100 Checkout in Darts — T20, D20
The 100 checkout uses a two-dart finish. At this score, controlling the first dart is the central challenge — everything else in the route depends on where T20 lands. A clean execution through T20 → D20 leads directly into D20, one of the strongest finishing doubles on the board and a consistent closer under match pressure.
From 100, a miss on T20 has a clear preferred direction: toward 5, which leaves 95 — checkout T19 → D19. A drift into 1 leaves 99 instead — the worse of the two outcomes by a meaningful margin. This is not something to aim for passively. The pre-throw routine should include a deliberate bias toward the 5 side, expressed in the follow-through direction rather than in any adjustment to the aim line. Consistent application of this principle across a match produces better leaves on misses, which reduces the number of visits needed to close a leg.
What separates consistent finishers on 100 from inconsistent ones is rarely the route they choose. It is the quality of the decision-making that precedes each throw. Taking an extra moment before stepping to the oche to confirm T20 → D20 as the right route, confirm T20 as the right first target, and confirm full commitment to the execution removes the reactive thinking that pressure introduces. The throw itself is already there — what gets disrupted under match conditions is the clarity of intent before the throw begins.
Grip pressure and arm speed are the two variables that pressure changes most reliably. Monitoring both before stepping to the oche gives the player a real point of intervention. Slowing the walk to the oche is not a technique — it is a way to create a moment for the grip to settle and the breath to normalise before the arm goes forward. Finishing 100 reliably in match play is a trainable skill. Players who build it deliberately — through structured pressure practice rather than hoping for composure — outperform those who rely on natural calm. High-score finishes like 100 are decided on the first dart. The player who commits most cleanly to the opening target almost always takes the leg. Pressure in darts is managed through rhythm, not force — players who close legs under pressure keep the same tempo as the rest of the visit.
With the opponent on a finish, T20 from 100 carries double weight — it scores efficiently and tells the opponent that this leg is not over. D20 as the close is the ideal target to be arriving at under those conditions.
Route Comparison & Target Selection
Primary: T20 → D20
treble 20 (60), closing on double 20 — high-percentage close
On 100, 1 is the anti-target. Drifting into it leaves 99 rather than the more manageable 95 from 5.
Miss Geometry, Route Structure & When to Use the Alternate
Treble 20 is flanked by the weakest neighbour pair on the board — 5 to the left and 1 to the right. Those two segments are the lowest-value singles in darts, which means any drift off the treble from 100 costs real scoring value and can leave an awkward continuing position. A miss toward 5 produces 95 remaining; toward 1, 99. Neither is a catastrophe, but neither gives the same clean route that landing treble 20 provides. The geometry here is working against you on both sides, which is precisely why the switch to treble 19 becomes the correct structural call when grouping drifts consistently below the bed. The 19 is flanked by 3 on one side and 7 on the other — both score more than 1 or 5, and both more often preserve a clean three-dart route into a finish. The switch is not a concession when drift is present. It is the geometrically stronger decision. In terms of the dart count and sequence, two darts close the leg from 100: T20 into D20. The route carries no setup phase, which concentrates the entire execution requirement on the opening dart. Landing T20 cleanly creates a one-dart close; missing it creates an immediate recovery problem with no middle dart to absorb the error. Two-dart routes reward decisive, committed play and punish hesitation or steering on the first throw. The correct approach is to treat T20 as a fully committed throw to a specific target — not a careful, guided approach — and let D20 follow from a controlled position.
When and Why to Use This Route
Use this route as the standard approach from this score. Scoring hard through T20 and finishing on D20 is the combination that wins the most legs — not just in comfortable situations, but especially in tight ones where both components need to deliver simultaneously.
This is an aggressive route that does not sacrifice reliability. T20 scores hard and applies pressure. D20 closes cleanly and forgives slight misses on the final dart. The combination is what makes this route correct as the default from this score — it does not require ideal conditions to work, and it does not need the player to choose between being aggressive and being controlled.
Why Players Miss This Finish
Players miss the 100 checkout by misreading the miss direction on T20. A drift into 5 leaves 95. A drift into 1 leaves 99. Players who do not know which side is preferred before stepping up make the decision reactively — and reactive decisions under pressure tend to favour the wrong option. Knowing in advance that the preferred drift direction is toward 5 is the difference between a miss that becomes a good recovery and a miss that derails the visit.
Improving on 100 in competition comes from accepting that the throw will not always be perfect and building an automatic response to imperfection. The players who drop this score are usually players who need everything to go right. The players who close it are the ones who have practised enough variants of the route — clean first dart, slightly off first dart, both miss directions — that the visit runs on autopilot regardless of the opening outcome.
Practice
Practise the 100 checkout by running T20 → D20 as a complete two-dart sequence rather than throwing each dart separately. The transition between T20 and D20 is where two-dart routes most often break down — a good opener creates expectation about the close, and that expectation sometimes changes the throw on D20 in exactly the wrong direction. Run the sequence clean five times. If the break is consistently on the second dart, practise D20 in isolation for a set, then reintegrate it into the full route.
Add consequence to the end of every 100 practice block. After completing the route a set number of times cleanly, throw T20 deliberately off-line and practise continuing from 95 and 99 without resetting. This forces the continuation habit — the automatic response to a miss on the opener that keeps the visit running rather than stalling. Players who have practised their recovery positions finish more legs from imperfect visits than those who only ever practise the clean route.
