A Good Home
Throw
There
is one throw in a local town that is very unusual and definitely what you would
call a “Good home throw.” The wall facing the Oche is not square on to it.
To overcome this the dartboard has been mounted on a frame that projects
outwards from the wall at an angle. In other words the board is square on to the
thrower, but if your eyes wander backwards and forwards to the wall behind it
you definitely start to get a queasy feeling!
One of my friends told
me about another Oche
that is almost legendary in the Midlands. He was
on his travels some years ago when he walked into a pub for a lunchtime drink and as usual looked round for the dartboard. When he
asked the Landlord where the board was, he was shown a dartboard on a distant
wall that was mounted about 3 feet off the floor. My friend asked if they had a
lot of children in the pub that played darts. The Landlord said no and that the
board was regularly used for men’s matches in the local league. Then my friend
was shown where the Oche was. The Landlord walked towards the cellar and halfway
down the cellar steps was the exact throwing distance!
Another
local pub used to have an Oche in a very awkward place, but it has been moved
now. The
ceiling over the Oche was very low as it sometimes is in the older village pubs,
but that was not the problem in itself. In the ceiling a couple of feet in front
of the Oche and going from side to side above the player was a wooden beam. On
more than one occasion I have seen a player throw all three darts and not get
one in the board. All 3 have been stuck in a neat row in the wooden beam above
the Oche! The throw is alright for people under 5 feet 6 inches but if you are 6
feet as I am it can be difficult. Needless to say I rarely go for tops on that
board. Having said that playing for the team based in that pub is a player who
must be about 6 feet 3 and he plays very well on the board!
Other
pubs have cigarette machines or bandits halfway down the lay and in some the
darts lay runs down the length of the bar so play stops when someone wants a
drink. In a lot of pubs people have to cross the lay to get out to the loos and
you can’t always persuade them to wait ‘till after the players have thrown
if they are in a hurry!
These
little hazards are all part of pub darts and are of course the reason why we
play home and away so that “Good home throws” are not really an advantage to
anyone.