ADC Darts Vault 19 Week 1

 Vault 19 is underway, and although it is far too early to decide which will ultimately be the toughest venues of the new series, the opening tournaments have already given me plenty to look at.

The headline comes from Pinches Cue Club in Norwich, which has recorded a Tournament Strength score of 1.350 — the highest figure in my Vault 19 data through Saturday 12 September.

Behind Pinches, there are some very familiar names.

Sartan Club has started strongly again and currently leads the South West, while Lindsay Constitutional Club remains the early Welsh benchmark. North Star has also opened Vault 19 above its previous series level.

I've also now found the WADC Vault 3.0 tournaments.

With my interest in the women's game and the amount of women's darts I already cover on Q4QS, I think it is important that I follow those events alongside the main Vault series.

And the opening WADC figures have produced a story of their own, with South Wales occupying the top three positions so far.

This is therefore my first Tournament Strength snapshot of the new Vault series, covering tournaments in the database up to and including Saturday 12 September.

What Is Tournament Strength?

Tournament Strength isn't simply based on the winner of an event or the highest average recorded on the night.

The Q4QS Tournament Strength measure is designed to look at the overall strength of the field.

That distinction is important.

A tournament containing one outstanding player and a relatively weak field is different from one where strong players are waiting in almost every part of the draw.

Over time, Tournament Strength should therefore help identify the venues where consistently difficult fields are turning up.

One event gives us a snapshot.

Several events begin to establish a pattern.

That is why the Vault 18 figures become particularly useful as Vault 19 gets underway.

Vault 19 – The Early Leaders

These are the strongest Vault 19 tournaments in my data through Saturday 12 September:

Rank	Venue	Tournament Strength	Top-20 Avg
1	Pinches Cue Club, Norwich	1.350	72.50
2	Sartan Club	1.265	68.25
3	Lindsay Constitutional Club	1.250	67.48
4	Bretforton Sports Club	1.248	67.41
5	North Star Club	1.241	67.05
6	Bagley Sports & Social Club	1.238	66.89
7	United Services Club	1.226	66.29
8	Hethersett Social Club	1.224	66.20
9	Stratford Social Club	1.218	65.89
10	Wiltshire Darts House	1.218	65.88
11	Pilcs Sports & Social Club	1.217	65.86
12	Dorchester Trinity Club	1.203	65.16

Pinches Sets the Benchmark

There is no getting away from the standout number in that table.

1.350 — Pinches Cue Club.

There is a sizeable gap between Pinches and Sartan in second at 1.265, while the Top-20 figure of 72.50 also stands well clear of the other early leaders.

I am deliberately not calling Pinches the toughest venue in Vault 19.

We simply don't have enough evidence for that yet.

What I can say is that no Vault 19 tournament in my data through Saturday 12 September has produced a stronger Tournament Strength figure.

Now Pinches has to sustain it.

One exceptional field can produce a huge score. If Pinches continues appearing near the top after five, six or seven tournaments, then we will have evidence of something much more significant.

For now, though, everybody else has a benchmark to chase.

Sartan Still Leads the South West

Closer to home, the strongest opening figure belongs to a venue that featured heavily in my Vault 18 analysis.

Sartan Club is currently the strongest South West venue in Vault 19 at 1.265.

Its Vault 18 Tournament Strength level was around 1.23, so the opening Vault 19 figure is actually higher.

It is far too early to say that Sartan has definitely become stronger. We are comparing one new-series tournament against a much bigger Vault 18 sample.

But it is certainly an encouraging start.

Sartan established its credentials during Vault 18 and has immediately returned with another very strong field.

For now at least, Sartan remains the South West benchmark.

Lindsay Remains No.1 in Wales

There is an equally interesting story in Wales.

Lindsay Constitutional Club has opened Vault 19 at 1.250, putting it third overall in this early table and first among the Welsh venues.

What stands out here isn't improvement.

It's consistency.

Lindsay's Vault 18 level was approximately 1.254.

Vault 18: 1.254.

Vault 19 opening figure: 1.250.

That is almost identical.

