Darts 3-Dart Average Explained: How It Works and What Counts as Good

What Is a Three-Dart Average?

A three-dart average is a measure of how many points a player scores, on average, per visit to the oche — where a standard visit is three darts. It is the headline scoring statistic in darts, shown on screen throughout every PDC broadcast and used to compare players across matches, tournaments and entire seasons.

The number only measures scoring. It says nothing on its own about how well a player finishes legs — that is tracked separately as checkout percentage — but the two together give a fairly complete picture of a player’s form on a given night.

The Formula

The calculation is simple:

Three-dart average = (Total points scored ÷ Darts thrown) × 3

Points scored is simply the running total taken off the starting score of 501 (or whatever leg total is being played). Darts thrown is every dart a player has released in that leg or match, including any that miss a double at a checkout attempt.

A Worked Example

Say a player scores 501 points to win a leg and does it in exactly 15 darts — five visits of three darts each, finishing perfectly with no wasted darts. That leg alone works out to:

(501 ÷ 15) × 3 = 100.20

That is a very good leg — a 100+ average with a perfect 15-dart finish is the kind of scoring that wins ProTour titles. In practice, a match average is calculated the same way but rolled up across every leg played, so one scrappy leg with several missed doubles will pull the overall number back down.

Why Three Darts, and Not One?

A standard turn in darts is three darts. Measuring in three-dart units makes the average directly comparable to what happens at the board: it tells you roughly what a player would be expected to score on their next visit, which is far more intuitive than a per-dart figure. It is also simply the convention the sport has used since averages were first tracked, so every historical comparison relies on it.

What Counts as a Good Average?

“Good” depends entirely on the level being played. The bands below are rough guides rather than hard cut-offs, but they give a sense of what separates a recreational average from tour-card standard.

For context on how these numbers play out at the very top of the game, the Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen player pages track career scoring stats alongside the live Order of Merit.

Match Average vs First Nine Average

Broadcasters usually show two related numbers, and it is easy to mix them up:

• Match average — every dart thrown across the whole match, including checkout darts. This is the number that best reflects overall performance, since it is dragged down by missed doubles.
• First nine average — only the first nine darts of each leg (three full visits), before any finishing attempt. Because it strips out checkout darts entirely, it is a purer measure of raw scoring and tends to run a few points higher than the match average for the same player.

A player can post a huge first nine average while still losing a leg if their finishing lets them down — which is exactly why the two figures are usually read side by side rather than in isolation.

Why Average Alone Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story

A high average reflects scoring power, but it does not capture everything that decides a match. Two players can post similar averages and have very different outcomes depending on:

• Checkout percentage — how often doubles actually go in, which determines how many of those big scoring visits are converted into won legs.
• Leg or set format — a big average built up in legs that were already lost matters less than consistent scoring in tight, close ones.
• Pressure moments — an average is a season-long or match-long figure; it does not show whether a player raised their level in a deciding leg or dropped off under pressure.

That is why serious analysis of a player’s form always pairs average with checkout percentage, and increasingly with situational stats like average in deciding legs.

Frequently Asked Questions