Darts presenter Abigail Davies is joined by major winner, commentator and Sporting Life columnist Paul Nicholson as well as our very own resident darts expert Chris Hammer to guide you through each quarter the 96-player draw and, hopefully, predict the eventual champion.
Leading pundit and former major winner Paul Nicholson joins host Dom Newton and Sporting Life's darts expert Chris Hammer to discuss the 'darting pyramid', the importance of averages, how to crack Q School and other factors such as choosing sponsors, nicknames and walk-on music.
Initially you have to follow what’s natural to you but also follow some basic fundamentals. If you look at how a golfer stands over a golf ball for example or how a tennis player gets into position to hit a ball, there are some common essential fundamentals to give people the best possible chances of achieving the right outcome.
And darts is no different. If you’re right-handed, you obviously put your right foot forward otherwise you’d be making yourself difficult!
Everything has to feel natural when you hold your darts in front of your eyes ready to throw but there are things that can always be taught or coached to get you into a better position.
Ultimately there is a finger-print style of every throw - no two people have exactly the same through – and this is one of the great things about the game.
When players come to me, I don’t change anything major, especially at the start. I need to find the biggest glaring fault – if they have one – and try to put it right with a small fix, tweaking minutely.
There are few players who have gone through big changes like some golfers with their swings – but that doesn’t tend to happen because you need to work with what feels natural. Everybody’s bodies and stances are different so you need to make sure you are comfortable and don’t have any dangers of causing injury.
Even when I’ve scoured the county and amateur circuits, most players will have the fundamentals right with their stance.
But we did have this one player in Northumberland called Robin Calvert, who was nicknamed the Pepperami because he was very thin, and he used to stand so both his left and right feet were both right up against the oche so he was virtually square on.
This was well before I knew anything about coaching and I asked him if he was uncomfortable. He said: “It’s just the way I’ve always thrown” and I never questioned it. At that time I assumed you had to be a great technician to excel in any sport but he showed me that there are other methods, even if you wouldn’t coach them to someone else.
Most of the funny throws I’m going to talk you through have very good fundamentals and stances, but the complexities come with the arm and the shoulder.
The players I’ll mention below – as well as the many others out there who are also very unique – have been successful at their level so why change a winning formula?
If I went up to any of them and say they should change, then they’ll probably say “well I’m playing really well right now.”
People tend to look for changes in darts when things aren’t going well.
When I get asked to help someone change their throw my first question back is why. Is it because you weren’t playing well, or an external influence like TV, YouTube or a stream channel where you saw something that you wanted to try.
I’m all for tinkering but you have to remain focused on what makes you a good player. If you do too many tweaks frequently – whether it’s your throw or the type of darts used - then you’ll often get very lost with your throw.
You need to right down the ‘point zero’ results for where you are before you make small changes and then you’ll see if they make a positive difference to your game.
If your one of those people who have got lost then the best thing you can do is seek some knowledgeable advice from someone with the technical knowhow to get you back on the right track.
I grew up watching darts in the 1980s so where better to start than Ceri Morgan.
The charismatic Welshman was a vastly talented player but not only did he look different from everyone else back then, his throw got everyone captivated.
Other players couldn’t work out how he managed to throw those darts because there were so many moving parts to his action.
It was perplexing but this is one of the reasons why people wanted to watch him so much. In an era of many different styles, his stood out more than most, with his hand almost shivering at the same time it was moving.
He was undoubtedly a ‘feel’ player and I’m not even sure he knew what he was doing until it left his hand!
He’s not talked about much these days but he’s made numerous appearances at the World Championship in years gone by so some readers should remember him.
When I was growing up, me and my best friend Chris Walker used to imitate Steve Raw and every time we did it we couldn’t stop laughing.
First and foremost, his grip was mind-blowing. He’d hold it on the stem and you could almost see all of the barrel as it pointed away from his face.
Then during the throw, he’d extend his arm out to the side instead of straight, before bringing it back to his face. At that point he’d plant the dart forward with very little force and the dart would land very flat.
He wasn’t the most gifted player in the north east despite his TV appearances but he was still a very good hustler who worked hard with a very unusual action that would get laughed at on social media these days.
Mark Hylton was a big hitter around 2010 who was very difficult to beat but we all had the same opinion of his left-handed throw back then.
“How? How can he do this?”
