501 Checkout Strategy – Route Selection Beyond the Chart

Every darts player has seen a checkout chart. The grid tells you that 120 is T20, 20, D20 and that 170 is T20, T20, Bull. But a chart is a reference sheet, not a strategy. It shows the optimal route from a single score assuming you hit everything. In a real game, you miss. The question is not what the chart says. It is what to do when the first dart lands in the wrong bed. It is how to plan your scoring so you arrive at a checkout you are comfortable finishing.

This article covers the strategic layer that sits on top of the chart. TheDartScout’s analysis of PDC finishing statistics shows the gap between a 35% and a 45% checkout rate comes down to route selection and setup. It is not just accuracy on the double. Understanding your 501 checkout strategy means knowing why you throw at a particular number, not just which number the chart says.

What Makes a 501 Checkout Strategy Different from a Checkout Chart?

A checkout chart is a lookup table. You find your remaining score, it tells you the optimal combination. That works if you hit every dart exactly where you aim. Strategy is what happens when you do not.

A checkout strategy includes three things the chart ignores. First, which double you want to finish on and why. Second, how to steer your scoring in the mid-leg so you arrive at that double rather than a random one. Third, how to recover when a dart misses and you need to reroute mid-visit. The chart gives you the destination. Strategy gives you the driving instructions.

This matters because darts is a game of misses. Even PDC professionals hit their intended treble roughly 40-45% of the time. The rest of the time they are hitting single numbers, adjacent beds, or the wrong treble entirely. A player with strong route selection converts those misses into manageable leaves. A player without it ends up on awkward scores, bogey numbers, or doubles they have never practised.

Why Does Double 16 Get Recommended Over Double 20?

This is the most common question in finishing strategy, and the answer is pure mathematics. Double 16 has a four-step halving chain. Double 20 has two steps before it breaks.

If you aim at D16 and miss inside (hitting single 16), you leave 16. That is D8. Miss D8 inside and you leave 8, which is D4. Miss D4 inside and you leave 4, which is D2. Miss D2 inside and you leave 2, which is D1. That is five consecutive shots at a double from one starting position, each one a clean halving of the previous score.

Attempt	Target	Miss inside leaves	Next double
1st	D16 (32)	S16 = 16	D8
2nd	D8 (16)	S8 = 8	D4
3rd	D4 (8)	S4 = 4	D2
4th	D2 (4)	S2 = 2	D1
5th	D1 (2)	S1 = 1	Bust (odd)

Now compare D20. Miss D20 inside and you leave 20. That is D10. Miss D10 inside and you leave 10. That is D5. Miss D5 inside and you leave 5 – an odd number with no double available. Your halving chain breaks after just two misses.

This does not mean D20 is a bad double. PDC data from 2020 shows players like Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price hitting close to 80% on D20 (Tops). If you are confident on that side of the board, it is a perfectly valid choice. But for most club and league players, D16 gives you more second chances. Jonny Clayton hit 45% on D16 from 584 attempts in that same dataset, while Dimitri Van den Bergh recorded 45% on D18 from 202 attempts but only 37% on D20. Professional preferences vary widely – the point is to know your own percentages and choose accordingly.

What Are Bogey Numbers and How Do You Avoid Them?

A bogey number is a score that cannot be checked out in the same number of darts as a higher score. The most important bogey numbers are the three-dart bogeys: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162, and 159. The highest three-dart checkout is 170 (T20, T20, Bull), but 169 – just one point lower – is impossible in three darts. No combination of three darts ending on a double can make 169.

The practical problem is this. If you leave yourself on 169 with three darts in hand, you must waste at least one dart reducing to a finishable score. Your opponent, if they are on 170 or 160 or any non-bogey number, gets the same three darts to finish the leg. You have effectively given them a one-dart head start.

3-Dart Bogey	Why impossible	Nearest finishable score	Example route
169	No 3-dart combo to a double	170	T20, T20, Bull
168	No 3-dart combo to a double	167	T20, T19, Bull
166	No 3-dart combo to a double	167 or 164	T20, T19, Bull / T20, T18, Bull
165	No 3-dart combo to a double	164	T20, T18, Bull
163	No 3-dart combo to a double	160	T20, T20, D20
162	No 3-dart combo to a double	161	T20, T17, Bull
159	No 3-dart combo to a double	160	T20, T20, D20

There is a simple rule to remember: all three-dart bogey numbers end in 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, or 9. If your remaining score ends in 0, 1, 4, or 7, you are on a finishable number. When you are scoring in the mid-leg and approaching the 170 range, keep this in mind. Throwing T20 from 229 leaves you on 169 – a bogey. Throwing T19 from 229 leaves 172, which is not a three-dart finish either, but throwing T19 then S20 from 229 leaves 152 (T20, T20, D16) – clean. Route awareness matters more than simply aiming at the highest treble.

