Snippets

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R.I.P.

Today 25/11/09 is two years (731 days) since Mac’s Dart Inn was revamped to it’s

present style and it has had 71,366 hits which equates to 97.6 hits per day so it must be

working. Thanks to all you loyal viewers from MAC.

(Item from DPA per Kevin Berlyn)

Hazel Wins NZ Title

PHILLIP HAZEL has won the New Zealands Chartered Clubs Darts Assn  Singles title, earning him a Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship place.

The Kiwi recently qualified for the PartyPoker.net Las Vegas Desert Classic, and continued his form by taking the national title.

He won through a 210-player field to claim the title, which also earns him a place in December’s Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.

“I’m over the moon,” said Hazel, who defeated Bernie Smith in the final. “It’s been a great year so far and can only get better.

“To qualify for in Las Vegas was the highlight of my career only to top that with a TV appearance against James Wade.

“But winning the New Zealand Championship title now gives me the opportunity to represent myself and New Zealand at the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship.

“I am sure I will do New Zealand and myself proud. The experience I gained in Vegas will help me in the UK and I am looking forward to being at the world’s most prestigious event.”

DartPlayers Australia chairman Kevin Berlyn added: “Phil has shown great ability over the past six months.

“Although he’s a relative unknown in the PDC he showed great form in Las Vegas and he’s a great example of the players being produced on the DPA and DartPlayers New Zealand circuit.”

The tournament also saw Bernie Smith hit a nine-darter, although he eventually went down in the final.

Peter Hunt won the Men’s Puma New Zealand Masters held @ Palmerston North on the 21/06/09

Kim Puketapu
0
	Gerg Moss (Av 25.43)
3	4
Gerg Moss
		Gerg Moss (Av 28.47)
		0
Monty Tuhua
3	2
	Monty Tuhua (Av 24.21)
1
Mark Mc Grath
Peter Hunt
3
	Peter Hunt (Av 31.39)
0	4
Phil Hazel
		5
		Peter Hunt (Av 32.12)
Chas Forster
1	3
	Derrick Samson (Av 27.79)
3
Derrick Samson

Marion Morgan won the Ladies Puma New Zealand Masters held @ Palmerston North on the 21/06/09

	Megan Smith (Av 17.63)
3	1
Megan Smith
		Meta Reid (Av 17.39)
		4
Meta Reid
3	4
	Meta Reid (Av 17.75)
0
Heather McKelvey
Polly Luke
0
	Marion Morgan (Av 17.24)
3	4
Marion Morgan
		5
		Marion Morgan (Av 17.14)
Gerri Mac Donald
1	2
	Mihi George (18.05)
3
Mihi George

New Zealand teams for the NZDA

Men Bernie Smith

Wayne Carey

Greg Moss

Derrick Samson

Res ;- Rod Szabo & Chas Foster

Ladies

Jannette Jonathan

Mihi George

Res :- Polly Luke

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THE NAVEL BATTLE OF 2009

Finals of the Top Flights Tournament  played @ the Tararua Club ,Tararua St Pihiatua on Sat 24th January 2009

Semi Finals of the First Life :- Ru Teinaki (6) Mark Mcgrath (5) &  Nevile Moss (6) Lauri Turner (2) Semi Finals of the Second Life :- Peter Hunt (6) Nevile Moss (2) & Rob Szabo (6) Koha Korkiri (3)

Final of First Life :- Neville Moss (7) Puehu Teinaki (3)

Final of the second Life :- Peter Hunt (7) Rob Szabo (6)

Grand Final :- Neville Moss (8) Peter Hunt (5)

What a great day of Darts. Congratulations to the Organisers and  Sponsors

There were 16  180’s scored with Neville & Rob sharing honors with 5 each

Koha & Peter scored back to back 180’s

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THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE

of the 2008 North Islands

Who stole the dart board from the Gisborne Cosmopolitan Club during the North Island Championships.