There’s so much movement in the lead arm and the lean in the stance. On top of that his arm is moving up, down and back! It was hard to work out how he put in so many consistent performances at the top for the game for a couple of seasons.
It was distracting to watch – even though it wasn’t his intention to put you off - and he also walked away from the board after retrieving his darts faster than anyone I’ve ever seen!
His form did eventually drop to the point he lost his place on the tour but during his peak years he was hard to play against…and harder to mimic.
Try it – but not for too long because almost nothing that he did was correct!
Richie Burnett’s throwing style in recent times is another prime example of one that can derail your chances of beating them should you become fixated on watching it.
When I was a teenager in the 1990s I tried to mimic Richie during practice because at the time his throw was so perfect and it was no surprise to see him become world champion.
But sadly over the years his follow-throw became so twitchy that it turned into what we call the Scorpion Kick. When he throws the dart he curls his back leg and arches his back, and it just seems to get worse when he gets edgy. A bit like yips in golf.
I lost a match against him when I watched every dart he threw, but the next time I deliberately kept my head down and looked at the floor every time he was at the oche so I didn’t get distracted. I won 6-1.
His fundamentals are still very good but it’s his ‘after throw’ which has changed so much into something very unusual.
You may not know much about Alan Caves from Middlesex but one thing that stands out for those who do remember him is the vibrancy of his personality and his action.
When I first played him I couldn’t believe how fast he was…just to get to the oche, let alone his throw.
And when he got there, it was almost like he had a deck of cards in his right hand and flicking the top card away with his left.
It’s a constant circular fast movement and for me it was very unconventional. As good as he was, had he slowed down a bit and looked at some other techniques, he could have improved.
If you think that unusual actions automatically means you won’t be successful, then just look at the great Eric Bristow.
As time went on in Eric’s career, his action did get better, but if you look back at his early days, particularly during that documentary series, it was very strange.
Would you teach that to any kid? No. The hand is like a swan, with the wrist starting at a right angle and the little finger is out. The dart is strangled by the grip from top to bottom,
If you get into that position, it’s very uncomfortable, and there’s also a lot of wrist action in his throw. You could even say one of the reasons he struggled in the latter stages of his career was the amount of wrist he used in his action.
By 1982 and 1983, his throw got better down to his own skill and that’s when he reached the next level and won five world titles. That’s what makes him different to so many others with such unique actions – he was willing to evolve.
Nicknamed the Undertaker, Nigel Heydon has recently become one of the highest ranked players on the county circuit and very also very hard to beat when on the professional tour.
But he’s done this with a stance that sets him apart from everyone else.
He’s tall and stocky but after putting his right foot against the oche at a dead right angle, he twists his back into a position where he’s drooping.
His dart is almost pointing at the floor as a starting position and then brings it back but still in a stooped position. How he’s not had more back problems, I have no idea.
At least his release is relaxed!
The ladies game has come on leaps and bounds from a technique points of view over the past 15-20 years thanks largely to Trina Gulliver but there’s many I could have picked from previous eras.
Maureen Flowers was ranked number one in the world and was quite a TV star thanks to her appearances on Bullseye, but I still can’t work out how she managed to throw so well.
She cupped her hand, pointed out her finger and then tried to throw from the right side of her face. If you try to mimic that, you may struggle hitting the board!
Was she a great player? Absolutely. But I don’t know how!
If Petri Korte ever gets to throw another dart at the World Championship, then he’d take social media by storm in this day and age!
He did win a game at the Ally Pally many years ago – and I was there to watch him practice at the time - but apart from that we haven’t seen a lot of him since.
Petri holds the dart in front of his face with his right hand, but his left one is also in front of his face as well. How did this come about?
The transition from taking the dart from the left to the right hand couldn’t have been much more than six inches – whereas for most professionals it will be more like three feet.
We all tried to copy it because we thought it was hilarious and even now it brings a smile to myself.
John Henderson’s rocking motion is the antithesis to Phil Taylor and John Lowe’s rock-like stance.
We always teach youngsters coming through to stand still at the oche but then Hendo comes along like he’s tossing a caber!
It’s a very organic action born out of the way he played darts as a kid and that’s why it’s so hard to try and copy.
We all love him for it – as well as his great personality – and it would be a travesty if he didn’t win a title that his career so richly deserves.