Yes I read that Taylor is left eye dominant as well so it can't be that much of a handicap, lol. Will keep practicing.

Yeah keep at it.

A good stable and comfortable stance and a good following through are probably more important than anything, I am grouping my darts better now since working on my follow through, the accuracy is coming slowly but then I have poor eyesight anyway.

i got kinda bad eyes too...theres a thread somewhere maybe on another forum about "hard focus and soft focus"...very intriguiing to me...i mention this because i think i play better when i not straining to focus me eyes. good thread that one is.

Try walking up and pushing them in when no ones watching , thats what I do !

Well I am quite badly short sighted even with my specs on I dont have the greatest of vision but I also have very slight double vision, there is a kind of ghost image to the right of things, I have tried closing my right eye to counter it but I find it just as off putting really.

hmmm so ya blind in one eye and can't see out the other. Question do ya have a white cane with a red tip by chance?
In being serious I feel for ya mate. Me eyes are going too am afraid.

SilverSaber wrote:

hmmm so ya blind in one eye and can't see out the other. Question do ya have a white cane with a red tip by chance?
In being serious I feel for ya mate. Me eyes are going too am afraid.

I live with it LOL!

Got no choice and have done well enough really, just as I have got older I think its a little worse now but nowt ya can do about it.

luckily im a righty and right eye was near perfect vision but has gotten a little fuzzy for anything beyond20 feet or so...my left is lazy and cant focus on anything. i had to wear a clip on eyepatch when i was young but i gladly let my dog chew it up as often as possible. i have thought about lasik since a lot of people i know swear by it. my dad is 73 and he just had both eyes done about 2 weeks ago and hasn't noticed a tremendous difference despite spending 8 grand per eye. but i think his was caused by prolonged use of hard on pills. so im not quite ready to drop that kind of cash on it yet.

Yeah I often think about Laser eye treatment but as I only really have the one good eye if you can call it good, I am a bit worried about it in case it goes wrong and its a huge wodge of dough to waste if it does.

likewise

Jeez, several of you guys have real obstacles to overcome in pursuit of good darts. I'm sincerely very proud of you. I'm inspired too because the only thing standing in my way is a lack of talent! Given your physical limitation Grip, maybe you should consider a different hobbie. How about being a referee for sporting events? Clearly you don't have to see well to do that job! I'd recommend a goal line judge, but it looks like FIFA may finally turn that over to the computers and cameras. With double vision, maybe being a beauty pageant judge would be twice as nice!

ochejockey wrote:

Jeez, several of you guys have real obstacles to overcome in pursuit of good darts. I'm sincerely very proud of you. I'm inspired too because the only thing standing in my way is a lack of talent! Given your physical limitation Grip, maybe you should consider a different hobbie. How about being a referee for sporting events? Clearly you don't have to see well to do that job! I'd recommend a goal line judge, but it looks like FIFA may finally turn that over to the computers and cameras. With double vision, maybe being a beauty pageant judge would be twice as nice!

I guess I'm well qualified!

bump

Some guys play. Others promote. Or collect.

You have your position.

Great thread bump for any new members saber

I have only been at it 18 months or around that but I would reccomend playing as many competitive matches as you can...the more match experience you get the easier it will become...I feel far more comfortable now after a few decent tournaments than I ever did before.

Also mix up your practice, check out flight school but most of all,make sure you enjoy it

Haven't read the other posters comments thoroughly Grip, but here are my two cents.

First, however, I would like to say that I disagree with the pick up a set and never switch mentality, but will get to that.

In my observations over there years, especially watching tons of old bdo games up through the current pdc I have come to classify all dart players in one of two grossly generalized categories. Zen Players and Scientific Players.

In my mind, Zen Players are those players who pick up a set of darts may initially be very talented develop their own style, stance, etc through the philosophy of "this feels comfortable" and who improve only through shear will, focus, and feeling. Stay Calm and Keep at it is there motto. Alot of them have unusual stances, grips, throws and it works for them because they have honed them through huge dedication and practice, but not necessarily because it is "good technique". I see this in your players unorthodox stances, throws that are never sighted just felt, and your strange little flicks and ticks. To me Simon Whitlock is the paradigm of this. I don't know how these guys do it and can't give advice there. However, I know when players like this lose then tend to lose badly, their game totally falling apart when they lose the "feeling", think bristow and his dartitis.

In the other extreme, are the Scientific Players. John Lowe is a great example, as is Phil Taylor. Those players experimented heavily constantly looking to find ways to improve and always weighing the potential for success against their current performance. These players all tend to have a very uniform methodical style lending it self to consistent results carrying them through the same kind of moments where zen players lose it.

I'd like to think I tend toward the scientific side of darts. I know every few months, especially after switching darts, Ill draw up a spread sheet and record my accuracy with a couple of different darts just to make sure that I'm making progress and to make sure I'm using the right dart for me. The one that feels right isn't necessarily the best tool for me.

