The Underdog - My match darts
The Underdog - a dart 5 years in the making!
As the owner of a dart company you would think it would be easy to make my own perfect darts. But with infinite possibilities come infinite doubts. I've gone through well over a dozen prototypes from 18g through to 25g with different lengths, shapes, materials, grips, colours and coatings. Trying to make my dart look sexy as well as functional has led me down the wrong road many times.
The Grip:
As a rear/stem gripper I like a reference and push point but I don't usually need any grooves or grip. A smooth barrel is grippy but allows a smooth release, stops some deflections and allows my darts to slide off each other. Sometimes though a smooth barrel can be too grippy for me, in warm locations particularly once the smooth barrel warms up it gets way too grippy. So to counter this the Underdog has a few very minimal grooves at the rear to act as a heat-sink as well as reduce the grip level slightly. Counter intuitive I know but smooth barrel darters will understand.
The Shape:
A thicker and front weighted dart gives me more control over my throw, the balance of the darts sit much more naturally in my hand and the release becomes effortless. It also allows the darts to consistently land slightly tail up meaning the first dart landing high in the t20 bed lets me aim the next 2 darts straight at the first one and bounce in underneath.
The Material:
I enjoy the way a lighter dart feels and floats through the air. In fact in my first season playing in The Hague league I was using a 16g soft tip converted to a 18g steel tip. In my second season I went with an 18g steel tip dart.
The problem with owning a darts company though is testing dozens and dozens of darts and testing random things out to create new darts. I drifted away from the lighter darts for a good while, playing with the Christian Kist 22g darts for a good while, whilst testing out various other prototypes.
But I kept coming back to the feeling of light darts but wanted them a bit longer and wider so I started playing around with 80%, 75% and 70% tungsten.
After a few more prototypes I've fine tuned the dart into the Underdog you see today. A 70% mostly smooth dart is about as un-commercial as you will ever see. Conventional wisdom says we shouldn't even bring this dart to market but Loxley is about obsession, fun, being genuine and showing that this sport is not a one size fits all.
Why the name?
Loxley is the underdog darts brand so it feels rather fitting to name my dart that.
