Rockstar Weapons Prove Deadly for Duff

LAST night saw the PDC Premier League group phase conclude, with reigning champion Jonny Clayton, five-time winner Michael van Gerwen, and 2009 champion James Wade taking the top three qualifying places.

More under-the-radar was Joe Cullen, who, thanks to victories on nights 7 and 15, managed to secure the fourth position ahead of the play-offs in Berlin. Cullen will take on Jonny Clayton in the opening match of the night, with both men vying for a place in the final.

The Rockstar’s weapons of choice throughout his Premier League campaign have been his original Winmau darts, released shortly after his arrival with the classic oche brand. A deceptively simple, straight barrel dart featuring a small central scallop – Joe instantly took a liking to them.

Jelle Klassen won his world championship with Tony David’s signature darts (and Phil Taylor may have won at least one with a set of Eric’s) never was it as obvious as when Neil Duff claimed his WDF/Lakeside title last month with a brand new set of Joe Cullen’s Winmau weapons.

You can hear the full story of how the Northern Irishman came to use the model, and then the particular set, after he’d signed with Red Dragon darts late in 2021 below

We hear tell that Duff Man has been working on his own signature dart sand that they will involve a tweak or two from the Cullen original. Neil must be making sure of the royalties!

Breakdown and Specifications

Steel Tip – 21g
Length: 50.80mm
Width: 6.00mm-6.35mm
Tungsten Percentage: 90%
Points: Winmau 32mm Black
Stems: Winmau Prism Force Medium Black
Flights: Winmau Prism Alpha Joe Cullen
Price: £41.95

Snapshot Overview

The darts feature three separate points of grip, spread out across the 50.80mm barrel. The rear utilizes a dual-ring cut, with thinner rings offering a higher level of grip to the user. This has also been repeated towards the taper of the dart, with additional rings added to enlarge the area of grip afforded to Joe.

The grooves have been painted black, with the central scallop featuring a metallic red, complimenting Joe’s flight and stem combination, as well as his popular shirt design.

The aforementioned central scallop features thicker coated rings, with greater spacing within the groves. While subtle, the scallop is noticeable while throwing, which aids Joe’s rhythmic, rolling action.

For a player that throws towards the centre of the dart, these are ideal. The scallop acts as a focal point, allowing a consistent grip position and release, time after time, throw after throw.

A close inspection of video footage shows that Duff man also appears to benefit from the scallop. Rolling each dart down his thumb to a comfortable and very stable position.

From his words in the above conversation and looking closely at his recent performances Neil seems to use the very aggressive grip to let him know when the dart has come to the right place, rather than to grip anything in particular. This is a technique used by others including Gary Anderson.

The wider groves offer a very aggressive grip, doubling that of the already aggressive rear and front sections.

For now, this is all I will say…

I will, over the coming weeks, try out a set of Joe’s, very attractive looking Winmau Special Edition darts, where then I will do a more in-depth comparative review of the two, as well as include his older models too.

Keep an eye out over on Darts World’s Social Media pages!

Competition:

Darts World will soon be giving a set of these very darts away. A chance to win darts that win – in multiple players’ hands – world championships and PDC TV events as well as reaching the Premier League finals. What could they do for your game?

—–ENDS—–

Words: Joe Reid

Italics Extras: AIM180

Images: PDC and Winmau

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