Darts Practice Routines to Raise Your Average | Oche

Most players “practise” by throwing 501 legs until they’re bored. That maintains your level — it rarely raises it. To actually improve, you need a routine: a repeatable plan that spends time on each skill in proportion to how much it wins legs, and that you can measure. Here’s one that works.

The principle: practise the game, not just the throw

Darts has three core skills, and they improve separately:

1. Scoring — hitting the treble 20 (where most points come from).
2. Finishing — converting doubles (where most legs are won or lost).
3. Accuracy — hitting any number on demand (for setups and bogey escapes).

A good routine touches all three every week, weighted toward your weak spot.

A weekly template

Aim for 3–5 sessions of 25–40 minutes. A balanced split:

• 50% scoring — treble-20 repetition. Throw sets of three and count your 100+ turns.
• 30% finishing — doubles drills (see below).
• 20% accuracy — Around the Clock or doubles around the board.

If your checkout percentage is low, push the finishing share to 40%. Use your stats to decide, not your gut.

A sample 30-minute session

1. Warm-up (5 min): Around the Clock, singles only, to find the board.
2. Scoring block (12 min): treble-20 sets — bank ten scores of 60+.
3. Finishing block (10 min): Bob’s 27 or doubles around the board.
4. Pressure finish (3 min): one solo 501 leg, beat your last dart count.

Rotate the games week to week using our solo practice games list so it never goes stale.

Make every rep deliberate

The difference between practice that works and practice that doesn’t is attention. Every dart should have a target and a result you notice. Throwing on autopilot logs reps but builds nothing. Reset your stance, aim at a specific point, and register where it lands.

Drill the doubles properly

Finishing is the fastest place to find free legs because most amateurs neglect it. Our doubles practice drills give a focused finishing block you can slot straight into the routine above.

Measure the trend, not the session

A routine only works if you can see it working. The Oche X01 scorer records your 3-dart average and checkout percentage every session, and the stats dashboard plots the trend over weeks — so you’ll know within a month whether your plan is moving the needle, and exactly which skill to shift time toward. For the bigger-picture plan, see our how to improve your darts average guide.