice routine I do not get overly board with is Round the clock as I'm always trying to improve on the last round played.

P.S. I do lose to myself all the time. I hate that!

I only ever practice on my own. Once a month or so a few mates and myself will go to the pub on a friday night and it's usually 'Winner stays on' at 501 all night so i get some matchplay practice there but the vast majority of my practice is done solo........ and as Larry post says, this is the best way to improve imho My match game has got better because i've put in the hours by myself on the practice board!

Practicing solo allows you to work on the specific parts of your game that you feel you need to improve on.

Match practice allows you to test your progress under a bit of pressure.

I use N01 to get match practice as I know I need to hit my doubles quickly or I lose. That is the same theory as in a league game.

bump

In solo I work on doubles,bulls, grouping and more. - I vary my routines which keeps me from getting bored.

Saber wrote:

In solo I work on doubles,bulls, grouping and more. - I vary my routines which keeps me from getting bored.

Here's a thought for those 'more accomplished' Flight Schoolers:
When you get to the point you can stop by your dart board and knock out a dozen or so targets in the time it takes for the commercials on TV to get done you are refreshing your edge and you are that good.

It's different than a full "perfecting" session and can work well at dealing with the boredom of sticking darts into targets just because you want to.

And how good is that????

Hatrick wrote:

For me personally I need a little bit of both. I am a flight schooler and agree with everything George has set up for it and I practice religiously solo, but I also play as many tournaments as possible and I play with friends and the mrs. at home. Practicing at home with them is still practice just a slightly different practice which takes some of the boredom out of it.

Hat

Like Hatrick I do both. I prefer to practice alone so I can get more focused on the board, but I like to play with friends and do the most tournaments I can go.

Boredom is the bane of players!

I have buddy's who never practice and complain about their game

Saber wrote:

I have buddy's who never practice and complain about their game

If you keep playing without working to improve your control over the flight path of your darts you will stay as good as you are, and keep losing to the same people.

Just throwing darts more often is like doing the same thing over and over but expecting bettter results.
Enjoy your rank or do something about improving it - something like perfecting your control over the fligh path of your darts. There is a way to go about this - it's called Flight School.

thumbs up George