Better Darts

While in the club the other night we started talking about the standard of darts these days and had a few games at the same time. In one knock about game I broke with 120, scored 131 which left the bull after 6 darts, missed it and had a lucky dart into the 18 then had a miss at 32 and got it with my next dart, my 9^th dart. Not bad for a rank amateur who has never even played in the Super League never mind County. In another leg a few minutes later I had a magnificent 141 finish. Treble 20, treble 17 and double 15. I very rarely do this sort of thing in a match, but it has been known. I think the standard of darts is going up and these sort of shots are happening more and more often in our leagues than they used to years ago. It used to be really something for someone to hit a 9 dart 301 but these days if a player hits one at the start of the season they are lucky if it gets mentioned in dispatches for more than a couple of weeks as it soon gets beaten by less darts. Fletch did a 7 darter a few weeks ago in the Rugeley League and the other year Jimmy Richards from the Castle got a 7 darter in the Weston league. High starts and finishes used to be worth a mention but 160 starts are almost common place now and at the moment we have two 164 finishes in our league.

The standard is rising through all levels of the game as can be seen from the televised Premier League Darts. http://www.planetdarts.tv. During week 4 several players averaged over 100 in their matches although top players averages are usually in the 80s or 90s which are still a lot higher than they used to be. In the olden days when I first started playing I am sure the averages were more like 70s and 80s in the big competitions. The brilliant Phil Taylor nearly always averages over 100 which is absolutely awesome compared to that. Even the local super league players http://www.stafforddartssuperleague.co.uk these days hope to average into the 70s and occasionally 80s or even 90s for odd matches. So, although older player will always say how good things when they were young, I think the overall standard of darts is steadily climbing in the same way standards seem to be rising in all other sports.