Forget what you think you know about darts! Research reveals that blindly aiming for treble 20 isn’t always best; your optimal target depends on your accuracy spread. Top players achieve consistency through minimal body movement and unwavering target fixation, a skill best honed with real-world practice, not virtual simulations. Furthermore, quality of practice trumps quantity, and a specific drill can even combat the dreaded ‘Dartitis.’ This article dives into these surprising, science-backed insights that can truly elevate your game.
The Science of Aim: It’s Not Always Treble 20
While many darts tips focus on basic techniques, an often-overlooked area is the optimal aiming strategy. What if the conventional wisdom of always targeting the highest-scoring region isn’t actually the best approach for everyone?
Stanford’s Surprising Findings
Fifteen years ago, three statisticians from Stanford University — Ryan Tibshirani, Andrew Price, and Jonathan Taylor — published a groundbreaking paper titled ‘A Statistician Plays Darts’ in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. They modeled each dart throw as a scatter of points around the intended target, then determined the best aim point for various levels of throwing accuracy.
Their key finding? Even elite players often have a strong tendency to always aim for the treble 20. However, the mathematics suggests this isn’t always optimal. If you were a perfect thrower, the center of the treble 20 would indeed be your ideal target. But as your throwing accuracy widens (meaning your darts scatter more), the optimal target shifts. It moves slightly up and to the left, and eventually, for less precise throws, it surprisingly jumps to the treble 19.
Measure Your Spread
One of the statisticians, Tibshirani, scored an average of 11.65 across 100 throws while trying his hardest — a score even lower than a dart landing randomly! The point isn’t that everyone should switch to treble 19. The crucial takeaway is this: your best target depends entirely on your personal throwing spread (your consistency and accuracy). Almost nobody measures their own spread, which means many players are likely aiming suboptimally.
The Mechanics of a Perfect Throw: Stability is Key
Beyond where you aim, how you throw is equally critical. Recent research has shed light on the subtle differences between competitive and recreational players.
Japanese Research on Body Movement
In 2014, two Japanese researchers brought together competitive and recreational dart players, analyzing their movements using force platforms and motion capture technology. The results were telling:
- Competitive players exhibited more controlled and minimal movements in their shoulders and elbows.
- Recreational players, by contrast, showed greater movement in these areas.
This suggests that stability and efficiency of movement are hallmarks of a skilled throw.
Weight Distribution Matters
The study also revealed significant differences in how players managed their body weight:
- Competitive players maintained most of their weight on their front leg from the start of their throw.
- Recreational players often began with about two-thirds of their weight forward, then transferred the remaining body weight across their body as they released the dart.
Many amateur players mistakenly believe that shifting their weight across their body generates more power. However, this research indicates it’s a misguided technique that actually hinders performance and consistency. A stable, pre-set weight distribution on the front leg is more effective.
The Power of Focus: Gaze Fixation
In darts, planning your shot is crucial, and that includes where your eyes are focused.
Tracking Elite Players’ Eyes
A foundational study in 2000 by Joan Vickers and colleagues tracked the gaze of skilled dart players. They discovered a critical difference between successful and missed throws:
- For most successful throws, players momentarily lost focus on the target during the early part of their throw (early flexion), with their eyes drifting off target for about 550 milliseconds.
- When they missed, their eyes drifted off target significantly earlier, during the mid-alignment phase, losing focus for a much longer period — approximately 1167 milliseconds.
This clearly shows that the same players, throwing at the same board, had vastly different gaze patterns depending on the outcome. Sustaining a fixed gaze on the target for longer is a trainable skill that improves accuracy.
Real Practice vs. Virtual Training
While you can train your eyes to maintain a more fixed gaze, it’s important to note that this cannot be effectively trained through virtual means alone. A 2025 study in the Journal of Motor Learning and Development divided 45 novices into three groups. Both a virtual group (using Xbox Kinect) and a real-world group (throwing actual darts) extended their fixation time, but only the real-world group showed actual improvements in accuracy. This underscores the importance of physical, hands-on practice.
Quality Over Quantity: The Practice Paradox
How much should you practice? The answer might surprise you.
Beau Greaves’ Minimalist Approach
Just months ago, darts sensation Beau Greaves told talkSPORT that she only trains around 30 minutes a day, typically starting at 10 AM. She explained that her natural throwing motion was smooth and consistent from an early age, and she focuses on maintaining that simplicity as she has matured in the sport. This highly efficient approach challenges the common belief that more practice hours automatically lead to better results.
Justin Pipe’s “Frustration” Routine
While Greaves’ minimalist approach works for her, it contradicts conventional coaching for aspiring players, and many top professionals would disagree. For example, Justin Pipe’s famous “Frustration” routine demands players score at least 80 with their first two darts, then hit double one with the third, before moving to double two, and so on, all the way to the bullseye. The critical aspect here is not the sheer volume of throws, but rather the quality and success rate of each visit to the board. Every attempt has a clear pass or fail, emphasizing precision and pressure.
Ultimately, the key lies in deliberate, focused practice that emphasizes quality and specific goals, rather than simply clocking in hours.
Conquering Dartitis: A Real Challenge, A Simple Solution
Dartitis is a condition that can plague even the most seasoned players, often without warning.
Understanding the Condition
A quick search reveals the extensive list of top players who have suffered from or continue to struggle with Dartitis — it’s a serious and debilitating issue. The Oxford English Dictionary officially added the term in 2007, defining it as “nervousness that stops a player releasing the dart at the right moment.”
This condition shows no respect for titles, having affected legends like five-time world champion Eric Bristow and Mark Walsh. In 2001, researchers Bawden and Maynard interviewed affected players, who consistently described an involuntary, excessively tight grip on the dart, preventing its timely and natural release.
The “Blank Space” Drill
To combat Dartitis, coaches often recommend a seemingly counter-intuitive drill: players are instructed to throw into open space, without a target or even a dartboard. The sole objective is to loosen the arm and re-establish a fluid, uninhibited release. This genius approach helps players overcome the mental block and physical tension associated with Dartitis, rebuilding confidence in their throwing motion away from the pressure of the target.
Source: Based on an article from Darts Planet TV.
