A Good Home Throw

There is one throw in a local town that is very unusual and definitely what you would call a “Good home throw.” The wall facing the Oche is not square on to it. To overcome this the dartboard has been mounted on a frame that projects outwards from the wall at an angle. In other words the board is square on to the thrower, but if your eyes wander backwards and forwards to the wall behind it you definitely start to get a queasy feeling!

One of my friends told me about another Oche that is almost legendary in the Midlands.  He was on his travels some years ago when he walked into a pub for a lunchtime drink and as usual looked round for the dartboard. When he asked the Landlord where the board was, he was shown a dartboard on a distant wall that was mounted about 3 feet off the floor. My friend asked if they had a lot of children in the pub that played darts. The Landlord said no and that the board was regularly used for men’s matches in the local league. Then my friend was shown where the Oche was. The Landlord walked towards the cellar and halfway down the cellar steps was the exact throwing distance!

Another local pub used to have an Oche in a very awkward place, but it has been moved now. The ceiling over the Oche was very low as it sometimes is in the older village pubs, but that was not the problem in itself. In the ceiling a couple of feet in front of the Oche and going from side to side above the player was a wooden beam. On more than one occasion I have seen a player throw all three darts and not get one in the board. All 3 have been stuck in a neat row in the wooden beam above the Oche! The throw is alright for people under 5 feet 6 inches but if you are 6 feet as I am it can be difficult. Needless to say I rarely go for tops on that board. Having said that playing for the team based in that pub is a player who must be about 6 feet 3 and he plays very well on the board!

Other pubs have cigarette machines or bandits halfway down the lay and in some the darts lay runs down the length of the bar so play stops when someone wants a drink. In a lot of pubs people have to cross the lay to get out to the loos and you can’t always persuade them to wait ‘till after the players have thrown if they are in a hurry!

These little hazards are all part of pub darts and are of course the reason why we play home and away so that “Good home throws” are not really an advantage to anyone.