It went missing Thursday evening the 28th of February if you know who took it please contact me

Peter’s Darts And Parts Shop

Downloaded from John Lowe & Eric Bristow’s  site www.legendsofdarts.com

Dear John,

It has been a while. I read with interest your comments on the upcoming World Championships. Obviously I will be listening over the internet to select matches (we are on a dial up connection and it can get pricey).

I read also your comments on the importance of a smooth release and follow through to sustain a consistent throw and accuracy. I have struggled with this as well. In longer tournament formats my release was letting me down in that I would tire at the shoulder and wrist and just lose any form I had. I have been reviewing tapes of your matches and have picked up that your release is more of a “flicking or pitching” of the dart than a longer held release. I have tried it in practice and cannot believe the difference. Such a small thing and yet so important over the long haul. I tend still to revert to my bad habits and really have to concentrate to make the change, but it will be worth it.

Chris Rudd from Rankin Inlet, Nanavut, In the Arctic sent that observation and with it a note for help, I have had many such messages lately and though it was time to try and help.
Gripping a dart and releasing it is not a difficult operation, it is made difficult by people who usually have an unusual way of holding a pen to write, this is one of the first things we are taught at school, however they do not teach you the correct way to hold the pen, they leave you to find the most comfortable and easiest way that will enable you to write without any difficulty,
When I hold a dart it is with the same grip as the pen but the thumb and index finger go to the back of the barrel unlike the pen were all contact with the pen are made at the front.
How tight should I grip the barrel you say, well try to think of golf and the grip, all instructors say you should let the golf club lay in your hand then place your fingers round the grip and hold firmly but not tightly, darts is the same, hold the dart so it does not move around in your hand but don’t squeeze the day lights out of it.
The throwing action is again like golf but not as complicated, golf has a backswing, darts similarly has a drawback, the arm is withdrawn towards the shoulder, the golf backswing can be over exaggerated, the darts drawback can likewise be overdrawn, some players take the hand holding the dart way past eye sight level and almost back and down onto the shoulder, this is unnecessary and can lead to all sorts of problems, one noticeable one is dartitus, by taking the arm to far back it can become locked for a minute part of a second in the fully retracted position, the fluid action then stops and the next action the forward movement of the arm becomes a totally separate action, this means the drawback action of the arm was unnecessary and the player might just as well have started with the dart and the arm in the fully drawback position at the beginning of the throw.
It is important to make the draw back action and the forward action and release all one, smooth, fluent, clean.
I would suggest that you stop the drawback action when the hand is about four inches from your face and still in view, do not stop the action there but make the transition from going backward to going forward in an unstopping movement, it is almost as if the arm has a spring attached to it that has tightened up as the arm is withdrawn then the spring pulls forward and the arm follows towards the target, if you notice many of the very successful professionals keep their hand almost parallel to the ground when bringing the arm back, they cock the wrist to do this, you can observe this by watching videos or the next Tv championship, Phil Taylor in particular keeps his dart very straight.
The release of the dart should be at the exact spot in the action, not to early not to late, I suggest the right time is when you feel the dart is being dragged down by the arm as it extends, when it begins to leave the parallel it should be released, of course the way to make this easier is to keep the arm going straight for as long as possible with no downward action, this will mean the dart will automatically be released because you cannot hold on to it any longer, try that a few times and then find the right time for you to release the dart.
The follow through is of the utmost importance, as you release the dart the hand should be open fully and follow behind the dart towards the intended target, again just like the golf swing.
Well that’s the grip, the draw back and the release that leaves only one thing that can and does ruin all, the stance, this like everything varies from player to player but there as to be a practical and most common stance that can be used then adapted by everyone, bad habits are very hard to cure and if the stance is not right at the start of a player taking up the sport then it could effect any progress for years.
I do not claim to have the perfect stance but it is one that has kept my game in good shape for many years and what’s more I do not suffer from back ache like many other players who take up complicated stances.
I suggest: right foot forward (if you are right handed) do not turn the foot so that the shoe is parallel to the oche, settle for a position half way between parallel about 45 Deg, this will have the desired effect of turning the body to make the right side nearer the target line, the left foot should be behind the body with the sole of the foot firmly on the ground, the heel raised off the ground, I believe that this back foot is the secret to consistent throwing, many players lift this foot off the ground when the forward throwing movement is made, this in turn allows the body to go forward, the head moves and only the very best players can achieve a result from all the movement caused.
If the back foot remains still at the forward movement the success rate of the dart hitting it’s target will be greatly increased.
Were should you stand at the oche? I believe this is a trial and error situation, I started some 30 years ago in the middle of the oche, I then moved to the left of centre, years later and I find myself at the right hand side of the oche almost off the end, the reasons I have convinced myself are eye sight.
I had a motor cycle accident a few years into my darts playing had started, my left eye was left weaker than the right, I moved on the oche unconsciously, it was only after a year or so that other players told me that I was not throwing from the same position, I did not change for years, as I got older I gradually came across to the other side of the oche, I tried to reason this with my optician on my first eye test at the age of 50 (that is ten years past the normal for the latest eye test I am told) he informed me the vision seen through the eyes relates to the brain and the body acts to the information received, in my case the eyes are telling the brain that I am lined up to the board in an even position.ie. the board is the same distance on the right as it is on the left, of course that cannot be true because I know I am right of centre making the board further away on the left, providing you are not right off the oche it will or should not make that much difference to the distance throw, if it feels right it usually is right.

