Snakebite v SightRight
Man of the moment and our most prized Bull Fighter Peter "Snakebite" Wright comes head-to-head in one of the biggest battles of his career to date against the world’s only Sighting and Alignment expert - Stephen Feeney. We hope you enjoy this simply fascinating technical analysis of Peters throw, please read on to see how he scores in this epic battle……
Set Up and Centre Line Analysis
Peter, a right handed player, has a ^central^ set-up position on the oche, favouring his right eye.
Without testing, it would appear that Peter’s ‘Sighting Line^ (i.e. where both eyes see a straight line of aim accurately) is to his right.
His right foot & hip are turned side on to the centre target line which enables him to turn his right shoulder in toward the target line, and to then bring his throwing arm and dart ^hold^ up to align in front of his right eye on the target line.
During play, Peter can also be seen at times to twist his head ever so slightly to his left. His eyes tilt approx 15 degrees off the horizontal plane, and he has to "actively” move his eyes to his right in his eye sockets to ^look^ along the line of aim to the target.
Score: 8.5 / 10
Backswing & Release 
On his backswing the image above shows how Peter pulls the dart back slightly offline to his right, away from his right eye. Look at the position of his throwing hand, and dart, at the end of his backswing.
During play, Peter can also be seen at times to twist his head ever so slightly to his right during his backswing to make way for the dart - again the dart moving away from his right eye / Sighting Line.
There is a point during Peter^s backswing that his throwing hand and dart actually arcs off the line of aim he sets up to.
This deviation in his throw on the backswing means his arm, hand and dart all need to travel in a slight arc again at the start of the forward motion to bring the dart back on line in his throw.
Peter has great natural hand eye co-ordination and is showing superb temperament under pressure. But when concentration is not where it should be, or his throw is not so fluid, or the arm becomes tired or even heavy under pressure, this element of his technique can affect his accuracy.
Score 7.5 / 10
Release moment of truth
With only a micro adjustment in the ^arc^ on his backswing, Peter delivers his darts in a fluid motion, bang on his sighting line, with a relaxed, smooth release.
His ^central^ set up to the board makes for an ^even weighted^ throw to both sides of the board, (eliminating long and short weighted throws) for higher consistency. And his darts ^angle of attack^ are straight and perfectly flighted, minimising blockages for higher scoring and Doubles.
Score 9.0 / 10
The Experts recommendations and comments
Peter scores a superb 83% against the 3 key disciplines, which clearly helps him deal with the added factors of playing under pressure, especially on TV where he plays with confidence and is both entertaining and exciting to watch.
In summary, Peter has developed a ^central^ set up and an accurate throwing technique both aligned to his ^Eye Dominance and Sighting Line^ which have taken him to No.5 in the World.
NOTE: It is very important to note that whilst this is an analysis exercise to help dart players understand the crucial nature of perfect sighting and alignment, every player has their own individual Sighting Line. Without a full assessment to establish a player’s perfect sighting line and technical alignment etc, no player should just simply make technical changes to copy the player referenced above.
At top TV Pro Level this needs to be managed and coached progressively and under immense detail.
Many symptoms I see when watching Pro & Amateur dart players from this very technical side can be attributed to poor sighting and alignment habits which go uncorrected.
Most players develop their game ^offline^ with compensating habits and never get to experience the level of accuracy and consistency they could enjoy.
Poor sighting & alignment habits inhibit speedy development and can lead to many symptoms which affect performance detrimentally. Temperament and talent also play a crucial role.
If you are looking to improve your game, first reduce as many micro discrepancies in your game as possible. Test your throw using a centre mounted video camera and a standard SightRight unit.
In an accuracy sport you can^t argue with the principles of perfect sighting and alignment so get these basics right and we know you will be on the right path to improving your game and get the best out of your ^natural^ throw.
Stephen Feeney
SightRight Darts