Phil Taylor Darts Designs from 1990 to Present Day

Philip (Phil) Taylor Darts Phil Taylor Darts Journey 1990 - Present Day Phil Taylor set an amazing darts career in motion in 1987, when his journey to become a darts prodigy started on the BDO Darts system and we set out to see if you can get some insight into what it takes to play perfect darts the Phil Taylor way. We are fans of Phil Taylor as much as the next darts player and have no affiliation with Phil Taylor, Target Darts or Unicorn Darts. If you wish to buy the current Phil Taylor Target Darts please email us on sales@reddragondarts.com Phil Taylor's changing tungsten darts styles Phil's meteoric rise up the rankings is better documented than anything in the sport of darts today, and Phil still embodies a superhuman strength that he always feels he can be better tomorrow than he is today and there is no such thing as a setback. Friends of Phil Taylor talk about the tenacity and skill that Phil shows, even when just playing "exhibition darts". So what about the man, the legend and the equipment that he has used over the last 30 years, and how can you benefit from the choices that Phil has made, and continues to make throughout his career. Currently sponsored by Target Darts - Phil has under gone a metamorphosis in the visual look of his darts, but many of the underlying principles of the darts remain the same in terms of overall shape and profile. Phil Taylor Darts 1990 - 2000 (Before Unicorn Phil Taylor Phase 1 Darts) Phil Taylor played Eric Bristow in the 1990 final of the BDO World Championship using a dart very similar to his mentor and competitor Eric himself. Phil's early darts were 22 grams parallel profiled in what was classed the "Eric Bristow" Profile. This Eric Bristow style dart has spawned literally millions of variations over the period of 3 decades, and still today remains single-handed the most popular barrel shape on the market today. So what can you learn from this choice in barrel shape and the fact that even now the likes of Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis, Robert Thornton, James Wade and Micheal Van Gerwen still use a small variation on this profile today - basically it works! The reason that this Phil Taylor Parallel Dart works is that it is so easy to get a perfect balance in the dart players hand, the parallel profile lends itself well to a variation of grips from rings, to buttress Razoredge style. The weight of choice for champions like Phil Taylor at this stage was 22 grams but using a 24 gram version may give you an extra margin for error. Red Dragon Parallel Shaped Darts: Hellfire A £9.90 Swingfire 1 £10.90 Fury 1 £10.90 Fury 2 £10.90 Amberjack 16 £13.90 Falcon GT's £17.90 EDGE £29.90 Element 6 £59.90 Inferno £29.90 [caption id="attachment_22748" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] World Darts Championship 1995 Final - Phil Taylor Darts 2000 (Eric Bristow style Darts)[/caption] Phil Taylor Darts 2000 - (Phil Taylor Unicorn Phase 1 Darts) Darts hysteria was in full swing in the early 1990's with several TV channels showing numerous games and Bullseye darts with over 20 million viewers in full swing. By this time Phil Taylor had switched to Unicorn Darts as his main sponsor and as a result they launched what was then to be the Unicorn Phil Taylor Phase 1 Darts. As you can clearly see Phil Taylor stuck with the classic parallel design akin to his old Eric Bristow style darts, but he opted to add more grip with a deeper ring pattern. This deeper ring pattern was not uniquely new in the darts market as it was just applied to a barrel profile that was massively popular and seen on TV by millions of dart players. Phil Taylor's Unicorn Phase 1 darts went on to become one of the most successful ever selling darts in the world today, and still continues to be a dart in demand. As a result of Phil Taylor making this style of grip so popular it was not long until several variations appeared. This Phil Taylor dart had more grip than the original Eric Bristow Dart and gave Phil more confidence under pressure, and Phil Taylor was set to amazingly use this style of parallel dart for the next 15 years, even though they changed the colour and style a bit launching several Phil Taylor Phase darts, the overall dart profile remained steadfastly the same. Red Dragon Double Ringed Darts Double 16 £19.90 Double 16 Jet £25.90 Gold Line £24.90 Manics £22.90 Bronzer 1 £21.90 Jamie Hughes £21.90 Phil Taylor Darts 2009 - (Phil Taylor Unicorn Phase 4 Darts) Phil Taylor made a massive switch in the style of his darts around the year 2009 to what was then classed as the John Lowe style dart. Not only had he changed the entire profile of his dart, he added a whopping 4 grams with the new Phil Taylor Darts now weighing in at 26 gram. Apparently Phil had said that as he was getting older he needed more help with his darts getting to the dartboard and the extra weight helped. This torpedo style profile had been made famous by John Lowe decades before, much as Eric Bristow had made the parallel shaped dart his own. Phil Taylors next phase darts displayed the original Phase 1 Unicorn grip with the new Gold Coated John Lowe Style profile dart. This John Lowe style dart feels totally different in the hand and causes the thrower to release the darts in a much different way. It’s as if the player can feel the arc of the dart with the weight much further forward, and quite often you’ll find players who throw parallel darts cannot get near throwing this John Lowe style dart. However, Phil Taylor made this successful with in his darts with a slight change in style as he racked up title after title, and perhaps spawning a new generation of dart players who