A little personal tale from the Austrian darts player, Karlheinz Zochling takes us into this final section:

"In 1992 I was playing pro Rod Harrington (then ranked world #1) in the quarter-finals of the Austrian Open. In the first leg he was on a double and it was my turn on 57. The first dart (surely aimed at a big 17) was a nice big 3. Okay, okay, I admit I was nervous. Now I had 54, and was to decide what to aim for with my second dart. I chose 18, having in mind that a miss to 4 would leave me an 'emergency exit' on the double bull (bullseye). Now of course the miss on 17 had hit my confidence, and in such situations it is quite common that the 'emergency exit' becomes the most likely outcome for this dart, just because you thought of it. And, bingo, the second dart landed straight in the 4 bed. Now bullseye with the last. Most difficult target on the board. Imagine where it landed? Exactly in the middle..."

Players have their own personal 'dart tale'. Although this was the only leg Karlheinz won in the match, it was won in some 'style'. And it leads to the topic of this issue - why it is sometimes more difficult to hit preparing singles than deciding doubles.


Let's analyse the situation: 57 with 3 darts - against an opponent like Rod - simply a must out-shot. And it only requires a single to get a chance on a double. A single is - on any occasion - a must hit for an experienced player and this 'must' situation puts enormous pressure on it. You may normally hit singles by a high percentage, yet at such a stage it becomes difficult anyway. You know it is a large, favourable target, and therefore you must not miss, because you rarely ever do! It is much different than having (for example), a 96 out shot with three darts where you need a treble. You know the shot at the treble isn't easy; but you still have every chance of getting it. However, the difference is that you don't have to get it - it's a target that you are not likely to hit because you don't hit them as easily in practice as you do singles. Now, Karlheinz missed the single 17 and decided to 'play it safe' by going for the 18 with direct intentions of leaving double 18 for the last dart. Again he missed the single and hit the adjacent bed of 4. Now, third dart on the bull. Again a 'must' hit - but wait! A must hit to win the leg, yes. But is it really a must? The answer is no. And the reason is because it is too difficult a shot, even under 'normal' circumstances. That's the huge difference. The target is difficult to hit, but easily to play mentally because everybody (including you) will understand if you miss it. Although going for bullseye is not recommended because it's 'mentally easier". Hitting it on this occasion was mere chance, but it was easy to mentally explain why (of all targets) Karlheinz hit bull after two missed singles.

The main point here is that there is a lot of pressure on shooting 'preparing singles', and many players fail exactly here whilst they hit trebles and doubles quite easily in comparison. So how can you work against this?

Firstly, there is no help for this problem in practicing round the clock using singles or any other game that focuses on extensive single usage. As you eventually gain more experience in these games it becomes too easy a practice routine to bring your game forward. The problem is therefore purely psychological.

So, secondly which strategies are there to fight the single problem? One secure tip is, as always, to visualise (refer to the self-titled section in this chapter). Try to visualise situations where you know you are vulnerable to missing single. Then, control your nervous state. Most single misses come from tension (refer to corresponding section). And then, most important of all, control your thinking! Try not to think of single misses (as Karlheinz said: "I thought of the miss to the four, and, no surprise, it occurred"). There is a little trick you can use: When you shoot for a 'preparing single', only think of the double you will have to hit with the next dart. So, when you have for instance 5 left, you aim and shoot at 1 but think of double 2. Singles don't need that much mental attention because they are relatively easy in comparison to doubles and trebles. If you don't think of the single you are aiming for, you won't think of the single miss - it's that simple,