A single enormous Tournament Strength score will always catch the eye, but repeatedly attracting strong fields is arguably more interesting.

Lindsay is beginning to provide evidence of exactly that.

North Star Has Started Stronger

North Star Club is another established venue worth watching.

Its opening Vault 19 figure of 1.241 compares with approximately 1.209 during Vault 18.

That is an early increase of around 0.03.

Again, I wouldn't call it a confirmed improvement after one tournament.

But North Star already had a strong Vault 18 baseline, so beginning Vault 19 above that level is significant enough to monitor.

If it is still around 1.24 after several events, then we can start talking about a genuine increase in the strength of its regular field.

Bretforton Joins the Leading Group

The familiar venues shouldn't completely dominate the story.

Bretforton Sports Club has opened with an impressive 1.248, putting it fourth overall and only fractionally behind Lindsay.

Bagley Sports & Social Club is also right amongst the leading group at 1.238.

This is one of the reasons I enjoy looking at Tournament Strength.

The winner of an event naturally receives most of the attention.

This measure gives me another way of finding venues where the difficulty of simply getting through the tournament deserves recognition.

Bretforton has certainly put itself on that list after week one.

WADC Vault 3.0 – South Wales Sets the Early Pace

I've also now added the WADC Vault 3.0 events to the tournaments I am following.

I think that matters.

Women's darts is something I have a particular interest in, and as Q4QS coverage continues to expand I don't want the WADC Vaults to become an afterthought.

I will keep the WADC figures separate from the main Vault 19 table so that we can follow the development of that circuit properly.

And the first set of numbers has produced a very clear regional story.

Leading WADC Vault 3.0 Tournament Strength

Rank	Venue	Tournament Strength
1	The 9 Darter, Port Talbot	0.997
2	Arrows Darts Venue #2, Resolven	0.986
3	Briton Ferry Workies	0.961
4	Walton WMC	0.941
5	London GAA, Ruislip	0.933
6	Shooters, Leominster	0.916

The first thing that stands out is obvious.

The top three are all in South Wales.

The 9 Darter in Port Talbot leads the way with 0.997, followed closely by Arrows Darts Venue #2 in Resolven at 0.986.

Briton Ferry Workies completes the top three at 0.961.

That gives South Wales an impressive early grip on the WADC Vault 3.0 Tournament Strength standings.

Briton Ferry Has Previous Form

Briton Ferry is particularly interesting because I now have historical WADC data to compare against.

During WADC Vault 2.0, an event at Briton Ferry produced a Tournament Strength figure of 1.123.

That means its appearance towards the top of the early Vault 3.0 standings isn't simply an isolated strong tournament at a completely unknown venue.

There is previous evidence of strong women's fields there.

As I add more WADC results, this is exactly the sort of thing I want to explore.

Which venues repeatedly attract the strongest women's fields?

Which areas have the greatest depth?

And do the same venues remain difficult from one Vault series to the next?

After the opening tournaments, South Wales has certainly given me somewhere to start.

Two Rankings That Should Become More Interesting Every Week

The important caveat with everything in this article is the date.

These figures only include tournaments in my data up to and including Saturday 12 September.

They are not final Vault 19 or WADC Vault 3.0 venue rankings.

They're the starting point.

Pinches has produced the standout Vault 19 field at 1.350.

Sartan remains the early South West leader and has started above its Vault 18 level.

Lindsay remains No.1 in Wales and has produced almost exactly the same strength figure as it did during Vault 18.

North Star has also started higher.

And in the WADC Vaults, The 9 Darter, Arrows Resolven and Briton Ferry have given South Wales a clean sweep of the opening top three.

Now I want to see what happens when those venues have three tournaments behind them.

Then five.

Then seven.

One huge score can tell us where an exceptional tournament took place.

Doing it repeatedly tells us where the toughest venues really are.

For now, though, the first Vault 19 target has been set:

1.350 — Pinches Cue Club, Norwich.

And in WADC Vault 3.0:

0.997 — The 9 Darter, Port Talbot.

I'll be watching both.

