Improve Your Dart Throwing Technique: Narrow Down Faults

When the technique is there but consistency is not

There is a point at which stance, grip and the basic motion are fundamentally in place and the results still fluctuate. At that point going through the basics again does not help. The question is no longer how to throw, but which part of your own motion is not being repeated reliably.

The difficulty is perception. Throws that feel identical are often technically different, and the deviations sit within a few degrees. Anyone hunting for them by feel usually changes the wrong part of the motion and makes things worse. This article therefore describes a procedure rather than an ideal: narrow down first, change second.

The basics of stance, grip and motion are assumed here. If you are just starting out, the article on dart throwing technique for beginners is the better entry point.

Reading your grouping: what the spread reveals

Before you change anything about your motion, it pays to look at the direction of your misses. Spread is rarely distributed randomly, and its direction narrows the cause considerably.

Vertical spread

If your darts land above and below the target but sit closely together horizontally, the cause is almost always release timing. The elbow angle at the moment of letting go fluctuates. Releasing too early sends the dart high, too late sends it low. The second possible cause is an upper arm that rises or drops during the motion and shifts the entire throwing plane.

Horizontal spread

If the darts land left and right of the target at a similar height, the arm is not travelling in a straight line. Typical causes are rotation from the shoulder, an elbow that drifts sideways, or fingers that do not open simultaneously on release. A single finger staying on the barrel a fraction of a second longer is enough for a visible deflection.

Diagonal or irregular spread

If the darts scatter without a recognisable pattern, the cause is usually not one technical fault but the starting position. A shifting stance, a shifting grip point or a missing routine before the throw produce exactly this picture. Here it pays to fix the position before working on the motion.

Reference values you can orient yourself by

The values below are not requirements but ranges in which most consistent throwers operate. They exist so you can place your own measurements, not so you can aim for them.

Elbow angle at release: roughly 150 to 160 degrees. What matters is the variation across a series, not the absolute value.
Elbow angle in the follow through: roughly 160 to 180 degrees, arm stretched toward the target.
Upper arm: movement close to zero. Any vertical movement of the upper arm shows up directly as vertical spread.
Weight distribution: 70 to 80 percent on the front foot, unchanged across the whole throw.
Grip point: the same fingers on the same spot of the barrel, every throw. How to find that spot is covered in the article on how to hold a dart.

The most important point about this list is the one least often observed: for every value named, the variation across twenty throws says more than the average. A thrower who releases consistently at 145 degrees is better off than one who swings between 150 and 162 degrees.

Narrowing down your own fault in four steps

The procedure below takes about two weeks and prevents the most common mistake in technique training, which is changing several things at once.

Step one: throw 60 to 100 darts at a single field and note the direction of the deviations rather than the score. That gives you the category from the previous section.

Step two: film yourself from the direction that matches the category. From the side for vertical spread, from the front or slightly behind you for horizontal spread. The wrong camera position is the reason many video recordings show nothing useful.

Step three: pick a single variable to change and leave everything else untouched. Changing stance and grip at the same time makes it impossible to tell afterwards which one had an effect.

Step four: stick with the change for at least ten to fourteen days before judging it. A new motion almost always feels worse in the first days and produces worse short term results, even when it is better in the long run. Switching back after two sessions only measures the adjustment effect.

What is worth changing and what is not

Not every deviation is a fault. Some of the most striking quirks of successful players would be wrong by the textbook and work anyway, because they are repeated consistently.

Worth changing is anything that creates variability: a wandering grip point, a shifting stance, an upper arm that stays still sometimes and not others, a missing routine before the throw. These things make the throw unpredictable regardless of how good the underlying technique is.

Not worth changing is anything that looks unusual but stays stable. A flat throwing angle, an unusual grip or a very short backswing are not faults as long as they can be reproduced. Correcting such quirks trades a working motion for an uncertain one.

The distinction is useful because it narrows the search. What matters is what fluctuates, not what deviates from an ideal.

Checking your technique objectively with mydart

The part of this procedure that takes the most effort is the measuring. Reviewing video frame by frame costs more time than the training itself, and estimating angles by eye is imprecise in exactly the range where the relevant differences sit.

mydart takes over that part. The camera captures the motion, the app measures elbow angle, upper arm stability, straightness and follow through automatically, and above all shows how much those values fluctuate within a series. That is precisely the figure you need for narrowing things down.

Saved sessions then let you check whether a change actually had an effect. Which values come out of this and how to read them is covered in the article on dart metrics.

Common questions about improving your throwing technique

How do I tell which part of my technique is the problem?

From the direction of your spread. Vertical deviations point to fluctuating release timing or a moving upper arm, horizontal ones to arm motion that is not straight or an unclean release. Irregular spread usually points to a shifting starting position.

How long does a technique change take to show an effect?

Around ten to fourteen days with regular training. Results usually get worse in the first days because the old motion is still automated. Judging earlier only measures the adjustment.

Should I change several things at once?

No. With several simultaneous changes it becomes impossible to tell which one worked. Change one variable, stick with it, judge it, then move to the next.

Do I have to correct unusual quirks in my technique?

Only if they fluctuate. An unusual but consistently repeated motion is better than a textbook one that varies. What counts is reproducibility, not agreement with an ideal.