Darts practice routines: 5 drills to practise on your own

October 27, 2026

Playing games is great. But if you really want to improve, nothing beats a few minutes of focused practice on your own at the board. The good news: you don't need to spend hours on it. With a handful of simple routines and a way to note your results, you'll see the difference within a few weeks.

The warm-up: 5 minutes, no more

Never start a session (or a match) with your hardest drill. Your arm and your throw need time to get going.

A simple routine:

A few visits at the big single 20, without going for the treble. Just a smooth, repeated throw.
A few visits at treble 20, without keeping score.
A few darts at your favourite double (D20, D16...), to get your eye back on the edge of the board.

The point isn't to perform, it's to find your rhythm. If something feels off in your throw, now is the time to notice, not halfway through a match.

Drill 1: Around the Clock

The classic of classics: hit the 1, then the 2, then the 3... all the way to 20, in order. You only move on once you've hit the current number.

What you measure: how many darts it took you to get round. Write it down, and try to bring it down.

To make it harder:

Doubles version: doubles only, D1 to D20.
Trebles version: trebles only.
Finish on the bull to close the loop.

It's the perfect drill for learning the board by heart, because the numbers aren't in order around it.

Drill 2: 121 (finishing under pressure)

Scoring is one thing. Finishing is another. 121 works on exactly that: you start on 121 and have 9 darts (3 visits) to reach exactly zero, finishing on a double, just like 501.

Made it? Move up to 122, then 123, and so on.
Missed? Depending on the version you play, you stay where you are or go back to 121.

What you measure: the highest number you reach in a session. To learn the right routes, keep our 501 checkout chart handy.

Drill 3: Bob's 27 (the doubles killer)

This drill, devised by former world champion Bob Anderson, has a fearsome reputation for good reason: it doesn't forgive missed doubles.

You start on 27 points.
You throw 3 darts at D1. Every double you hit adds its value (2 points per D1).
If none of the 3 darts hits the double, you lose its value (2 points for D1).
Carry on with D2, then D3... up to D20 (some people finish on the bull).
If your score drops to zero or below, the game is over.

What you measure: your final score, or the double where you went out. At first, simply surviving to the end is a goal in itself. After that, go after your record.

Drill 4: 30 darts at one number

Simple and seriously effective: 10 visits (30 darts) all at treble 20. Note how many trebles you hit, or your total score.

Useful variations:

Treble 19, your fallback when the 20 is blocked by your own darts.
Your favourite checkout double, to get a real hit rate on your doubles.

That number is gold because it's comparable from one session to the next: same drill, same number of darts. If the treble 20 just won't come, our guide on how to hit treble 20 can help.

Tracking your progress

Practice without measurement is just a long warm-up. A few simple rules:

Write everything down: date, drill, result. A notebook or a note on your phone will do.
Stick to the same drills for a few weeks before changing, otherwise there's nothing to compare.
Look at trends, not sessions: one bad night means nothing, an average over three weeks does.

What about Throw?

Throw doesn't have a dedicated practice mode: there's no Around the Clock or Bob's 27 in the app. But you can absolutely play its games on your own, and the phone keeps score for you:

A solo x01 game (101, 301 or 501) to work on your finishing, with a suggested checkout route every visit and your average per visit on screen. The x01 rules cover every option.
A solo Shanghai: it's Around the Clock with points, ideal for tracking your accuracy across every number.

With a free account, Throw keeps your stats from one game to the next (average per visit at x01, marks per round at Cricket). To take it further, read how to improve at darts with stats.