Ask any darts player how long it took them to find the right set of darts and many will say it took them years! A lot will say they still haven't found the right set as well. Peter Wright for example, is a two time world champion and multiple major winner yet he still changes his darts and setup constantly. All with the aim of finding the right set.
Although there's many options out there, some darts are better for beginners than others.
5 tips for buying darts for beginners:
1) How to choose the right weight darts?
The best weight darts to buy as a beginner are anything between 22 grams and 24 grams. These weights are not only a middle ground to the most commonly seen darts weights but they're also the most used weights on the PDC Professional tour. Also note that darts are often sold in 2 gram increments so a range of darts will often be sold at 22, 24 and 26g or 21, 23, 25g. This is useful to know in case you like a set of darts but perhaps think you may need to use something heavier or lighter.
2) What shape dart is best for a beginner?
The true answer is that there isn't necessarily a "best" shape. The most commonly used shape, is a straight barrel dart. Often between 48mm and 54mm in length and ranging between 6.0 and 6.7mm in width especially in the recommended beginner weights mentioned previously. As a beginner I would recommend trying a few different shapes to see what you feel most comfortable for your grip. Sometimes your grip dictates what barrel shape is best for you. The most common barrel shapes are straight, curved, torpedo, scalloped and bomber shapes.
3) Grippy darts for beginners?
Again similar to the weights, choosing a grip can be difficult. In the modern era of darts there are so many complex and varying levels of grip to darts it can be hard to decide what would be best.
To start with, look at getting a dart with a "mid-level" grip. It's not always easy to find how much grip a dart has, the best thing to do is visit a darts shop where you can try out darts before you buy. Alternatively, red dragon darts have a filter on their website to select a grip level. A beginner should look to get a level 2 or 3 grip dart.
4) DON'T BUY EXPENSIVE DARTS
It may be obvious to some more experienced darts players, but higher price darts do not perform better than cheaper darts. Now this doesn't mean to go out and buy a £5 set of brass darts, brass darts aren't any good for anyone. Except casual players and children. You'll be looking mostly at 85% tungsten darts or anything with a higher tungsten percentage. In most cases, these darts will cost at least £15 a set.
A good price point for a beginner set of darts is between £15 and £25, this price range covers a good amount of darts styles, shapes and grips. Also note that it is unlikely you will find any player endorsed darts at this price. Steer away from player endorsed darts in general as they are often marked up in price.
5) Experiment with your setup
Darts won't fly without flights and shafts so which ones are best for beginners? Again its down to mostly personal preference, there are plenty of benefits to a variation of flight styles and shaft lengths.
In general, a longer shaft will make the dart sit flatter in the board compared to a short shaft which will sit higher up in the board. Longer shafts also make the dart fly slower compared to a short shaft.
Flight shape is all about surface area, the bigger the surface area of the flight, the more stable it will be in the air as it causes more drag and slows the dart down. A smaller flight will be quicker and more direct, however may not be as stable. The most common flight shapes are Standard (Number 2 and Number 6), Pear and Kite. As a rule of thumb, heavier darts often require a longer shaft and bigger flight to stabilise the weight of the dart.
Written by Kurt Bevan of MatadorDarts.com
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