This is frustrating me at the moment.

I currently have very little time for 'practice' due to work and kids so what little practice time I do get I want to make the most of it, be it half an hour a day, an hour a day or more recently an hour a week!

My dilemma, I say to the Mrs 'I'm off to practice for a bit' when really in my head all I am doing is throwing darts for 30mins here and there, an hour if I am lucky.

I do the routines, doubles, checkouts, the lot, and on the home board I do well, sometimes great - other times when I am struggling I just give up after 5mins rather than get mad.

Then on match night, any practice I have put in during the week, be it 1 hour or 4 or 5 hours seems to desert me. Some weeks I am terrible other weeks unbeatable - it just seems so random, and whether I am good, bad or just plain ugly none of what I have practiced seems to have any bearing on my performance.

Say I practice my doubles all week, couple of hours and find I am struggling to hit them, yet on match night I cant miss the doubles, same way if during 'practice' I am hitting 100+ after 100+, come match night I couldn't hit a cows backside with a banjo!


So I ask, 'Practice. Really?' How do you turn throwing darts at your board into actual practice?

Is throwing darts at the board really practice?

And how do you make the most of your practice session, so that you actually benefit when it comes to match night?


Regards

ooh Rebel ya need to talk to George asap mate. He has solutions for your problem trust me on this one mate. Please try talking to him.

If you get an answer, please pass it on. I have the same problem.

I find I have trouble taking home form out to league as well, but a few weeks ago I had a good look at what I was doing and came to this conclusion.

During my practise, I play 501 against lvl7 or 8 on N01. Now this gives me a good tough workout and a lot of the time I will lose quite a few games. But in most of those games, I am down to a peg.

This gives me a really nice average, but doesnt translate to what actually happens in league. In league, a lot of the time I am the front runner in the leg, but struggle to hit a double thus causing me to lose legs in like 27 darts. Where as against N01, the computer will rarely let a leg go that long, so I keep a good average.

So realistically, I am scoring at league the same as I do at home, its just my doubles dont come as easy at league. Something I am working on this year as I want to try out for the state side this year.

Good thread Rebel. I've always wondered the same thing really. I have NO practice routine per say. I just throw at the board playing a few different games until I get "in the zone" for those few special minutes. Once I start missing I might quit and go do something else... take the dog out, etc...
Then later on I'll start playing again until I catch fire again. My entire goal is to be able to maintain that high level of play for longer periods of time. Some nights I will catch fire for 5-10 minutes where I can't miss anything, other nights I will be hitting crazy stuff for over an hour. All depends. But I've never had any "set" practice routines that I HAVE to follow. I just play a lot of games all at once. I might start out with a game of 501. If it's not going well I'll abort that and play a game of baseball (1-9). If that sucks I'll start a game of cricket count up. Hopefully somewhere along the way I'll start hitting.

Then when I go out and play I take my time warming up. I'll show up a bit early and just try to find my rhythm. Once I find that I'll feel ready to play at top level. But always remember, this is darts. Things will vary HUGELY!! Look at the top PDC pro's. Some nights they come out and throw low 80 averages, other nights they will be over 100. The trick is to not let the bad nights get to you. It's expected AND a part of the game. Nobody, and I repeat, NOBODY is good all the time.

Looking at your post and by things you've said lately, you are pressed for time and are working a very busy schedule. Factor in kids, wife, bills, etc... and you might not be at your most relaxed this time of the year. It WILL affect your game. From personal experience it's very hard to shoot well with 100 other things on your mind.

Hope this helps?

When pressed for time I do grouping routine with say all the cricket numbers 15 min max- or do the primary double numbers 16-8-4-2-1 - 20-10-5 - 12-6-3 and if really pressed only the 16-8-4 and the 20-10-5.
or 100 bulls thats quick or 100 marks 20's super quick. Trouble with me is it takes 15-20 min to warm up.

I play really fast at home, practise all that you do and when it gets to the match, I turn up early so you get used to the noise, the board, oche and have a throw by yourself like when practising so you can get into a rhythm. Also in games, I tend to slow down a bit. It's helped me but I don't know how fast you are

I set a certain amount of time aside for practice and I stick to it whether i'm playing goos or bad. The art of practice is the repetition so the muscle memory kicks in. We all have off days and I doubt any player takes his home game to the matches or I would be posting 95 plus averages in the village leagues. I rarely go over 20 darts at home but its never the same in a match as the nerves and pressure or even expectancy to do well kicks in. I am a great believer in practice as the more you do something the easier it gets and the more likely the outcome will be the desired one so I say keep with it. Some days I just practice the same treble for an hour it doesn't mean I will hit it in the match but at least my confidence will be high and the likely hood of me hitting it will be greater.

sorry to be rude or offend anyone but here is a quote from phil taylor


" YOU CANT PRACTICE crapping YOURSELF " his words not mine but bloody true

I think it depends what your practising for, I think George says the practice is to develop/maintain your throw, but I guess you can work on routines to help with accuracy.

