The Grand Slam of Darts Blog 2

Posted: 12.11.13 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

Does Speed = Accuracy? We discuss this and other issues from The Grand Slam!

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The round robin format came into its own last night with scientific equations being called on to determine group winners and who should be taking part in 9 dart shoot outs! I unfortunately missed the Webbo V Wes/Wez shoot out but I just hope that one of the pundits said “what a terrible way to lose”! Darts commentators don’t get the opportunity to use that particular cliché too often!

Chizzy sent our 180’s tip out the window with a feeble performance against BDO star Scott Waites. He, along with Tony O’Shea with a 71% checkout percentage did the BDO proud!

The Silverback was playing youngster Ricky Evans and Wayne Mardle flagged up the speed of Evans’ throw. I timed it at 3.66 seconds from releasing the first dart to the third hitting the board. That is quick! I did a quick comparison with Van de Voort who weighed in at just over 4 seconds. *Please note this was a very quick assessment and I will use our software later to get more accurate results!

Wayne also suggested that “like most fast players Ricky’s grouping was good”. Hmmm, is this true do you think? Klassen is a good example; his scatter gun approach to scoring has not really changed even after slowing his throw down. Vincent Van Der Voort is renowned for the pace of his throw and is playing tonight so we can assess how his accuracy is. MVG is another fast thrower and has tightened up on the precision element of his game but it is still nowhere as neat as say Taylor, who has a far more methodical approach to throwing.

We are of course on dangerous ground here. It is still very difficult to convince players that a change of technique may help them.  The main reason I think is that they all know there will be a decline in form until the changes take effect. In the case of MVG it would of course be daft to ask him to change technique with the current success he is having.

Some other faster throwers should perhaps reflect on how far they can go with their super fast action. The saying “more haste less speed” has become a part of English language for a reason!

The games tonight:

Ronny Huybrechts v Richie George (C)
Phil Taylor v Kevin Painter (A)
James Wade v Wesley Harms (B)
Dean Winstanley v Vincent van der Voort (D)
Paul Nicholson v Stuart Kellett (A)
Michael van Gerwen v Kim Huybrechts (D)
Adrian Lewis v Christian Kist (C)
Gary Anderson v Peter Wright (B)

Tip:

Tonight I am going for over 3.5 180’s in the Lewis/Kist game along with over 7.5 legs in the Holland V Belgium clash, MVG V Huybrechts. 

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