LATEST FROM DAVID

24th September 20244

The real reason why darts is advancing in North America 

Darts’ level of play in North America has always been behind that of European countries but that is all changing. In the last few years we have seen new faces coming up and making a splash at all levels of play around the world.
 
So why is that?
  
Could it be that the American Darts Organization (ADO) has started to drop 2/3 events and going to longer formats for singles? Yes, that helps but guess again. 
Could it be that there is the Championship Darts Circuit (CDC)? Yes, a little maybe for a few but guess again.
 
OK, OK, the answer lies in solving the problem that North America has and that is it is soooo big!!! Traveling four hours in Europe, you can go through three countries, but here you may not even get to another city.
  
While I was living/playing in Canada I would drive 8-12 hours just to be able to play top level players. When Covid hit, online darts really took ahold and the DPFLDarts.com was the huge driver and winner of this.
I had no idea about DPFL at all until I interviewed Stowe Buntz, Alex Spellman and Leonard Gates last year at the first CDC event.  I had obviously witnessed these players take their game to a new level and I asked how?  They replied “I play on DPFL”.  So obviously with my own return to the game and wanting to achieve the high levels of the game, again I went home and looked it up.
What I found was that there was divisional level of leagues, nightly cash tournaments and even a large live event held in mid-August every year paying out over $85,000 with some amazing first prizes.
 
We all know competition makes you stronger but when you either drive 12 hours or have expensive flights, you can not go every weekend to play. But with DPFLdarts.com you could compete from home almost daily.  I became obsessed with the King of the Hill practice ladder and would find myself playing for hours plus the cash events held in the evening.
 
In my league play, I had one PDC tour card holder, two former tour card holders and a total of four European players.  I then travelled to experience the live event in Orlando and was totally blown away by it.  Not only was it an amazing resort to stay at but hands down it is the best dart event in North America.  It is completely run on DartConnect – no board calls, just a text or email to you when you were up, so no listening for your name just the music playing giving it a party-like feel.
  
If you follow my social media you would have seen three current PDC players interviews and a bunch of other players all raving about what a great time it was. 
 
Well, after this year’s live event the DPFL hit a bump in the road and is now under new management and promises to be bigger than ever with more online events plus a guarantee that the live event this August will be even longer format than years past.
 
This is why I believe darts in North America is finally changing for the better with levels of play going up and up along with numbers rising at live events. 
Come join the fun and check out the second best thing to happen in darts. (The first is DartConnect and it is all ran on there!) #domore #bemore

 

9th August 2024

Steel tip versus soft tip

I have been fortunate enough to travel the world playing both traditional steel tip darts and electronic soft tip darts at the highest level.

I was able find success in both games but it was not easy. It is always funny to me when I talk to diehard steel players and they ask, “why do you play that toy game of darts?”

The thing is, it is that arrogance that hurts steel tip players when they try to give soft tip darts a chance! They walk in and think, “this is going to be easy.” But there have been very few PDC or top WDF players who have come to play soft tip and had any success.

Players such as Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Colin Lloyd, Jelle Klassen and Scott Mitchell are among those who have tried. The only player to win on the first time of asking was Stephen Bunting.

There have been some, such as Adrian Gray, who have had some good years playing soft tip once they figured it out. But being good in steel does not automatically mean you will be good in soft tip.

Going from soft tip to steel there have been several players who have excelled prior to their steel success – players such as Jules van Dongen, Leonard Gates, Jose De Sousa, Boris Kcmar, Mensur Suljovic and Royden Lam to name the most notable.

It is true they are both dart games but they are vastly different at the highest level. It would be like saying because you are good at snooker you are going be great at 9-ball. Both have sticks, balls and are played on a table but they are completely different games with completely different stars.

The major difference between the two darts variations is that steel tip is about what you hit and in soft tip it is about what you miss. Yes, the targets are larger, and everyone hits more but that is the point. Everyone hits more, so when you miss it is magnified dramatically.

At the top level of soft tip, you must be perfect 98 per cent of the time. It would be like saying you need a 12-darter with a few nines thrown for steel every match you play.

Your mentality is important in both games but in soft tip you are ALWAYS under pressure.

This why I often tell players that playing both games will help you succeed in both of the games. Soft tip hardens your mentality without a doubt faster than steel. The darts used in soft tip are an 18-gram or 20-gram maximum weight (depending on machine used) with flights and points on which adds a challenge to some steel players as well.

Soft tip has many remote tournaments so you could play for money every day if you wanted with players all over the world. The number of soft tip players around the world dwarfs steel players immensely so there are always events going on around the world, either live or online.

So, the next time you think “toy darts” is a waste of time, go try to win a tournament and see.