The bogey pattern repeats every 60 points. Four-dart bogeys are 229, 228, 226, 225, 223, 222, and 219. Five-dart bogeys are 289, 288, 286, 285, 283, 282, and 279. If you can recognise the three-dart set, you can mentally add 60 to find the others. For the complete checkout data behind these numbers, see our checkout route data page.

How Should You Think About Scoring in the Middle of a Leg?

Most 501 strategy guides focus on the finish. But the decisions you make between 501 and 170 determine which finish you arrive at. This is where a 501 checkout strategy separates good players from players who just throw at T20 and hope for the best.

The general principle is simple: throw for maximum score until you approach the checkout range, then steer toward a preferred leave. In practice, this means throwing T20 for most of the leg. Three T20s is 180, the maximum visit. Even one T20 and two single 20s gives you 100, a solid scoring visit.

The strategic decisions start when you are roughly 200-170 away from zero. At this point, you need to think one or two visits ahead. The question changes from “how many points can I score?” to “what score do I want to leave?”

Score range 200-170: avoiding bogeys

If you are on 229 and throw T20, you leave 169 – a bogey. If you throw T19 instead, you leave 172. That is not a three-dart finish either, but it is not a bogey. Better still, 172 lets you throw T20 next visit to leave 112 (T20, 12, D20) or throw Bull to leave 122 (T18, T18, D7). You have options. From 169, you are stuck wasting a dart to get off the bogey.

The key insight is this: when you are in the 200-170 range, check whether T20 will drop you onto a bogey. If it will, throw T19 instead. T19 scores 57 instead of 60 – a negligible difference – but it shifts your leave by three points, which is often enough to avoid the bogey zone.

Score range 170-100: steering toward your double

This is where checkout strategy gets personal. You need to know which double you want to finish on and work backward from it. If you prefer D16, you want to leave 32. If you prefer D20, you want 40. If you like D18, aim for 36.

From common scores in this range, here are the setup throws that leave you on clean doubles:

Remaining	Throw	Leaves	Double
100	T20	40	D20
96	T20	36	D18
92	T20	32	D16
81	T19	24	D12
80	T16	32	D16
76	T20	16	D8
72	T20	12	D6
61	T11	28	D14
60	S20	40	D20
56	S16	40	D20
41	S9	32	D16

Notice that 92 and 80 both route to D16 through different setup throws. A player who knows they want D16 will see 80 remaining and throw T16 (not T20, which leaves 20 and D10). This is the difference between strategy and reflex. Reflex says “throw at T20.” Strategy says “T16 gives me D16.”

Score range 100-40: the finishing zone

Below 100, you are in the finishing zone. Most scores here have a two-dart or three-dart checkout. The chart matters more in this range, but strategy still applies because you need to choose which of the available routes leaves you on your preferred double if you miss the first dart.

Take 76. The chart says T20, D8. If you hit T20, you leave 16 for D8 – good. But if you miss T20 and hit S20, you leave 56. That is a two-dart finish (S16, D20 or T16, D4) but not as clean as what you started with. An alternative route: T16, D12. Miss T16 into S16 and you leave 60 (S20, D20). Both routes are viable, but the second one has a safer miss.

This is the thinking that turns a chart reader into a strategic finisher. Before you throw, ask: “If I miss this dart, what am I left on, and do I have a clean route from there?” If the answer is no, look for a different first dart.

How Do You Recover When the First Dart Misses?

The chart assumes three darts at the checkout. In reality, your first dart often misses. The skill is in adapting your second and third darts to the new reality rather than stubbornly following the original plan.

Example: you are on 120. The chart says T20, S20, D20. Your first dart hits S20 instead of T20. You are now on 100. Do not throw S20 again hoping for a miracle – throw T20 to leave 40 (D20). You have converted a miss into a clean two-dart finish.

Example: you are on 100. Chart says T20, D20. First dart hits S5 (you were miles off). You are now on 95. Throw T19 to leave 38 (D19) or throw Bull to leave 45 (S13, D16). The 95 is still finishable in two more darts if you stay calm and reroute.

