A pub darts player has officially declared double 16 to be “his double” after finally hitting it on his twenty-third attempt during last night’s league match.
Dave Parsons, 47, from Swindon, made the announcement to his teammates at The Red Lion despite statistical evidence suggesting D16 is actually the double he is least likely to hit in any given calendar year.
“Once you find your double, you just know,” explained Parsons, who has hit D16 exactly twice since September. “Some people like tops, some like D20, but for me it’s always been the 16. It just feels right.”
Teammate and occasional doubles partner Steve Maloney offered a different perspective.
“I’ve watched Dave throw at D16 for three years now. He’s hit double 1, double 5, single 8, the wall, and once the ceiling. I’ve never seen him hit 16 on purpose. Last week he needed 32 and went D16, D8 and somehow ended up on 27.”
Parsons remained defiant when presented with the statistics.
“The numbers don’t tell the whole story,” he insisted. “When I’m on D16, I feel dangerous. My opponent knows it, I know it, everyone knows it. It’s psychological.”
His opponent from last night’s match, who won 5-0 and at one point went to the bar mid-leg while Parsons was still throwing at double 16, declined to comment.
Parsons has reportedly already begun advising newer players at the club to “find their double early” and suggested they avoid D20 because “everyone goes there.”
He is expected to declare D8 his new favourite double by February after accidentally hitting it while aiming at D16.