Where Is the Toughest Area to Play Darts? Q4QS Area Strength Rankings 2026

 

Over the last few editions of my Tournament Strength series, I've gradually moved closer to the grassroots game.

I've compared tours, individual tournaments and, most recently, the toughest regular venues south of Birmingham. That venue analysis showed Cefn Hengoed narrowly ahead of Sartan and North Star, but it also raised another question.

Does having one exceptionally tough venue mean you live in a particularly strong darts area?

Or is the real test the strength and depth of tournaments available across the whole local scene?

This time, I've gone back into the Q4QS database to find out.

What Do I Mean By An 'Area'?

This is important.

I'm not attempting to produce a definitive county championship or rank every part of Britain.

The Q4QS database is still expanding geographically. My existing rankings already cover the Midlands south of Birmingham, Wales and Southern England, with particularly detailed coverage around the South and South West.

So I've grouped tournaments into recognisable darts areas currently represented sufficiently in the database.

Think of this as the first Q4QS Area Strength table.

As the database expands, more areas will be able to join it.

Tournament Strength Is NOT A Three-Dart Average

One familiar warning before we get to the numbers.

If an area records a Tournament Strength of 62, it does not mean players in that area average 62.

Tournament Strength is the Q4QS field-strength measure. It looks at the quality of the players actually competing rather than simply how well somebody threw on a particular night. That's the same principle I've used throughout this series.

For this article, I've grouped those tournament scores geographically.

That allows us to ask:

If I regularly entered tournaments in this area, what sort of strength would I encounter?

The Early Q4QS Area Strength Picture

Here are some of the best-represented areas in the current database:

Area	Recorded Events	Typical Strength	Median	Peak
Dorset	51	61.49	62.60	68.87
Wiltshire	40	61.01	63.70	67.86
Oxfordshire	162	60.75	61.22	69.51
Buckinghamshire	255	60.70	62.53	89.02
Hampshire	162	59.74	60.38	73.80
Worcestershire	236	59.39	61.68	83.40
Gloucestershire	88	59.35	59.68	68.02
Devon	112	58.62	59.08	75.08
South Wales	505	56.73	58.74	73.57
Somerset	218	56.01	57.39	68.75
Bristol area	293	55.89	56.36	73.33

Figures are based on tournaments I can currently identify confidently within each geographical grouping. Different areas have different levels and types of Q4QS coverage, so these should be viewed as evolving 2026 benchmarks rather than definitive national rankings.

Dorset Takes The Early Lead

This wasn't necessarily the result I expected.

Dorset currently leads the areas I've analysed with a typical Tournament Strength of 61.49.

Its median is even higher at 62.60, suggesting the result isn't simply being inflated by one or two particularly strong tournaments.

That's exactly what this analysis is supposed to uncover.

Dorset doesn't need to contain the single strongest tournament in the database.

Instead, the tournaments currently represented there are producing a consistently strong overall level.

But Wiltshire May Have The Most Interesting Number

Wiltshire is second on mean Tournament Strength at 61.01.

Look at the median, though.

63.70.

That's the highest in this initial group.

North Star in Calne was already third in my individual venue rankings, with a typical Tournament Strength of 64.77.

The area analysis suggests that strength isn't disappearing when we move beyond one individual tournament.

The sample is smaller than some of the other areas, so I wouldn't declare Wiltshire the capital of grassroots darts just yet.

But 63.70 for the median tournament is a serious number.

Oxfordshire Has Depth

Then we reach an area with considerably more data.

Oxfordshire records 162 tournaments and a typical strength of 60.75.

Its peak reaches 69.51.

Faringdon had already caught my attention in the venue analysis because it maintained strong figures across a large number of competitions. Now the wider area is appearing towards the top as well.

That's more significant to me than one enormous tournament.

It's beginning to show depth.

Buckinghamshire Is Fascinating

Buckinghamshire is only fractionally behind Oxfordshire at 60.70, and its median is an impressive 62.53.

But then there's the peak:

89.02.

That comes from the ADC Winmau Championship South level of competition at Bradmoor Farm, Aylesbury – an event that already featured prominently in my toughest individual tournaments analysis. The 89.02 score is considerably beyond normal weekly grassroots territory.