Example: you are on 80. You throw at T16 but hit S7 (wrong side of the wire). You are on 73. Throw T19 to leave 16 (D8). Or throw T11 to leave 40 (D20). Both are clean two-dart leaves. The worst thing you can do here is panic-throw at T20 and leave 13 – an odd number with no direct double.

What Is the Role of the Bullseye in Checkout Strategy?

The bullseye (50 points, counts as a double) is the most underused checkout weapon among club players. Many avoid it because it is physically small – roughly 12.7mm in diameter versus 8mm wide for the double segments. But the bull has a key advantage: it is in the centre of the board, meaning a near-miss still scores 25 (outer bull) rather than dropping to a random single number.

The bull appears in several critical checkout routes. 170 (T20, T20, Bull) is the most famous. But it also features in 167 (T20, T19, Bull), 164 (T20, T18, Bull), 161 (T20, T17, Bull), and 160 via T20, T20, D20 or the bull route T20, Bull, Bull. Any checkout above 160 that does not use the bull is either impossible or requires very specific treble combinations.

For mid-range checkouts, the bull route is often safer than it looks. On 50 remaining, throw at Bull. If you miss into the 25, you leave 25. That is not ideal (S9, D8 or S17, D4), but it is finishable. If you had instead tried D25 (outer bull as a double) and missed entirely, you might hit a random single and leave an awkward odd number. Michael van Gerwen has an 8% completion rate on the 170 checkout from over 500 attempts, according to PDC statistics. Even at the highest level, the bull finish is difficult. But when it lands, it wins legs that no other route can.

How Do You Choose Which Treble to Score On?

T20 is the default scoring treble because it is the highest single-dart score at 60 points. But there are situations where T19 (57) is the better choice, and not just for bogey avoidance.

Adjacent misses matter. When you aim at T20 and miss, you typically hit S20, S5, S1, or occasionally T5 or T1. The miss numbers around the 20 segment are low: 5 and 1. A miss into S5 or S1 scores very little and might drop you onto an awkward leave. When you aim at T19 and miss, the adjacent segments are 7 and 3. These are also low, but the key difference is that T19 misses tend to produce odd totals, which can set up even leaves for doubles.

When to switch. If your darts are grouping left of T20, you are hitting S5 and S1 repeatedly. Switching to T19 (on the left side of the board) means your natural grouping works with you. Darts research suggests players find horizontal (left-right) control easier than vertical (up-down) control, so moving to a treble on the other side of the board can suit a different arm angle. The three-point sacrifice (57 vs 60) is negligible over a full leg.

How Does Equipment Affect Checkout Success?

Your 501 checkout strategy is not just mental arithmetic. Your equipment affects how precisely you hit each route. This matters most when targeting narrow doubles.

Dart weight. Heavier darts (22-26g) carry more momentum and are less affected by minor release inconsistencies. When you are aiming at a double that is 8mm wide, a dart that holds its line matters. Lighter darts (16-20g) require more precise technique to group tightly in the finishing zone. If your checkout percentage drops off after the first dart of a visit, your darts may be too light to maintain grouping under fatigue. See our dart weight guide for details on how weight affects accuracy at different skill levels.

Board quality. On a blade-wire board, dart points slide past the wire and into the sisal. On a round-wire board with staples, darts bounce off the wire at a higher rate – which means your carefully planned checkout route gets interrupted by a bounce-out. If you are practising checkout routes at home, a blade-wire board gives you realistic feedback. A cheap board adds randomness that makes it harder to judge whether a miss was your throw or the equipment. Our dartboard guide covers the differences.

Flight and shaft setup. Flights that are too large or shafts that are too long can cause your second and third darts to deflect off the first dart’s flights during a tight grouping attempt. At the checkout, when you are throwing three darts at a small area, deflections ruin routes. If you regularly see your second or third dart knocked off line by the previous dart’s flights, try shorter shafts or slimmer flights. Our guides on flights and shafts explain the tradeoffs.

A Practice Routine for Checkout Strategy

Reading about strategy helps, but finishing is a muscle that needs training. Here is a structured routine that builds both the mental and physical sides of checkout play.

Drill 1: Random checkout starts (15 minutes)

Use a random number generator or our checkout calculator to give you a score between 40 and 170. You have three darts to finish. If you do not finish, write down what you were left on and whether a different first dart would have given you a better leave. This builds the rerouting skill described above.

