Dear Curious,

Hey! A simple person! I love you already, since I’m a simple kind of guy. You’d be surprised at how many folks confuse a simple person with a simpleton.

You are missing something! Absolutely! It’s the nonsense that many in darts create about the importance of the dart, shaft, flight (dart combination) to their game. Granted you can’t play without them and the dart combination you use should suit your style of delivering the dart to the board but it’s an inanimate object that has no mystical powers. The thing just follows the laws which dictate how it reacts to the way you release it. Has to do with balance, flight surface, drag and other aerodynamic stuff but for us regular people it tries to fly straight no matter how badly we release it and send it on its way.

Most people release the dart in such a way that the dart actually wobbles up and down as it travels to the board. When they get a dart combination that has the wobble parallel to the floor as the dart reaches the board the dart sticks straight out. If the person throws a little harder or easier, or if they extend or retract their follow through or anything else that upsets that wobble, the dart gets to the board sooner or later and that has an adverse affect on how the dart protrudes from the board. It will hang down or tilt upward. Stuff like that. Others send the dart on its way sideways and the dart wobbles back and forth as it travels to the board. That’s a twisted release and really bad. Not to worry, there is a dart combination that will compensate for your human limitations, you just have to find it. There is another approach but it takes a lot of work and thought, both of which there is a dearth in dart players. It’s changing your delivery/stroke. I’ll stick to the topic here and get to that some other time.

I meet so few people who correctly go about finding the right dart combination for themselves it gets wearisome. You, praise you, have done it exactly right, whether on purpose or not. I prefer to bestow upon you a gift of innate knowledge which you used to purchase your first set of darts. I’m amazed at how many people have darts that cost over a hundred dollars when they could be using $20 sets. The skill with which one plays the game has absolutely nothing to do with the dart used, beyond matching your release style or messing with your head, or maximizing your effectiveness. A person can play really well with a dart combination that is not optimized for their release and never learn what their potential really is.

I’ve answered your question. You are missing something. Now I’ll go back to the Iliad. Homer’s such a comic. Wait a sec. I read your note again. Something is missing and you’re dropping on the scale of wonderfulness because of it. You didn’t tell me how well you play, often you win, or whether you’re happy with the way your darts stick. Now I’m forced to go into some detail but I’ll still keep it simple. I’m that kind of guy.

You did the right thing by selecting an inexpensive set of darts to start with. Now that you’ve been playing a while you should have some idea of your style and that is a prerequisite to selecting the last set of darts you’ll need. Notice I said last? Sometimes that might not be the case, but needing a different set of darts would be a very rare thing if the selection is done with some thought. Then there are people for whom need is not a cause for change: want is. Sometimes we just want a change for change sake, and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as we keep the distinction clear. That’s why there are some many styles, colors and shapes of flights.

OK, what identifies a style of dart delivery that involves the dart combination? How hard you shoot it? How perfectly you release it? The length of your stroke? All right, get your mind out of the gutter, I’m talking dart stroke here not other forms of recreation. Yes is the answer and congratulations to those sharp enough to figure that out before I said it, both of you.

First: shooting hard. A dart that lands with impact is not necessarily shot hard. It is one that was released extremely well. That’s when the forward movement of the arm, straightening of the wrist, uncurling of the fingers and extension of the arm are nearly perfect so that the dart flies with practically no wobble. The way mine does when I’m right, which has unfortunately been seldom lately. So don’t attempt to shoot a dart hard, just shoot it the way which comes naturally.

Note that I refer to the act of getting a dart to the board as shooting? When someone does so little correctly that I decide they shouldn’t be recognized as a true dart player I refer to their act of delivery of the dart as "throwing" it. Only dart players "shoot" darts.

Next: release of the dart. I referred to that above. Suffice to say in relation to the topic I’m talking about here, don’t start thinking about how you release the dart. That’s a subject for serious players, capable of and willing to, think, and will really mess up anyone less dedicated. Don’t think.

Last: length of stroke. That’s where release of the dart occurs. This is all over the map in regards to the dart population. The better the player the farther from their face the release occurs.

Now to selection of your permanent darts. If you shoot a dart softly, that’s with an easy forward stroke, and a loop in the parabola it follows, a barrel on the heavy side will suit you better than a light one.

Maybe I should touch on parabola? Every dart is falling towards the floor when reaches the board. Like a ball, the farther it travels the more sharply it falls. Do you know that if you hold a bullet next to the barrel of a rife held level and drop it exactly the same time the fired bullet leaves the end of the barrel they will both hit the ground at the same time? But I digress.

The more impact your dart has hitting the board the lighter the dart you can use, if you choose. If you have large hands you might consider getting a larger barrel. A skinny barrel might not be a good thing. I always suggest using the heavier dart. I use a 27 gram set, made specifically for me and my grip. Vanity has something to do with that.

Grip: it’s how you hold it. There is no wrong way. Get over that.

Barrel style: it feels good and you can grip it the same every time. That’s all there is to that. Your choice!

The things that have the most impact on the flight of a dart are the shaft and flight. The barrel does not.

Fortunately shafts and flights are not expensive so you can experiment until you find the right dart combination for your style of delivery. The hazard is you begin thinking about how you are delivering the dart and not concentrating on the target so you unconsciously affect the outcome. Try a combination and if it seems OK, use it for at least a few weeks before you decide it’s not right. Once you find the combination that allows your dart to stick straight out of the board, you are done. If the dart begins to stand up or hang down, you are doing something different, not the dart combination. If it sticks sideways you have real trouble.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different sized flights. One in particular comes to mind and that is my signature flight made by Amerithon: the GHS model. It is styled to match those with a release closer to perfect and who do not need a lot of compensation for poor release. Sounds immodest for me to say that and would be if I didn’t have the release I do.

A dart combination poorly matched to delivery style will impede ability to win two ways: perceived and actual. Perceived involves distraction of concentration on the target due to concern with a slanted dart blocking the path to the target by a following dart. Actual is when a dart strikes one already in the board and deflects it or causes a bounce out: the cause for perceived distraction.

A smaller flight in a dart combination that matches style will create the impression a dart has literally disappeared into the board when it lands, you can’t see it. This causes the least interference with concentration on the target and minimal deflection of following darts and that must be the goal when selecting your last set of darts.