How I Got Into Darts: Chapter 5: Realisation

Chapter 5: Realisation

When you watch darts on Television the majority of the match is usually spent with watching the professionals attempt to smash the treble 20 to the infamous “180!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” by the match caller.  Of course not even the professionals can hit perfect 180’s every time however each match usually features several. At the time of this book the official highest amount was a staggering 21 hit by Dutchman Raymond Van Barneveld against Phil Taylor in his 2007 PDC world championship final win.  The most combined 180’s in a match was in the 2013 PDC Grandslam of Darts between Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis which produced an incredible 32 and in my opinion was the greatest display of darts power scoring in darts history (certainly televised) and the highest recorded average was Michael Van Gerwen (MVG)’s ridiculous 121.86 in his 6-0 routing of Steve Beaton in a 2012 PDC Championship League darts match.

Now the professionals make it look easy however the reality unless your incredibly gifted, it’s hard enough to hit 60 regularly when under pressure let alone 100s and when you move down to pub level, especially the lower leagues the 180 occurrences are rare, and the average 3 dart average can be in the 30’s or under.

For example, in my first full year of league play in 2014 (excluding 2 external tournaments), which spanned the summer league and a portion of winter league I played 33 matches which encompassed 84 legs.  During this time only 1 player hit a 180 against me, no one hit the next highest 177 (t20,20,d19) , no one hit a 9 darter (finishing a game of 501 in 9 darts, the perfect game),  and no one hit a maximum checkout of 170 (t20,t20, bull). In-fact my Captain at Al’s Bar Kevin had been playing league darts for 33 years, and had never hit a 180 in a competitive league match.  Incredible given that he was far from a poor player and would consistently get at least a few 100+ scores in his matches. Furthermore after chatting with players over time it was not uncommon for some players to highlight that they’d never even hit one even in practice, even after years of playing.

Does this mean that the matches were any less exciting, and some were not good quality? Of course not it’s just not world class standard and anyone who goes to a pub on a Monday night expecting to see 110 averages, 9 darters and multiple 180s are in for a shock.  In my league they don’t even record the averages (maybe that’s a good thing). Of course there are 2 sides to every story, part of the reason for a lack of 180’s is down to the fact that most single matches are comprised of  best of 3 legs however the standard is of course far lower. 

This is ‘honest’ darts at its grass roots level and over the seasons you meet all kinds, and you hear all sorts of stories. Inevitably there is always one  player with a massive ego sporting a set of £80 Phil Taylor darts that brags about the 9 darters (finishing a game of 501 in 9 darts, the perfect game) he’s hitting every day in practice and then proceeds to ‘power’ score 26 as he loses 2-0 and doesn’t get to a finish. Every 26 is usually met with a look of confusion and a shake of the head as if it’s a complete shock and unexpected. The excuses then follow. The air conditioning, a shoulder injury, the dog dying when he was 7, anything to excuse the shock of not hitting back to back 9 darters, this usually occurs every time you see him play and you never do see him hit that perfect game.

What I am trying to get to is that unless you are very lucky very few new dart players hit a 180 early on, and sometimes it can be a long time coming. I was fortunate in that I hit one about 3 months after I started in practice.  It is an incredible feeling when it happens and for the novice/lower league player remains the mecca of darting accomplishment.  I think it is important when you play to forget about what you see on television. These players are professionals and this is their job and as such you shouldn’t judge your skills against those who are in effect paid to do it and can spend 5-8 hours a day practising.  If you do it can become an exercise in frustration which will actually make that 180 harder to hit.   The trick is to capitalise on it, and not hit a total score 26, 3, 15 or 7 with your next 3 darts as you often see happen (or happens to you), and to enjoy it. Oh and it gets a BIG cheer from everyone in the vicinity when you do, which for about 5 seconds makes you feel like a superstar.