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How to Throw Darts: The Ultimate Beginners Guide

Learning how to throw darts is a difficult skill to master. If you’ve ever watched a game of professional darts, you’ve no doubt wondered they manage to throw darts so consistently.

How can they transition from scoring a double to a treble across the other side of the board so effectively?

So, if you want to learn how to throw darts more consistently, keep reading.

Assuming The Correct Stance

Dart stances

Taking the correct stance is the first step to throwing darts more effectively.

A good stance helps to maintain your balance, which leads to more accurate, consistent throws.

Most beginners tend not to understand the importance of their stance when throwing darts and try to lean forward as much as possible, which is detrimental to accuracy.

What are the Different Types of Stance?

When lining up to throw darts, there are three common stances that you should consider.

But, before assuming any of these three stances, you must line up your body behind the Oche (throwing line), being sure not to cross it.

The Forward Stance

Forward dart stance

In the forward stance, your dominant foot should be in front with the toe touching the Oche. In addition, your toe should point directly towards the board.

Additionally, 75% of your body weight should be supported by your leading foot. Your less-dominant foot is then positioned behind you and slightly to the side for balance.
It’s important that whichever position you decide to take should make you feel comfortable and balanced.

The Side Stance

The side stance

While taking the side stance, the edge of your leading foot should be positioned on the throwing line, with the back foot angled behind the front foot.

The Angled Stance

The angled dart stance

The Angled stance is a mixture of both the forward and side stance.
The lead foot should be on an angle with the toe on the throw line in the Angled stance.

The angled stance gives greater stability to the upper body, which is why more experienced dart throwers predominantly assume it.

Read our guide on: how to improve your dart stance

The Correct Dart Grip

There is no one correct way to grip a dart. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider the guidelines to help improve your technique.

The Holding Technique

When holding the dart, you don’t want to squeeze it too hard, but you also don’t want to assume a loose hold.
It would be best if you held the dart firm enough to maintain control, but at the same time, your holding of the dart should keep your hand relaxed and not tense.

The Number of Fingers

There are several approaches you can take to hold a dart.
Regardless of the number of fingers you’re going to use, it would be best if you placed your thumb at the center of the dart’s barrel.

So many many fingers can you use when holding a dart?

Two Fingers
Holding a dart with two fingers is pretty similar to holding a pen, although it doesn’t provide quite as much control as other holds.

Two finger dart grip

Three Fingers
The three-finger grip is ideal for gaining more control and is most popular among the majority of players.

With the three-finger grip, the thing to keep in mind is that the thumb needs to be placed right behind the center of gravity of the dart to gain a greater level of control.

Three finger dart grip

Four Fingers
The four-finger grip has its upsides and downsides. On the one hand, it offers more support and control. But alternatively, the fourth finger placed on the barrel feels a little too overcrowded.

Four finger dart grip

Five Fingers
Using all of your fingers to hold the dart is quite tricky, but it ensures greater control. The way to gain access to such a high level of control is by placing your little finger right above or below the dart’s tip.

Five finger dart grip

Body Positioning

The body position you take to throw your dart is crucial to maintaining your balance and consistency while throwing.

Facing side-on at the target, you want to make sure that your elbow is raised slightly before throwing, ensuring that your shoulder and hand form aim towards the target.

Releasing Your Dart

The final step towards mastering your throwing technique is to learn how to release the dart correctly, which, believe it or not is a lot harder than it seems.

The Wrist Snap

Before throwing the dart, you want to make sure that you snap your wrist as it’ll accelerate the dart and allow for a more accurate throw.

The Follow Through

After releasing the dart, you want your arm to maintain the throwing motion and follow through towards the target.

Conclusion

In summary, to learn how to throw darts, you’ll need to take the recommendations we’ve highlighted above and continue to practice often.

Michael Fielding

Michael Fielding

Michael has been playing Darts for more than 20 years and is passionate about helping others improve their game through his own experiences.