If you’ve ever watched a pro dart player throw darts, or someone who’s experienced, they make it look really easy. They seem to make it look like they’re moving fluidly and they’re almost always on target.
Even if you’re a good darts player at first glance it seems like aiming a dart is a simple task, but there’s a lot of technique behind it. Aiming plays a crucial role in darts and not just pointing the dart where you want it to go.
The goal of this guide is to show you how to aim darts like a pro, so you can finally enjoy playing darts and perfect your throwing technique. Here are some tips that can help you develop your aiming skills.
How to aim darts like a pro
Knowing your dominant eye and hand is important. You need a good amount of hand-eye coordination to aim darts. It’s therefore important that you know which eye and hand are your dominants. In order to determine which eye is dominant, try throwing three darts with each eye closed in turn.
The eye that you struggle to keep closed is your dominant eye. Your dominant hand is the hand you use most frequently to do things. Raise the dart to eye level. Grab the dart with your dominant hand. Hold your shoulder still as you raise the dart to eye level, just to the side of your eye.
When throwing darts, your dominant eye must be your strongest eye, which in turn helps to gain confidence as you throw. Your elbow should be aimed at the target. Your shoulders, elbow, and hand should be in a 90-degree position. And find a line of sight.
It’s important to use your dominant hand to keep your aim. Some people use their throwing hand’s ring finger. Others aim with the tip of the dart. It is important to keep your line of sight straight while shooting.
Lead with your elbow. Be aware of where your elbow is pointing and let it rise slightly, aiming for the bull’s eye. Your elbow is the first part to move as you start the throw, making it an important pivot in the whole throwing motion.
Use the power of gravity to help it glide right through the air and hit the target. Keep the sharp end of the dart slightly upwards. Aim for the center of the board so you can get the maximum amount of force behind the shot.
Your goal is to aim directly at your target. Try not to aim too far to the right or left of your target. This can lead to problems such as mental and technical problems the longer you throw. Also aim to the right or left of what your target is, even if you miss it the first time.
1. Keep Your Tip-Up
Most beginners have trouble keeping their darts upright. If you’re holding your dart like a pencil you’ll be at a distinct disadvantage because the tip of your dart will not be pointed at your bullseye.
When playing darts, the key to a successful shot is keeping your hand as flat as possible and releasing the dart just before it starts moving down. This is doubly important when playing with soft tip darts because electronic dartboards are a bit more flimsy, and the dart sometimes bounces back up in the air before it lands on the board.
2. Make Your Body Follow
As far as your body position, you should always try to orient your body in the direction you want your dart to go, and try to keep as low a horizontal profile as possible.
To perform a sidekick, you must stand sideways with your dominant foot forward, keeping your eye, dart, arm, and target aligned. Next, point your foot in the direction of the board as well, because this will put you in line with where you want the dart to go.
It’s important to look at the big picture of the dart.
3. Bend Forward
You should bend slightly at the waist when you throw to get closer to the board and further stabilize yourself. Be careful with this though – don’t bend too far forward or you’ll throw yourself off balance.
If you bend forward too much, you can damage your back, so just a little is fine. Most people tend to stand with their feet shoulder-width apart and their toes pointing forward. When you do this, make sure that you put most of your weight on your front foot, but do not take your back foot off the ground.
To get better at throwing the dart, I recommend keeping your hands in line with your body, so that you have a good grip on the dart and a straight aim.
4. Move Only Your Throwing Arm
It can be tempting to throw your entire body rather than just moving your arm, but that will only ruin your accuracy. You should only move your arm from the elbow to the hand once you’ve settled into your stance. Everything else should stay as still as you can without tensing up.
Throw the dart as you would if you were throwing a baseball or softball. Don’t use force and speed, just lift it gently, then let the dart do the rest.
5. Practice
Darts are a fun sport, and one of the most effective ways to work on your technique is to practice darting for hours each day. But you don’t have to be as dedicated as the pros – just set aside time by yourself to throw darts at your home board.
Focus on your technique. You can always make your equipment better. And last but not least, your equipment does matter a lot. Investing in the best equipment you can afford will improve your experience by leaps and bounds.
A lot of your darts are bouncing off the board. This could mean you have a cheap dartboard or your darts just aren’t good. Investing in a high-quality dartboard will make a world of difference.
Darts are great! You’ll find throwing them even more fun when you improve your technique and learn some new tips and tricks.
Also, find out the best steel tip darts.
Conclusion
Darts is an interesting and relaxing game to help you release your tension, and it helps you to entertain others while you play. This article has given you all of the basics to know about this game. After reading this article, you should know how to aim darts quickly and accurately.
If you plan to play darts at your next game night, we hope you can enjoy the sport safely. Anyhow, we wish you success in your quest.
