Steel Tip Dartboard Setup: Getting the Height and Oche Right
Updated: Aug 27
The correct steel tip dartboard setup is 1.73 m, or 5 ft 8 in, from the floor to the centre of the bullseye. The correct throwing distance for steel tip darts is 2.37 m, or 7 ft 9.25 in, from the face of the board to the back of the throw line.
Those are the two numbers everybody looks for, so there they are. The rest of this article is about the part that actually goes wrong: how you measure them, the third measurement that catches your mistakes, and why the setup guide you half remember said 8 feet.
Why a few centimetres matters more than you think
Your throw is a stored motor pattern. You build it through repetition, and it encodes the exact height and distance you built it at. Hang your board three centimetres low and your body learns a slightly flatter trajectory. Set your oche five centimetres short and you learn a slightly softer release.
None of that is a problem at home, because at home you will hit trebles quite happily on your own wrong setup. It becomes a problem the first time you throw on a regulation board at a league night or a tournament, when your grouping mysteriously drifts and you spend the whole match adjusting instead of playing.
Measure once, properly, and the problem never exists.
The three measurements
Measurement | Metric | Imperial |
Floor to centre of the bullseye | 1.73 m | 5 ft 8 in |
Face of the board to back of the oche | 2.37 m | 7 ft 9.25 in |
Bullseye to back of the oche (diagonal) | 2.93 m | 9 ft 7.375 in |
Most people know the first two. The third one is the quality check, and it is the one that separates a setup that is right from a setup that looks right.
Height: measure to the bull, not the board (steel tip dartboard setup)
Run your tape from the finished floor to the centre of the bullseye. Not to the top edge of the board, not to the top of the number ring, not to the bracket.
Three things to watch:
Finished floor level. If you are laying carpet, a mat or laminate after you hang the board, measure to where the floor will be, not where it is now. A thick underlay and carpet can easily eat 15 mm.
Level and plumb. Put a spirit level across the board. A board hung with a slight tilt is a permanent, invisible bias on your throw, and you will compensate for it without ever knowing you are doing it.
The 20 at the top. On a standard bristle board the 20 is the black segment at twelve o'clock. Sounds obvious, but it is worth checking before you drill.
Oche: measure from the face of the board
This is where most home setups go wrong.
Steel tip dartboard setup - measure from the face of the board, meaning the front surface where the darts land, horizontally to the back edge of the throw line. Do not measure from the wall.
A bristle board is roughly 38 mm to 50 mm thick, and if you have fitted a surround it sits proud of the wall further still. Measure from the wall and you will end up standing several centimetres too far back without ever realising.
Two ways to get it right:
Hold a straight edge, a spirit level or a length of timber flat against the board face so it projects out past the board, then drop a plumb line or a weight from the front edge of it to the floor. Mark that point. Measure your 2.37 m from there.
Or skip it and use the diagonal check below, which bypasses the whole problem.
The throw line itself
A raised oche is better than tape. It should be 610 mm (2 ft) long and high enough to feel through your shoe. The reason is simple: over a long session, players creep. With tape you drift forward a centimetre at a time and never notice. With a raised oche your foot tells you where the line is and you stop.
On foot faults, the rule is that you throw from behind the oche. You can lean over it as far as your balance allows, and you can stand off to either side, but your foot must not cross the front edge of the line, and if you are throwing from the side you should still be behind an imaginary extension of it.
The diagonal check
Run a tape from the centre of the bullseye to the back edge of the oche. It should read 2.93 m, or 9 ft 7.375 in.
This works because height and distance form the two sides of a right angled triangle and the diagonal is the hypotenuse. If the diagonal is correct, both other measurements are correct. If it is out, one of them is wrong and you go back and find which.
It takes ten seconds and it is the single most useful thing in this article. Do it every time you move a board, and do it once on the board you already have, because there is a decent chance it is not where you think it is.
Steel tip versus soft tip: the difference in setup
This is the source of most of the conflicting numbers you will find online.
Steel tip (bristle board) | Soft tip (electronic board) | |
Height to bullseye | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
Throwing distance | 2.37 m (7 ft 9.25 in) | 2.44 m (8 ft) |
Diagonal | 2.93 m (9 ft 7.375 in) | 2.98 m (9 ft 9.4 in) |
Playing surface | 451 mm (17.75 in) diameter | Typically smaller, commonly around 394 mm (15.5 in), varies by manufacturer |
Typical dart weight | 20 g to 26 g, 50 g legal maximum | 14 g to 20 g, limited by the machine |
Governing bodies | PDC, WDF | Machine circuits such as DARTSLIVE, PHOENIX and PERFECT |
The height is identical. Only the throwing distance changes, by 7 cm.
Two things follow from that. First, if a setup guide tells you 8 feet, it is a soft tip guide, and if you are throwing steel tip in the UK it is the wrong number for you. Second, and more practically, a soft tip board is usually a smaller target thrown from further away, which is why the two formats feel so different even though they look the same on the wall.
If you play both, accept that they are two separate motor patterns and practise them separately. Alternating between them in a single session teaches your body nothing useful.
Wheelchair setup
The board is hung at 1.37 m (4 ft 6 in) to the centre of the bullseye, with the throwing distance unchanged at 2.37 m. The diagonal for this setup is 2.68 m.
Setup checklist
Work through this in order and you cannot get it wrong.
Decide your finished floor level and account for any flooring still to be laid
Mark 1.73 m up the wall from that level
Hang the board with the centre of the bullseye on that mark, 20 at the top
Check the board is level and does not rock in the bracket
Project the board face out to the floor with a straight edge and a plumb line, and mark the point
Measure 2.37 m from that mark and lay your oche, with the back edge on the measurement
Run the diagonal from bull to back of oche and confirm 2.93 m
Light the board from above and in front so you are not throwing into your own shadow
Fit a surround and a floor mat before the first dart, not after the first repair
Frequently asked questions
How high should a steel tip dartboard be? 1.73 m, or 5 ft 8 in, from the floor to the centre of the bullseye. This is the same height for soft tip.
How far do you stand from a dartboard for steel tip? 2.37 m, or 7 ft 9.25 in, measured from the face of the board to the back of the throw line.
Why is soft tip 8 feet and steel tip 7 ft 9.25 in? They are separate codes with separate governing bodies. Soft tip is played on electronic machines at 2.44 m, while steel tip under PDC and WDF rules is played at 2.37 m. The height is the same for both.
What is the diagonal measurement from the bullseye to the oche?2.93 m, or 9 ft 7.375 in, for steel tip. Use it to verify your height and distance in one measurement.
Do you measure the throwing distance from the wall or the board? From the face of the board. Measuring from the wall adds the thickness of the board and any surround, which puts you several centimetres too far back.
Can I use tape instead of a proper oche? You can, but a raised oche is better. It gives you tactile feedback so you stop creeping forward over a long session.
Get the setup right, then get the throw right (steel tip dartboard setup)
Once the diagonal reads 2.93 m, the wall has done everything it can for you. Nothing about your board is holding your average down any more.
What is left is the throw itself, and that is where the real gains sit: a stance you can reproduce cold, a release that does not change under pressure, and practice that targets the things you are actually bad at instead of the things you enjoy hitting.
Work with me at DartsMatt
I coach players online, from complete beginners through to county standard. We look at your throw properly, build a practice routine around your specific weaknesses, and work on the mental side so it holds together when you are sat on a double with the match on it.
If your setup is right and your scores still are not, that is exactly the problem I solve.
Still worth sending me your booking URL and your entry offer, whether that is a free intro call or a paid assessment, and I will tighten that CTA into a proper closer to reuse across the whole series.