Maybe pick a few numbers say 20,19,18, 17,16 and work on those trebles for 10 mins, then try the same numbers on the doubles for 10 mins, then for your last 10 mins just have a bit of practice on your finishes.

If all you can manage is 30 mins, I guess whatever you do will have to be condensed.

Sometimes I throw T20, T19, D16 then T20, T19, D10 and so on with the 'usual' doubles

A good 30 min practise is better than 2 hrs of crap practise.

Jimbo what is 'Crap Practice' as any practice is good practice is it not? I don't get theat phrase and I hear it a lot on this forum.

Well that is a good point. Is all practice good? My definition of "crap" practice would be when my focus isn't what it should be and I feel as though my time at the board isn't helping my game. Just my two cents/pence. So as a follow up, how do you know when you are just throwing sharp objects at a wall as opposed to honing your accuracy/skill level at a very refined game/sport?

I agree with Nucky here. In my opinion (and please take my opinion with a grain of salt, as I am a relative beginner to this beautiful game), "quality" practice should have 2 components: purpose and focus.

By purpose, I mean there should be a specific reason or goal that you are trying to get out of your routine. Maybe you are working on grouping, or power scoring, or finishing, or cover shots. Or maybe you are working on your nerves by "practicing" your emotional game on league night or with a partner.

By focus, I mean every dart thrown should be with the same focus and intensity as you would use in a match. As I learn this game, one of the main things I'm learning is that it is HARD to focus at will, especially when the pressure is on. I think you need to train your mind to subconsciously snap into focus when you step to the oche. And what better time to do this than during your hours at the practice board?

When you are, as Nucky describes it, "just throwing sharp objects at a wall", I believe this is "crap practice". I believe that at best you are only maintaining your game, or at least not improving very effectively. And at worst, you could possibly be hurting your game as your are training yourself to throw darts with no focus - and that can't be good come match time!

take some time away and come back to it when you really want to play again. thats what i done ( hi guys ) i've had so much on with work, kids ,christmas etc etc. i was still trying to put time in to play but found that my enjoyment of the game had faded a lot and with that my game got really bad . 4 weeks or so away from the board and i was itching to play again . ordered some more darts and not only am i enjoying playing again i'm playing way better than before. wither it has been the break , new darts or just because i have less the worry about now i don't know, but perhaps a wee break from the darts till you miss it and really want to play can be good if stuck in a rut.

I have sort of the same problem as you do but I don't play for any team yet.

George has some great drills and I use it all the time.

It works well for me when I do as George suggests.

The thing is to have a finish line in your practice that you know you can do.

By having this you can beat yourself up as much as you want but you will still feel good about yourself when you have completed what you set out for.

Practice is what you make of it.

And when you figure out for yourself...what this translates in to...you will find that next gear and make significant improvement in your game.

Wow some very good posts here. Not trying to wind anyone up but there is bad practice !! Example is a couple of friends of mine. The one friend will kick his back foot completely off the ground while throwing (don't stand close or you will get kicked) he has been advised not to do this for the obvious reasons yet he continues to do so in practice and games (very poor player) I have mentioned it several times but after awhile I say nothing because he just wants to kick for lack of a better word. He says he practices hours on end. So he practices hours on end over and over doing a very bad form - Thats bad practice.
Another player throws the dart like a baseball - as above bad practice and no improvement.
I'm just a decent Pub player and try to help but after awhile I just have to shut up and let them go their own way.
Now another player I know asked me about practice and his throw and would meet me occasionally and we would go over things like follow through, focus and some practice routines.
He was open to suggestions: He had never beaten me , not even 1 leg until the other day! What a smile on his face btw. So IMO yes there is good practice and some not so good.
I come on here to get help from you guys that I know are better players of which are many on this forum lol and my mentor George Silverzahn (American Hall of fame player and author of darts beginning to end) Like my sig says if your mechanics are right 90% of darts is mental the other 10% is in your head - For me its the perfection of the mechanics that I seek.

