We caught up with Peter to see if he could offer you some insight as to why he changes his darts so often and how he does it with such consummate ease.
Going into Blackpool Peter was using his diamond coated Euro 11 style darts that he had used to win another title beating Merv King in the European Darts Open.
Peter had decided to take his PL15 darts into the first round of the Matchplay against James Wilson back so we asked him why, Peter said “ The Winter Gardens is simply so hot it has a totally different effect on how my darts travel through the air and land in the board. The heat doesn’t allow me to get these darts as straight as I like, so I’ve been practicing with some extra heat to see what set up suits me best, and right up to the game starting I was going PL15, but I had one more try and went back to my Euro 11 Diamonds as the grip just felt right with the extra heat in my hands. Fairplay to James he played really well but I just couldn’t feel my darts how I like on stage as and dug in for a hard fought win”.
[caption id="attachment_24577" align="alignright" width="293"] Peter Wright - World Matchplay 2017[/caption]
Going into the second Round Peter changed back to his Mamba Darts, Peter said “I went away from the game with James and knew that I had to up my game for the next round, so I spent a day tweaking with my set up between several different barrels, from Euro 11 to PL15 but it was the Mambas that really hit the spot. I had a little break and came back for another session and they really felt good, so I stuck with them and played really nicely against Cristo”.
With so many changes so far in one week we asked Peter if any more changes were likely? “Errrrrrrrrr you just never know” said Peter laughing loudly. “I wish that you could bring the development centre to every event so I could have a tweak here and there on every set!” Joanne, Peter’s wife and manager has a very different take on Peter and his changing darts.
This difference of opinion is fascinating as Jo watches every single dart that Peter throws. Jo said “Peter doesn’t need to change his darts in his quest for the perfect set, he’s had the perfect set so many times then switched. To me the Mambas in the Euro 11 style barrel length are the best darts for Peter full stop”.
With such a difference of opinion over Peter's darts, its testimony to how closely Joanne and Peter work as a team to get the best out of Peter, and none closer to this is Red Dragon Development Team who have spent years looking after Peters need's. So we asked Lee Huxtable, Red Dragon’s Lead Design Engineer for his thoughts. Lee said “ Working with Peter and what he wants from his darts is an amazing challenge, he understands his throw so well and the conditions he faces on stage in such detail that he’s fascinating to work with, our manufacturing set up is superb and geared to make rapid changes but when Peter gets into one of his transition phases keeping up with his ideas can be mind boggling as he has such an amazing memory of what darts he’s used in so many situations over so many years”.
With the Red Dragon design team at his back and his wife Joanne at his side, Peter’s strength seems to be pulled through this evolutionary process that he goes through in his quest for the perfect set of darts.
Peter is currently playing with Peter Wright Mamba darts – but that could be subject to change!