The biggest bit of advice I can give ya though is something along this. Always stand square and center and ALWAYS sight your dart in front of your dominate eye. If you watch lowe and taylor they ALWAYS do this. To me the main reason, from an improvement standpoint, is to be able to see when and where your arm, dart, flightpath are going wrong compared to where you sighted it to hit. You can't improve efficiently if you don't know/cant see where things are going wrong.

To follow that up I would suggest one ONLY use slikstiks of a bright contrasting color(not taylor pink but same idea), or dip the butts in a paint you can see well. The reason is that it allows me atleast to better sight the dart and track it mid flight. Something I simply can not do with a regular stem. Every time I bring my arm up, I put the butt of the stik over my target as if I were drawing an imaginary line to my target from my pupil through the stik to the target. With proper release at the correct time that dart should land exactly level with the position I sighted it. This is something Lowe, and Taylor always do and it works wonders.

'course I am not necessarily the guy to give advice because on my very best days I average in the mid seventies and my worst days in the mid fifties.

JD wrote:

Some guys play. Others promote. Or collect.

You have your position.

Thanks JD, thats me then lol!

Vallyr wrote:

Haven't read the other posters comments thoroughly Grip, but here are my two cents.

First, however, I would like to say that I disagree with the pick up a set and never switch mentality, but will get to that.

In my observations over there years, especially watching tons of old bdo games up through the current pdc I have come to classify all dart players in one of two grossly generalized categories. Zen Players and Scientific Players.

In my mind, Zen Players are those players who pick up a set of darts may initially be very talented develop their own style, stance, etc through the philosophy of "this feels comfortable" and who improve only through shear will, focus, and feeling. Stay Calm and Keep at it is there motto. Alot of them have unusual stances, grips, throws and it works for them because they have honed them through huge dedication and practice, but not necessarily because it is "good technique". I see this in your players unorthodox stances, throws that are never sighted just felt, and your strange little flicks and ticks. To me Simon Whitlock is the paradigm of this. I don't know how these guys do it and can't give advice there. However, I know when players like this lose then tend to lose badly, their game totally falling apart when they lose the "feeling", think bristow and his dartitis.

In the other extreme, are the Scientific Players. John Lowe is a great example, as is Phil Taylor. Those players experimented heavily constantly looking to find ways to improve and always weighing the potential for success against their current performance. These players all tend to have a very uniform methodical style lending it self to consistent results carrying them through the same kind of moments where zen players lose it.

I'd like to think I tend toward the scientific side of darts. I know every few months, especially after switching darts, Ill draw up a spread sheet and record my accuracy with a couple of different darts just to make sure that I'm making progress and to make sure I'm using the right dart for me. The one that feels right isn't necessarily the best tool for me.

The biggest bit of advice I can give ya though is something along this. Always stand square and center and ALWAYS sight your dart in front of your dominate eye. If you watch lowe and taylor they ALWAYS do this. To me the main reason, from an improvement standpoint, is to be able to see when and where your arm, dart, flightpath are going wrong compared to where you sighted it to hit. You can't improve efficiently if you don't know/cant see where things are going wrong.

To follow that up I would suggest one ONLY use slikstiks of a bright contrasting color(not taylor pink but same idea), or dip the butts in a paint you can see well. The reason is that it allows me atleast to better sight the dart and track it mid flight. Something I simply can not do with a regular stem. Every time I bring my arm up, I put the butt of the stik over my target as if I were drawing an imaginary line to my target from my pupil through the stik to the target. With proper release at the correct time that dart should land exactly level with the position I sighted it. This is something Lowe, and Taylor always do and it works wonders.

'course I am not necessarily the guy to give advice because on my very best days I average in the mid seventies and my worst days in the mid fifties.

Cheers Vallyr, I agree with a lot of that, not tried the slik stik idea so will give it a try.

I think when I first started I was probably a little unorthodox in my throw. I would grip the dart very near the point and would start the aim from about an inch from my eye aiming with the point and the dart angled down. After a while I was starting to hit a few 100+ scores and then got a few 180's all the time using the same style. When I broke my shoulder and started to play again I was like a beginner again. I could barely hit the board, and as I played more I started to look at ways to be more consistent and tried hard to develop what you refer to as the scientific style. For a while I was just plodding along, but soon noticed I was getting worse and worse. I have no idea how to get my old throw back now but I have some days where I can throw for a few minutes and hit a lot of T20's so for a brief spell I must get something right.

My problem is that I just cant practice long enough without getting a pain in my shoulder or wrist, so I think I have accepted the fact that my skill level is never going to improve much beyond a beginner unless I can get more quality practice. But I wont stop trying.

Thats awful about the shoulder but if it makes your day feel any better, the mail clerk at my local post office(league player from the 70-80's) was in a car accident and messed up his back so he switched arms and now he can hit the bull consistently with either. Saw him do this at the local tavern a few times lol. He was playing an old granny in a league game and hit the bull for a finish. She was like "lucky shot bet you can't do it again" so he switched hands and nailed it!

LOL thats cool, Lefty is in a similar way hence his name, plays with his left, maybe I should try my left arm, my dominant eye is my left so who know it may work.