Ten drills that are worth your time
Ten drills cover the ground: around the clock, from 1 to 20 and then the bull, a nine-dart salvo at the treble 20, the doubles, setting a finish up from 81, 121 and 161, the T20 to D20 switch, Cricket, throwing under pressure, a solo 501, the quiet beds 11, 7 and 3, and ten legs in a row to judge consistency. Three trebles in nine is already a fair marker: a professional lands three or four.
Getting better at darts works like getting better at anything physical: it takes structured repetition. A drill that is comfortable teaches you nothing. Here are ten that are not.
1. Around the clock
The aim. Accuracy and range: land in every number from 1 to 20, then the bull.
How. Ten minutes. Count the darts it takes you to go round, then try to beat that count next time.
Why it works. If you cannot land in a bed you chose, you cannot adapt when the score asks you to.
2. Treble 20 challenge
The aim. Own the highest-value bed on the board.
How. Throw nine darts and count the trebles. A club player hits fewer than one in nine; a very good player two; a professional three or four. Nine out of nine does not exist — the average says so: at 60 the visit comes mostly from singles, at 100 about a third of darts find the treble. Aim at three in nine.
Why it works. It is the single biggest lever on your scoring, and the easiest to measure.
3. Doubles practice
The aim. Own the six that finish most legs: D20 and D16 close thirty-three routes each, D8 twenty-one, D12 seventeen, then D4 and D10.
How. Three in a row on each, then move on. Five to ten minutes.
Why it works. Without the double, a leg won on scoring is lost.
4. Ten out
The aim. Set a finish up, then take it.
How. You get three darts. From 10 it only takes one, so start at 81, then 121, then 161 — the scores where setting up is the work. Drop to 40, 32 and 24 for finishing alone.
Why it works. It is the end of a leg, practised on its own — and the end of a leg is where legs are decided.
5. T20 to D20
The aim. Move between scoring and finishing, the way a real leg makes you.
How. Three darts at the treble 20, then three at the double 20, then three back at the treble. Repeat five times.
Why it works. Most players can do either. Switching between them under one rhythm is the hard part.
6. Cricket trainer
The aim. If you play Cricket, close numbers quickly.
How. Take 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and the bull in turn, and try to put three marks in each in a single visit.
Why it works. Cricket is decided by who closes first, not by who scores most.
7. Pressure throw
The aim. Practise the head, not the hand.
How. Set a target — two trebles in a visit, say. One point when you do it, minus three when you fail. Where are you after ten visits?
Why it works. A match does not feel like practice, and nothing about practice prepares you for that unless you put something at stake.
8. Solo 501
The aim. Play a real leg with nobody watching.
How. Play it out, then look at your three-dart average, your best visit and how many darts it took you.
Why it works. It is the only drill that puts everything together, and DartSync keeps the figures for you.
9. The quiet beds
The aim. Land in the low-value numbers: 11, 7, 3.
How. Same as around the clock, but only on the beds you never aim at.
Why it works. Setting up a finish often means hitting a number you would never choose. If you cannot, you are stuck with whatever the board gives you.
10. Consistency check
The aim. Find out whether you are steady or streaky.
How. Play ten legs of 501 in a row and note the average of each. If the spread between them is narrow, your consistency is there; if it is wide, that is what to work on — not power.
Why it works. Two players with the same average can be very different opponents.
Putting them into forty-five minutes
- 5 min — warm up at the 20, slowly.
- 10 min — around the clock, for range.
- 10 min — treble 20 and doubles, high then low.
- 15 min — a full leg of 501, with the figures written down.
- 5 min — look at the figures and pick tomorrow's one thing.
And then?
These are not a list to work through once. They are drills to rotate through a routine you keep. A drill you do not measure tells you nothing: DartSync works out the average, the best visit and the dart count of each game — write them down from one session to the next, because the app does not yet carry them from one game to the following one.
Start today, keep them in the routine, and compare your average in three months.
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