| Darts. Which dart is right for me? | | | | 95% tungsten. Tungstens high density gives it a |
| Unfortunately when we watch darts on TV some | | | | much greater weight than its brass and nickel |
| of the players make it look very easy. In fact | | | | counterparts. The higher weight lends itself to |
| they make it look like anyone can pick a set of | | | | developing much thinner barrels. The advantage to |
| darts up and throw them with instant accuracy. | | | | the thinner barrel are increased high scoring ability |
| This however is simply not the case. The ability to | | | | chiefly down to the small area taken up in the |
| throw a dart accurately is down to "muscle | | | | treble zones. Thin barreled darts tend to be |
| memory" and muscle memory is something that | | | | favoured by advanced players. |
| gets developed through practice. Until the muscle | | | | Shafts, also known as stems or canes. |
| memory has had time to develop it's generally | | | | Shafts more usually come down to personal |
| recognised by industry experts that the easiest | | | | preference and there are literally hundreds of |
| darts to throw are quite large in size. | | | | varieties. It is worth noting however that shafts |
| We advise all newcomers to the sport to start | | | | can dramatically change the weep and pitch of a |
| off with brass darts. Brass being lighter than | | | | dart. Most players prefer to have their darts |
| tungsten generally gives darts a larger shape | | | | impact the board near to the horizontal line. A |
| which as said before is easier to throw with an | | | | shortened shaft can sometimes result in over |
| untrained arm. Another advantage to buying brass | | | | pitching which will leave the darts flight pointing |
| darts is that they are significantly cheaper than | | | | upwards. Please note though that this is very |
| tungsten. Many people start with brass and then | | | | subjective as all people throw differently. There is |
| jump straight onto the more expensive tungsten | | | | simply no textbook recommendation for shafts. |
| darts. This works out well for some players and | | | | It's generally accepted that players will try a few |
| not so well for others. The natural progression | | | | kinds out before settling on a personal favourite. |
| would be to move onto nickel silver darts. Nickel | | | | Flights. |
| silver is a great in between dart for developing | | | | Flights again are down to personal preference but |
| players. Being heavier than brass you can maintain | | | | again it is worth noting that flights can dramatically |
| your original darts weight and simultaneously | | | | change your natural weep or pitch. Many pro's |
| reduce the size of your darts. This gentle change | | | | now are favouring really low profile flights such as |
| works better as your hand doesnt have to adapt | | | | unicorns "slim" pattern. These lower profile flights |
| too much to the smaller shape. Some people | | | | often dramatically reduce deflection rates but not |
| have jumped straight from brass to tungsten and | | | | every player can use them. Unicorn have recently |
| found the darts just too small. The result is a set | | | | released the DXM flight. This was actually created |
| back that can take weeks or even months to | | | | by 15 time world champion Phil Taylor, but its |
| adapt to. | | | | super small profile makes it very difficult to use |
| Tungsten darts come in different grades They will | | | | for some players. |
| start at 80% tungsten and typically go up to | | | | |