Chris asked me how I could make all this simpler, I told him to imagine having a piece of wood cut at the exact height when your arm is held out with the upper arm at 45 deg, the wood would fit right under your elbow, if you could then practice the backward and forward movement and the release of the dart you would have the perfect action, it would be very robotic but I assure you it would work.
The only ingredient missing from all of this is the human one, you like me have seen players with terrible actions yet the result is unbelievable, Jocky Wilson comes to mind with that last dart, he would almost throw his whole body at the board yet he would hit the target a lot more than most, this is the mind correcting the body action, although it is the wrong action the mind is strong and can overcome and correct the patern used midway through.
I suggest it is better to start right and make those minor adjustments later, have a sound base and go from there.
I trust someone out there has found this the easiest and yet many make it the most difficult part of darts, helpful, remember the order, grip, stance, drawback, forward and release, put them all together in one fluid movement, repeat twice more and presto you are on your way to becoming efficient and not proficient.

John Lowe.

Just received this , sounds good. Anybody out there wants to take up Kev’s offer?

Hi Mac
looking at the dpa site and found you
by way of introduction just call me Kev president of Queensland darts legends players over the age of 45 who enjoy a social game
Here in the land of OZ all the states meet up once a year for a week long competition their has been talk in the past of you kiwis joining in (l should talk, shifted here from Tokoroa 20 yrs ago)
It goes a bit like this you work out your average then you are put in a grade Premier Div 1 Div 2 Div 3 male and female you play teams games 4 aside doubles mixed doubles singles over a week with a day off in the middle (so you can dry out for the day) I’m sure if you could get a group of over 45 players who wished to play you may find this an enjoyable event of cause you realize that if you were to start the NZ legends then the 400 of us would probably have to visit you for a week in a couple of years time
the Australian Darts Legends web is www.legends.dfadarts.org or if you wish just e-mail me back for more details. (mr.magoo@bigpond.net.au)
yours in darts
Check out their Web-site (link on Main page)

The Voice Downunder

Dartplayers Australia are pleased to announce its guest MC for the Upcoming
William Cross Pro Am. The PDC’s Russ Bray will be flying into Sydney to MC
the first Tri Nations event at the William Cross as well as all the finals
on stage…

“First can I say thanks to Dartplayers Australia for inviting me over to Oz
for the William Cross PRO-AM and to the Tri Nations tourney in August. I
have never been to Oz and it is the one place most of us Brits dream about
going to, and I am one of those for sure.

