13 Checkout in Darts — 5 → D4
At 13, the finish is close range work. The route — 5 → D4 — is compact, closing on D4 — a solid double that rewards committed execution. The risk at this score is not the target. It is the tendency to approach low-score finishes with more deliberation than the throw needs — slowing down to be more careful, which in practice means altering the mechanics that make the throw reliable.
From 13, the first dart at 5 has neutral miss geometry — both neighbours produce equivalent outcomes. A fat miss into the single 5 leaves 8 (D4), which is the best available miss outcome. Side misses into 12 or 20 are less forgiving. Without a preferred drift direction to target, the focus on 5 is centre-bed accuracy rather than directional bias.
Players who are reliable at finishing 13 in competition have usually identified and eliminated one specific failure pattern from their game: the tendency to respond to what just happened rather than commit to what comes next. If the first dart misses, the instinct is to adjust — to be more careful, to aim more precisely, to compensate. That instinct is the source of most dropped legs on 13. The route provides the continuation from any reasonable first-dart outcome. Trusting the route rather than overriding it mid-visit is the discipline that converts practice form into match results.
Finishing scores expose the throw completely. At 13 there is nothing left to hide behind — just the dart, the target, and whether the player trusts the routine. 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. The throw fails under pressure when timing changes — not when aim changes. That distinction matters because it points directly to the fix. The routine before the throw matters as much as the throw itself. A consistent pre-throw process delivers a consistent throw regardless of what is riding on it. Finishing 13 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.
Opponent position should shape the conviction behind each dart — when pressure is real, commit earlier and more completely to the route.
Route Comparison & Target Selection
Primary: 5 → D4
single 5, closing on double 4 — solid close
Alternate: 1 → D6
single 1, closing on double 6 — demanding close — no triple required on opener
Match position determines the correct route from 13. The primary (5 → D4) is the aggressive choice — 5 scores hard, applies pressure, and leads directly to D4. Use it when the leg is tight, when the opponent is close, or when scoring pace matters. The alternate (1 → D6) is the controlled choice — 1 on the opener removes the triple requirement and arrives at D6 through a lower-risk path. Use it when a comfortable lead means protecting the leg outweighs the need to press. Both routes exist for good reason. The skill is choosing correctly before stepping to the oche.
On 13, miss geometry at 5 is broadly neutral. Both neighbors produce comparable outcomes.
Miss Geometry, Route Structure & When to Use the Alternate
5 opens this route from 13 — a single start that prioritises reliability on the first dart over maximum scoring pace. The larger target area compared to a triple bed means the route is more forgiving on the opening dart, and the leave it creates sets up the close cleanly. From 13 this is not a conservative choice — it is what the route structure requires. The correct execution is to throw 5 with the same rhythm and confidence applied to any other target, not to treat it as a smaller version of a triple that still requires careful aim. As for the structure of the route, from 13 the finish runs two darts: 5 → D4. 5 creates the exact leave for D4 with no intermediate setup required. Two-dart routes are the most efficient finish structure in 501 — they offer no margin for absorbing a poor first dart but also ask for nothing beyond precision on two consecutive throws. The execution demand is concentrated entirely on 5: land it correctly and the close on D4 is a single committed throw away. The risk of two-dart routes is not complexity but consequence — a missed first dart in a two-dart sequence leaves the close further away and the recovery position immediately visible to both players. When it comes to the alternate, the alternate (1 → D6) exists specifically for match situations where the primary route's triple opening carries more risk than the position warrants. Starting on 1 rather than 5 widens the first-dart window, removes the triple requirement, and still delivers the close at D6 through a controlled, recoverable path. That trade — some scoring pace for greater first-dart reliability — is the correct one when holding a significant lead. When the match is tight or the leg is close, the primary's efficiency and the scoring pressure it applies are the right call.
When and Why to Use This Route
Apply this route when the match calls for a measured approach. D4 is a solid finishing double that does not need a perfect setup — it responds to a committed throw from a controlled position, which is exactly what this route produces.
The route works because it does not ask for more than the score offers. 5 creates the most controlled path to D4 available from this score, and D4 is a double that converts when the player commits to it with rhythm. The route's strength is its reliability rather than its aggression — it is consistent, repeatable, and performs under pressure.
Why Players Miss This Finish
Players miss 13 through route abandonment. The original plan — 5 → D4 — is correct. A slightly off first dart changes the leave in a small way, and the player decides mid-visit to improvise rather than read the new score and continue with the adjusted route. That improvisation introduces a dart thrown to a target that was chosen quickly rather than correctly. The miss almost always comes from the improvised dart, not the original miss. Players who read their actual leave after every dart and continue with the best available path from there close 13 significantly more often than those who try to recover the original route after a drift.
Improving on 13 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 13 checkout by running 5 → D4 as a complete two-dart sequence rather than throwing each dart separately. The transition between 5 and D4 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 D4 in exactly the wrong direction. Run the sequence clean five times. If the break is consistently on the second dart, practise D4 in isolation for a set, then reintegrate it into the full route.
Add consequence to the end of every 13 practice block. After completing the route a set number of times cleanly, throw 5 deliberately off-line and practise continuing from 13 and 13 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.