Drill 2: Double chains (10 minutes)

Start on D16. If you miss inside, stay on whatever double the miss leaves (D8, D4, D2, D1). If you miss outside or off the doubles entirely, start over from D16. This trains the D16 halving chain and builds accuracy on the smaller doubles. Repeat with D20 for comparison. Track how many visits each chain takes to close – this gives you real data on which double you should prefer.

Drill 3: Bogey escape (10 minutes)

Set yourself on each bogey number (169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162, 159) and throw one dart to get off it. Your goal is to leave a clean two-dart or three-dart checkout. Track which escape routes you choose and whether they lead to your preferred double. This builds the habit of recognising bogeys instantly and having a plan ready.

For more solo practice ideas, see our guide to practising alone. For the underlying rules of 501 including busting and double-out requirements, see our rules guide.

Common Mistakes in Checkout Strategy

These are the errors TheDartScout sees most often in league and club play. Each one is fixable with awareness.

Always throwing T20 regardless of leave. T20 is the highest-scoring treble, but if hitting it drops you onto a bogey or an awkward odd number, T19 is the better choice. The three-point difference is irrelevant compared to the cost of wasting a dart escaping a bogey.

Not knowing your preferred double. If someone asks “what is your favourite double?” and you cannot answer, you do not have a checkout strategy. Pick one. Practise it. Build your mid-leg routing around it. D16, D20, D18, and D12 are the most common preferences among professionals.

Throwing at Bull without a plan B. The bull is a powerful checkout tool, but if you miss it with your third dart and bust, you have wasted the entire visit. When your checkout route includes the bull as the last dart, make sure the first two darts are safe – meaning even if you miss the bull, you leave a finishable score for your next turn. The exception is when your opponent is on a finish and you need the leg now.

Ignoring the opponent’s score. In a competitive leg, your checkout strategy should account for what your opponent is on. If they are miles away, take the safe route to your double. If they are on a finish and you need to close immediately, take the aggressive route even if the miss potential is worse. This is situational awareness, and it separates match players from practice players.

Panicking after a miss. The first dart misses and the plan changes. That is normal. The mistake is throwing the second dart without recalculating. Take a beat, work out your new remaining score, and choose the best route from there. Two seconds of mental arithmetic saves a wasted dart.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the highest checkout in 501 darts?

170 – hit with treble 20, treble 20, and bullseye. It is the highest score that can be finished in three darts. Any score above 170 requires at least four darts to check out. Michael van Gerwen has an 8% completion rate on the 170 checkout from over 500 career attempts, making it one of the most difficult finishes even at the highest level.

What scores are impossible to finish in three darts?

The three-dart bogey numbers: 169, 168, 166, 165, 163, 162, and 159. These are all above 158 but below 170, and no combination of three darts ending on a double can reach them. Scores above 170 are not bogey numbers – they simply require more than three darts. The bogey numbers are specifically problematic because 170 can be finished in three darts but these lower scores cannot.

Should I always aim for double 16?

Not necessarily. D16 has the best mathematical safety net (four halving steps), which makes it the theoretically optimal choice. But if you consistently hit D20 at a higher percentage than D16, use D20. The best double is the one you hit most often. Track your finishing percentages over 10 practice sessions and let the data decide. Many PDC professionals have a clear favourite that is not D16 – Rob Cross, for example, has attempted D16 nearly 500 times, while others strongly prefer Tops.

How do I know when to switch from scoring to finishing?

When your remaining score is 170 or below, you are in checkout range. But the strategic transition starts earlier, around 200. At this point, check whether your next scoring visit could leave you on a bogey number. If you are above 200 and throwing T20 keeps you above 170, keep scoring. Once you are in the 170-200 range, every dart needs to be planned with the leave in mind.

What is a nine-darter and how does checkout strategy apply?

A nine-darter is a perfect 501 leg finished in the minimum nine darts. The most common route is two visits of 180 (T20, T20, T20) followed by a 141 finish (T20, T19, D12) or a 141 finish via T17, T18, D18. Checkout strategy applies to the final three darts – the finishing route. There are 3,944 possible nine-dart paths, and the route you choose for the last visit depends on your preferred double. Players who favour D12 will take the T20, T19, D12 route. Players who prefer D18 will aim for T19, T18, D18.

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For more formats beyond 501, see every dart game worth playing. For the full checkout chart and data behind every route, visit our checkout route data page. To calculate specific routes instantly, use the checkout calculator. For the official rules of 501 including double-in and double-out variants, read dart rules explained. If you want to improve your consistency at the oche, see consistent dart throw. New to darts? Start with the beginner’s guide or take the dart recommendation quiz.