I have called on every other Continent, except Oz, this I think will make me
the first Darts Ref to have called at a major Tournament in every
Continent…Wow, that is some thought.I am so looking forward to calling and MC’ing both of the Tournaments and
certainly meeting a few of the Aussie guys, that I have had the pleasure of
meeting, when they have come over here for our our Tournaments.I have spoken to the Pro’s that have been over to the William Cross and what
a fantastic time they all had from the stories they have told me. Now I will
be able to tell my stories to every one of my dream trip to Oz,,,I am
certainly looking forward to having a good few tinnies with you guys when I
get there, and seeing how our cousins live downunder.Thanks again Australia for the invite…we will have a ball”

Russ has one of the most recognisable voices in the world of darts and now
‘The Voice’ is part of the most recognisable brand in the world of darts.
Top referee Russ Bray is Team Unicorn’s latest big-name signing.

His familiar gravel tones are known worldwide and Unicorn will be producing
a special range of Russ Bray products to mark the new tie-up.

The cry of “game on” and the shout of “one hundred and eighty” have made
Russ a household name. He is highly respected as a referee all over the
world and is hugely popular with darts fans wherever he goes.

It is by a strange twist of fate that Bray came to the job that has made him
the man he is today. “It’s all about being in the right place at the right
time,” he admitted.

Russ used to throw a mean dart or two. He was a county standard player with
Hertfordshire for many years and actually played the professional circuit.

“I really enjoyed that time and won a couple of tournaments. Eric Bristow
and I won the Finland and Norway Pairs Titles and it was a lot of fun. I
have to be honest though and admit I wasn’t quite good enough to go all the
way to the top.”

He stumbled into calling and refereeing by accident. Russ explains: “At one
of the county matches, the caller didn’t turn up. I stepped in, people like
what they heard and it all went from there.”

In 1996, Russ contacted the PDC to see if they wanted a reserve referee to
support the experienced Freddie Williams and Bruce Spendley. He was given a
trial at the World Matchplay Championships in Blackpool.

He takes up the story: “It was unbelievable because my first ever match
featured the great John Lowe. It gave me a real buzz. I thought it had all
gone well and they gave me a job! My first tournament, as part of the team,
was the 1997 World Championships at the Circus Tavern and to be honest, I’ve
never looked back.”

It is certainly a pressure job in front of packed houses and a huge live TV
audience on Sky Sports but Russ takes it all in his stride.

“The maths are second nature. It is just like riding a bike! Sometimes
though, it can go wrong!”

“At the World Championships a few years ago, I made a complete mess of
calling a throw from Colin Lloyd. I got it wrong, then got it wrong again,
before finally getting it right! Colin saw the funny side and the crowd were
laughing as well. Somebody wanted to give me their glasses!”

The distinctive sound of ‘The Voice’ has brought him a new following. He now
does a lot of voice-over work. Russ has also appeared in TV programmes like
Eastenders, Family Affairs and Little Britain. He has also made his acting
debut on the big screen, appearing in a film called ‘Heartlands’.

Russ has taken charge of the top matches all over the world, as darts
continues to spread its wings. He is also very much in demand for
exhibitions and does a lot of work in Holland with the likes of John Part,
Peter Manley, Andy Fordham and Daryl Fitton.

“I get a huge amount of enjoyment out of what I do and the deal with Unicorn
is the icing on the cake for me,” he said.

So, what about the best moments of his career? “The number one for me just
has to be back in July 2002. Phil Taylor’s history-making moment, when he
became the first player to nail a 9-dart finish on live TV. He was playing
Chris Mason at the World Matchplay Championships and to call that in was
just amazing.”

” There are three matches which really stand out for me. John Part’s epic
victory over Phil Taylor in the World Championship Final. Another game
involving Taylor, also at the Circus Tavern, when he beat John Lowe 3-1 but
it was a lot closer than that and there were 17 maximum’s in the match. The
standard was mind-blowing. Finally, Andy Jenkins against Steve Coote at the
Las Vegas Desert Classic in 2004. It just sticks in the memory bank, because
the quality of darts from both players, was fantastic.”

