How to get better at darts: seven things

Darts rewards technique and repetition, but mostly it rewards structure. Play now and then and you will stagnate at whatever standard you started at. Practise in an order that makes sense and the average moves — not overnight, but visibly.

1. Put a number on where you are

Before anything else, find out your average. Without a figure there is no progress, only impressions. Play a leg, work it out, and write it down.

2. Live in the 20

The treble 20 is the highest-value bed on the board, and three of them is the 180 maximum. But the single 20 matters more than it looks: a steady 60 every visit beats an occasional treble with two misses either side. Ten minutes a day at the 20, and do not move on until seven darts in ten land in the 20 bed — single or treble. The treble comes with consistency, not before it.

3. Own the doubles

At 501 you have to finish on a double. Until it goes in, nothing moves — a leg won on scoring can be lost on the last dart. The ones that finish most legs are D20 and D16, then D8, D12, D4 and D10.

4. Play people, not just the board

You improve faster against someone than alone. Pressure, tactics and having to adapt do work that practice cannot. Look for players slightly better than you: far better is discouraging, far worse teaches you nothing.

5. Read the game back afterwards

DartSync gives you, for each game, your three-dart average, your best visit and how many darts it took you to finish. Write them down from one session to the next — the app does not yet carry them from one game to the following one. Two weeks with no movement usually means something mechanical: film your throw and look at it.

6. Throw decent darts

You do not need expensive equipment, but a mid-range set makes a real difference. They have to sit comfortably in the hand and fly straight. Beyond that, the darts are not what is holding you back.

7. Keep a routine

Half an hour most days beats three hours at the weekend. Five minutes warming up, ten around the clock, ten on a full leg, five on the doubles.

What to expect, honestly

Improvement at darts is slow but legible, provided you measure it. Ten points of average in the first month, then five to ten a month that space out as the standard rises — an order of magnitude for someone practising most days, not a promise, and it varies from player to player. Forty to seventy-five is a season or two of work, not a programme you can buy.

Start today: play a leg, write the average down, and compare it in six months.

How to get better at darts