Thanks very much for the great reply's


Some great advice that I am going to try and take on-board

jamie373 wrote:

take some time away and come back to it when you really want to play again. thats what i done ( hi guys ) i've had so much on with work, kids ,christmas etc etc. i was still trying to put time in to play but found that my enjoyment of the game had faded a lot and with that my game got really bad . 4 weeks or so away from the board and i was itching to play again . ordered some more darts and not only am i enjoying playing again i'm playing way better than before. wither it has been the break , new darts or just because i have less the worry about now i don't know, but perhaps a wee break from the darts till you miss it and really want to play can be good if stuck in a rut.

Welcome back Jamie!

We missed ya mate!

I still disagree with this bad practice! Just because someone doesn't have the perfect stance or style doesn't make their practice bad. Bobby George had an unorthodox throw but people wouldn't say his practice was bad because of it. There are a lot of pro players with quirks and funny ways like Justin Pipe, Co Stompe, Vincent VanDervoort and the great Jocky Wilson but again I feel if that is their natural throw then it does not mean they practice with any less enthusiasm or their will or desire to be better is any less. There are times when I feel I can't be bothered as I am tired or lack the motivation so will not practice until later but will still do it later even if I don't feel like it and I suppose some may call that bad practice but I feel pushing through it makes me a better player and more determined, so I still don't think of it as bad practice. My theory is that if you really can't be bothered and you are just throwing pointy things at a board then it is down to you to make the decision to not practice and if you still go ahead with a lack of conviction or enthusiasm then it is your poor decision making you should be looking at. It is down to the individual to manage their time well and sometimes just practicing when you don't want to is harmful to you mental state which may affect your game in the long term as you will become resentful to giving up your time and if your practice goes badly this will reinforce those thoughts and will spoil your next session and knock your confidence. So once again I don't think their is bad practice I think that people make bad decisions to practice when they should be resting or doing other things.
Also there are many kinds of practice as at home it is different to the pub with mates. The pub is different to a local league game. A local league game is different to superleague and superleague is different to county and this is because the stakes get higher as you get better so the pressure to do better intensifies and the fall from grace is much higher and harder. The natural adrenaline rush is very hard to control and it takes a long while in the same situation to manage it well That it why Phil Taylor has been at the top for so long as others get to the final and can't cope with the pressure, they are no less a player but after 16 world titles whose your money going to be on to keep their nerve. Keep practicing the amount you feel you need to maintain a steady throw & play as many games as you can out of the house against opposition that you deem to be better than you then you will know how to teak your game and what areas need more practice.
This has been a great topic for discussion and hope more like this come along as it has got people really opening up and having their say nice one Rebel certainly got me waffling away lol

I believe Rebel, that the best thing that you have done is to press the send button after you wrote your promblem down. Its out there and not just in your head.
As your thorghts have been shared.

You said it big gun. To me that's "bad practice" "bad decisions to practice". This could harm your game and not improve it.

So if you only have half an hour to do some damage to the board have a goal you can reach. Say instead if just throwing at different trebles and doubles pick out some of them and keep progress as to how many times you have set to hit them. This keeps your head from wander away and forces you to at least have some focus when chucking them sharp needles.

Some people don't need to practice full stop.

My team mate last night hasn't thrown in 6 weeks, He averaged 88 in his singles !!

He's one of the most natural Pub sports people I've met lol

Stuart180 wrote:

Some people don't need to practice full stop.

My team mate last night hasn't thrown in 6 weeks, He averaged 88 in his singles !!

He's one of the most natural Pub sports people I've met lol

shame he doesn't apply himself could be on the tour.

Stuart180 wrote:

Some people don't need to practice full stop.

My team mate last night hasn't thrown in 6 weeks, He averaged 88 in his singles !!

He's one of the most natural Pub sports people I've met lol

I hate him!

getagrip wrote:

Stuart180 wrote:

Some people don't need to practice full stop.

My team mate last night hasn't thrown in 6 weeks, He averaged 88 in his singles !!

He's one of the most natural Pub sports people I've met lol

I hate him!

I too also heavily dislike this man. I'm gonna practice until I have a 180 average ( I know that's impossible ) and then show him my middle finger lol


With regards to the thread, I think that the mindset is very important when practising. There is little point turning up feeling like it's a chore. Set yourself targets that you can achieve and enjoy the challenge.

If I practice at home by myself I tend to concentrate purely on grouping and accuracy rather than play games as I don't find it "realistic" to play any games as I'm by myself. 9 times out of 10 I tend to be out playing games with mates, but that 1 occasion is when I do my routines as I find one of the biggest problems for local players is hitting that big single when it matters.

My routines (thanks to George) is purely grouping and accuracy nothing else.

Great thread- thanks