Professional dart players are obviously brilliant at the game, but their darts need to be great in order to perform at a high level. Many of the world’s top dart professionals are sponsored by a darts manufacturer, who make and supply them with their own darts to suit their grip and throwing style. Each player’s darts are very different, from the weight to the grips and the flights to the points.
The first, and probably the most important factor in what darts the pros use are its weight. Once a player practices with a certain weighted dart for a long period of time, it can be near to impossible to transfer over too a lighter or heavier set of darts. Many amateur players use heavier darts, as they are easier to grip and throw fairly accurately. However, many pros use lighter and smaller darts as they take up less space on the board and are well-suited to their own grip and throw. In 2017, the average dart weight of the PDC’s top 32 players was 22.09 grams, but there were a massive variety of weights that the pros used. The heaviest darts were used by Phil Taylor’s and Robert Thornton, whose darts both weighed 26 grams. The lightest darts were more than half as light; the world ranked 22 and former 2 time BDO world champion Stephen Bunting plays with darts that weigh only 12 grams.
The world’s number one ranked professional dart player, ‘Mighty’ Michael Van Gerwen uses 23 gram darts. His darts have a plain silver finish and have lots of ridges along the barrel for grip. He also uses standard shapes flights which are large and allow for maximum movement of the dart. Players such as Phil Taylor and Kevin Painter uses much smaller kite flights, which make the dart fly faster into the board.
Another factor in the manufacturing of professional darts is the material’s used. A lot of cheaper and amateur darts are made of steel, a cheap and solid metal. But, every professional’s darts are made of the more expensive tungsten metal, which make the dart a better quality and allows for more grip to the darts barrel.
One last factor that professionals take into consideration when selecting their darts is the stems. Most pros use medium length plastic stems that slot into the back of the dart’s barrel. However, some pros use metal stems which give the dart a more firm entry to the board.
Professional darts are all about preference and are very high quality. Every pro’s darts matter to their game and style.