How to Improve Your 3 Dart Average
Every player I coach arrives with a number in their head. Fifty two. Sixty eight. Forty one on a good night. They know the number, they are usually slightly embarrassed by it, and they have been sitting on roughly the same one for a year or more.
Here is the thing nobody tells you. Averages very rarely stall because a player is not practising. They stall because the practice is not aimed at the part of the game that is actually costing the points. You can throw at treble 20 for six months and watch your average stay exactly where it is, because treble 20 was never the problem.
So this is the process I use with players who want the number to move. Work out what is holding you back, aim your practice at that one thing, and measure it properly enough to know whether it worked.
If you are not sure what a good three dart average even looks like, read What Is a Good 3 Dart Average? first, then come back here for the how.
Step one: get an honest starting number
You cannot improve a number you have guessed.
Your three dart average is total points scored, divided by darts thrown, multiplied by three. Most players quote their best ever session and quietly forget the Tuesday they threw like a stranger. That is not a benchmark, that is a highlight reel.
Play five legs of 501, on your own, warm, with a scoring app running. DartsCounter or Nakka will both do the maths for you. Write down two numbers:
your match average across all five legs
your first nine dart average, which is your scoring power before any finishing gets involved
Those two numbers together tell you almost everything you need to know.
Step two: work out whether it is scoring or finishing
This is the diagnostic that saves people months.
What you are seeing | What it usually means | Where the practice goes |
First nine average well above match average | Your scoring is fine. You are bleeding darts at doubles | Doubles and finishing, not trebles |
First nine and match average close, both low | Genuine scoring problem | Grouping, first dart accuracy, treble hitting |
Averages swing wildly session to session | Inconsistent setup or throw | Technique and pre throw routine |
Practice average far above match average | Process holds up alone, falls apart under pressure | Pressure drills and match play |
A player averaging 58 with a first nine of 72 does not need more scoring practice. They need to stop leaving 32 and hitting it in five darts. Every dart thrown at a missed double lands in your average as a zero, so poor finishing drags the number down even when your scoring is genuinely good.
Be honest at this stage. Most of us want the answer to be scoring, because scoring practice is more fun.
Step three: fix the setup before you change the throw
Before you add a single drill, get your foundations checked.
Stance, alignment, grip pressure and where your eye actually sits over the dart account for far more inconsistency than most players believe. If your body is in a slightly different place at the oche every visit, then technically you are not repeating a throw at all, you are performing a slightly new one each time and hoping.
This is the least glamorous part of raising an average and comfortably the highest return. It is also the hardest thing to do alone, because you cannot see yourself throw. Film yourself from the side and from front on, or get somebody who knows what they are looking at to watch you.
Related reading on the site: how to stand at the oche, how to grip a dart, and the real anchors of a consistent throw.
Step four: practise the thing, not around the thing
There is a well established piece of research behind this. Ericsson, Krampe and Tesch-Romer's 1993 work on deliberate practice found that improvement comes from effortful activity aimed specifically at a weakness, with feedback, rather than from time spent doing the activity generally. In darts terms, an hour of casual 501 against yourself is time spent. Twenty minutes on doubles with a consequence attached is practice.
Four drills that reliably move an average:
Twenty for ten. Ten visits at treble 20. Record the total. That is your scoring benchmark and you should watch it climb over the weeks.
First dart focus. Throw only at treble 20 with your first dart, then follow wherever it landed with darts two and three. Trains the grouping habit that turns a 60 into a 100.
Bob's 27. Double one to double twenty in order, starting on 27, plus twice the double, minus the double when you miss all three. Brutal, honest and the single best doubles drill there is.
Up 10 down 1. Start on 41. Check out and your target goes up ten. Miss and it drops by one. Twenty minutes, record the highest checkout you reached. This one puts a consequence on every dart, which is the closest thing to match pressure you can build on your own.
If you want that structure done for you, the Break Forty four week training plan lays out four sessions a week across foundations, scoring, doubles and pressure, with benchmark assessments at both ends so you can see exactly what changed.
Step five: build in pressure on purpose
Nearly every player has a practice average higher than their match average. That gap is not a mystery, it is a training gap.