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I came across this this great article in my local paper the other night Hawke’s Bay ToDay written by Joe Bennett

so I thought i would share it with you.

THE CIRCLE OF REAL LIFE

Its faultless It’s so very twenty first century. It’s Darts.

I am lying on a crumpled hotel bed with three pillows wedged between me and the wall, and I an getting rid of a couple of hours of a wet winter afternoon watching men play darts. The hours are irrecoverable. The men are on the other side of the world. The game they are playing may have happened yesterday or last week or last year I don’t know and don’t care.

I lie surrounded by discarded newspapers, an ashtray, a remote control and a packet of butter shortbread biscuits, doing nothing but adjusting the pillows from time to time to ease my neck without taking my eyes from the screen. I am engrossed.

Darts has cleaned itself up. When the game was first televised it was magnificently true to life. The players were fat drunks. They wore shirts the size of marquees. The table beside them was laden with pints of lager.

The ashtray smouldered like a small volcanic crater. Each player took aim with a cigarette pinched between the fingers of his non-throwing hand, the smoke wreathing round his fat enshrouded face so that he had to clench his piglet eyes against it. The air was so thick with smoke that they seemed to be playing in fog.

After they’d thrown, the athletes would waddle to the board, extract their darts and take a swig of beer as if by reflex. You could see their like in any pub. They were impossible men, ruined hulks who would not live long. Their laden hearts would falter, their livers give out, their lungs clog into wheezing. But it didn’t matter. The godhead had laid a hand upon them blessed them with a single extra-ordinary skill.

They threw darts like fat angels. Darts were their redeeming art. That art would bloat and kill them, but so what? Darts mattered.

Today the pints and cigarettes have gone, but the darts still matter. The players have turned professional. There’s big money in darts now. What these behemoths do is sellable around the world. It is sport boiled down to its essence. It is the end of the line. It is the rational conclusion of the western world.

A four year old could grasp darts’ rules in 30 seconds. Each match consists of sets, like tennis. Each set consists of legs. Each five-minute leg is a game within the game, mounting to its tiny climax of excitement.

Then they start again. It is one against one. At the end the winner will raise his pudgy arms in triumph. The loser will wilt and leave the stage. Because the field of play is tiny the camera can zoom in on faces. You can see the pearls of sweat along the upper lip. You can see the nerves that make the fingers tremble. You can see the tiny but unmissable effects of tension on the corners of the eyes, the creases in the forehead. Though these men say nothing, you get to know them. You get to care who wins.

Behind the players lit the cavernous semi­darkness of the modern pub somewhere in Essex, supporters bellow their encouragement. Most are young men in soccer shirts with pints in hand, but positioned among them are the players’ awful wives, their hair done horribly according to the fashion, excessive jewellery swinging from their ears. And with them their pasty children, drinking something sweet and fizzy, engrossed in the heroic theatre that their dads are acting out.

At moments of crisis the camera seeks out the wives and children to show the intensity on their unselfconscious faces. Their livelihood is on the line. Victory will bring a cheque to feed them through the months to come. Defeat will mean lean tines, a smaller car, no Teneriffe this year.

But above the needs and wants of those involved, beyond the fame and cash, this sport provides a rich and idle society with something it craves, something even the huge and neon-lit shopping mall can’t supply. Darts satisfies the lust for passion, tension conflict.

It doesn’t matter that it’s pointless. All sport is. It doesn’t matter that the men are ruined men, only that they fill the hours with some dim parody of war, of hunting, of competition for mating rights. In doing so they are enough to stave off boredom, to fill the hours between the raids on the supermar­ket, the empty evenings on the ghastly floral sofa, the loneliness of solitary men in pubs, the empty afternoons of men like me in hotel rooms. It spares us from the sad and sorry stuff that we call thought. This is the way the world ends. And I love it.

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