look to made radical changes to keep at the top of their games. Phil Taylor remained using his John Lowe profiled Unicorn Phase Darts in various colours and styles right up until his shock defection to Target Darts in 2013. This acrimonious split from Unicorn created the next chapter in Phil Taylors Darts storey with Target Darts. Red Dragon Torpedo Shaped Darts: Defender 24g £11.90 Swingfire 2 £11.90 Matra 1 £11.90 Amberjack 15 £13.90 Plasma 3 £29.90 Bronzer 4 £21.90 [caption id="attachment_22749" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] PDC World Darts Championships 2009 Final - Phil Taylor Darts 2000 (Phil Taylor Unicorn Phase 1 Darts)[/caption] Phil Taylor Target Darts 2014 – Present Day To the World Phil Taylors move to Target darts was a huge shock, as Phil had enjoyed such huge success whilst being part of Unicorn Darts. Whilst Phil Taylor aside, no one will really know the true motivations for the switch to Target Darts, it provides us with another insight in to Phil’s latest styles. Target Darts style as a company has been heavily influenced by the Far East Market and its obsession with ever changing designs and latest releases to stay ahead of the market. As a result Phil Taylors new Target Darts remained in the same vein as the Unicorn style John Lowe profiled darts, but with a few extra notches and some coloured finishing. Coated darts have been around in various forms for many years with several manufacturers offering huge ranges, but Target Darts started re-machining Phil Taylors darts so that they had pockets of colour in tear drop designs giving very striking darts – but from a performance point of view these would need to be right where you hold the dart to gain any extra benefit. Red Dragon Coated Torpedo Profiled darts: Chiefs £34.90 Knight 1 £29.90 Stratos 1 £48.90 [caption id="attachment_22751" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Grand Slam of Darts 2014 Final - Phil Taylor Target Darts 2014[/caption] Phil Taylor Target Darts 2017 – 2018 It was rumoured that Phil Taylor's new manufacturers Target Darts had received some key feedback from Phil as to what darts he wanted to move back to, and with Target aggressively looking to launch new models on a constant conveyor belt this seemed a very good move and so the latest Target Taylor Power-9FIVE Generation4 were launched. Phil Taylors preference for a John Lowe original shape can clearly be seen in this smooth torpedo styled barrel that has had some interesting grip additions. Featuring a bank of 8 Mid Rings, there is nothing seemingly different or special about these darts, but a closer look reveals some lovely features that make them a very good edition to the Phil Taylor Darts range. In the midst of the 8 ring bank you can see that the groove edge features a micro cut mid ring, actually giving the effect of 16 rings in the space of 8 rings, demonstrating some high level machining. The Top 4 rings have had a vertical cut added for reverse grip and extra feel right where Phil holds and feels the dart. The finish is a dual combination Onyx Style coating overlaid on a shot blast stone grip effect giving a contrast gloss and shiny finish. For our money a beautiful looking darts that will set you back around £80.00 per set. With Phil Taylor announcing his retirement form darts this year you may need to be quick to see him throw these again on TV. [caption id="attachment_23634" align="alignnone" width="1024"] PDC Premier League 2017 Semi-Final - Phil Taylor Target Darts 2017[/caption] Phil Taylor's Retirement from Professional Darts - 2018 The Power announced at the start of the 2017 season that it would be his last on the PDC circuit. Naturally there was a significant section of the darting community that were sceptical about Taylor's announcement, surely the sports most successful player couldn't retire yet? Taylor went on to win what would be his 16th and final World Matchplay in 2017, a feat that saw the iconic trophy re-named the "Phil Taylor Trophy". [caption id="attachment_35085" align="aligncenter" width="847"] Phil Taylor officially announces his intention to retire at the 2017 PDC Masters[/caption] He would also go on to reach the 2018 PDC World Championship final, losing to debutant Rob Cross 7-2 in what some consider the final "passing of the torch". Once again rumours surfaced that Taylor could still compete with the top players of the sport and that Taylor should be afforded a Wildcard into the 2018 Premier League. Phil stuck to his word however and has relinquished his Tour Card as of the start of 2018. He may no longer be an official PDC professional, but The Power is still significantly involved in the World of darts. Into the Commentary Booth - PDC World Matchplay 2018 The 2018 edition of the PDC World Matchplay was the first of which the trophy was named "The Phil Taylor Trophy". Although The Power would not be taking part in the competition for the first time in it's history, Taylor would still contribute to the iconic tournament. He joined the commentary team alongside fellow former-pros such as Wayne Mardle and Rod Harrington, as well as former BDO World Champion Mark Webster making his debut appearance in the booth. Both Webster and Taylor's commentary was a hit and offered great insight into the conditions and behaviour of the players through the tournament. 2019 - Phil Taylor Power 9FIVE Gen 5 Target Darts' latest iteration in the 9FIVE series sees a drastic change in grip with a familiar barrel profile. The trapezoidal grip replaces the double milled ring grip from the gen 4 model. The trapezoidal grip is one of the most intricate pieces of dart engineering that you will see on the market today and provides a unique feel.