Practice is comfortable. Nobody is watching, nothing is at stake, and if a leg goes badly you simply start another. Match darts is none of those things. If you never rehearse throwing while something is on the line, then the first time your body experiences it each week is on league night, which is the worst possible place to be learning.
Simple ways to add pressure at home:
Restart the drill from zero when you miss, rather than shrugging and carrying on
Set a target score for the session and only stop when you beat it
Play online against real opponents, where losing actually stings a little
Say your checkout out loud before you throw, the way you would have to in a match
Step six: track it weekly, never daily
One session tells you nothing. Darts is noisy, and any single night can be five points either side of your true level for reasons as mundane as the light, the lager or the day you have had.
Log every session, then look at the weekly rolling figure. Four weeks of data tells you whether you are improving. Wednesday tells you about Wednesday.
Retest with the same benchmark you started with, under the same conditions, always warm and never cold. Comparing a warm retest to a cold baseline is how players convince themselves of progress that is not there.
How long does it take to raise your darts average?
Honest answer, with the usual caveat that everybody is different.
Weeks one to three. Often nothing visible, or a small dip while a technique change beds in. This is normal and it is where most players quit.
Weeks four to eight. Three to six points, mostly from finishing better and wasting fewer darts.
Three to six months of consistent, targeted practice. Five to ten points is a realistic target for a player who was previously practising without structure.
Progress from 40 to 55 is considerably faster than progress from 75 to 85. The higher you climb, the smaller the gains and the more precise the work has to be. That is not discouragement, it is just the shape of the curve.
Five habits quietly costing you points
Chasing after a bad first dart. One dart in the single 20 does not mean the visit is ruined. Trying to rescue a 140 out of it usually turns 26 into 26.
Only practising what you are already good at. It feels better. It changes nothing.
Starting cold. The first ten darts of any session are warm up darts whether you designate them as such or not.
Never playing better players. Nothing raises an average like being forced to score at somebody else's pace.
Judging yourself on your best night. Your average is the whole picture, bounce outs and missed doubles included. Own the real one.
Frequently asked questions - How to improve 3 dart average
How do I improve my 3 dart average quickly? Look at your finishing first. Most players carrying a gap between their first nine average and their match average can gain three to five points inside a month simply by practising doubles properly, because those are points already sitting in your game that you are currently giving away.
Why has my darts average stopped improving? Almost always because the practice has become repetition of what you can already do. A plateau is a sign that your practice needs redirecting at a weakness, not that you have reached your ceiling.
How do I get a 60 average in darts? A 60 average means roughly one treble per visit, or reliable 60s with regular 100s mixed in, plus finishing that does not waste six darts on a double. Get your first dart into the 20 bed consistently and stop leaving awkward finishes and 60 arrives.
How do I improve my darts average from 40 to 60? Grouping first, then finishing. At that level the biggest single gain is making your second and third dart follow the first rather than treating each one as a fresh attempt. A structured block such as Break Forty is built precisely for this range.
Does practising on your own improve your average? Yes, if the practice has a target, a score and a consequence. Solo throwing with none of those things maintains your level rather than raising it.
Is my average or my checkout percentage more important? Your average includes your finishing, so they are not really rivals. If you want one extra number to watch, track your doubles percentage, because it is the fastest indicator of whether your practice is transferring.
The number moves when the practice gets aimed
Raising your three dart average is not about throwing more darts. It is about knowing which part of your game is leaking points, aiming everything you do at that part for a few weeks, and measuring it honestly enough to be sure.
Find your two numbers. Work out whether it is scoring, finishing, technique or pressure. Then go and fix that one thing before you touch anything else.
Want help moving your average?
That is exactly what I do at DartsMatt. I coach players online and in person from my studio in Worcester, from first time league throwers through to county standard, using Sight Right technique work and the mental frameworks that keep an average steady when the pressure arrives. Most players are genuinely surprised by how much of their number is sitting in two or three fixable habits.
If you know your number and you want it higher, book a session with DartsMatt and we will find what is costing you the points. If you would rather start on your own, pick up the Break Forty four week training plan and work through a structured block first.