And this demonstrates exactly why I've included both Typical Strength and Peak.

Buckinghamshire can stage an exceptionally strong tournament.

But I'm not allowing that one competition to turn the whole area into an 89-rated darts region.

The typical figure tells us what happens regularly.

The peak tells us how strong it can become.

Worcestershire Has The Same Story

Worcestershire produces another huge peak at 83.40, but its wider typical figure is 59.39.

Again, that's useful.

We already knew from previous Q4QS analysis that Worcestershire could produce extremely strong grassroots environments, with Bengeworth and Redditch both appearing prominently in earlier venue comparisons.

Area Strength adds another layer.

A brilliant venue doesn't necessarily make every tournament in the surrounding area equally difficult.

Bristol Produces The Biggest Surprise

Now for the result I suspect will interest many of my regular readers.

Bristol is bottom of this particular group at 55.89.

Do I therefore think Bristol has the weakest darts scene here?

Absolutely not.

In fact, this may be the most useful result in the entire article.

My Bristol data contains 293 tournaments, and Q4QS coverage around Bristol is particularly extensive. Previous local analysis alone has included thousands of matches and hundreds of different players.

More importantly, Bristol offers an enormous range of competitions.

There are strong open tournaments.

There are ADC Vaults.

There are Under-55 events.

There are Sub-70 competitions.

There are junior events.

There are tournaments specifically designed to give developing and lower-average players competitive darts.

DartAsylum is perhaps the perfect example. Its programme covers a huge range of standards, even though its strongest recorded field has reached 73.33.

So Bristol's lower overall number is partly telling us something positive:

there is competitive darts available for almost everybody.

That's Why Mean And Median Both Matter

This exercise has convinced me that future Area Strength rankings shouldn't rely on one number alone.

Look at Wiltshire.

Mean: 61.01
Median: 63.70

Now Bristol.

Mean: 55.89
Median: 56.36

And Buckinghamshire:

Mean: 60.70
Median: 62.53

We're beginning to see different types of darts ecosystems.

Some areas have predominantly strong open competition.

Some have enormous tournament schedules covering every standard.

Some have a fairly ordinary weekly level but occasionally host fields of almost professional-tour strength.

None of those is necessarily "better".

They're different.

South Wales Is Another Great Example

South Wales currently has a typical figure of 56.73, which might initially look surprising after Cefn Hengoed finished number one in the individual venue ranking.

But look at the sample:

505 tournaments.

That's vastly more than Dorset or Wiltshire.

Cefn Hengoed can produce exceptionally strong regular fields. Cardiff and Brynmawr have also featured prominently in the venue analysis.

But once hundreds of competitions of different standards are included, the overall area figure naturally changes.

And that gives us perhaps the most important lesson from this article.

One Tough Venue Doesn't Make A Tough Area

That was the question I started with.

I think the database is already beginning to answer it.

Venue Strength and Area Strength aren't the same thing.

An area can contain one brutal weekly tournament but relatively little strength elsewhere.

Another can have ten venues consistently producing good fields without ever recording one spectacular score.

And another can have hundreds of competitions deliberately catering for players throughout the ability spectrum.

That's why I don't want Area Strength to become simply another league table where number one is "good" and number ten is "bad".

The numbers are telling us far more than that.

These Rankings Will Change

Perhaps more than any previous article in this series, this one needs to be viewed as a starting point.

Q4QS coverage isn't geographically equal yet.

Some areas have hundreds of tournaments in the database.

Others have dozens.

And there are large parts of Britain I haven't yet incorporated sufficiently to include at all.

That's changing.

As Q4QS expands, new areas will enter the comparison and existing areas will gain more tournaments and venues.

That means today's leader might not remain there.

In fact, I'll be disappointed if this table doesn't change considerably.

That's part of the fun of building it.

Final Thoughts

So, where is the toughest area to play darts?

Among the areas sufficiently represented in this first Q4QS analysis, Dorset currently takes the lead on mean Tournament Strength at 61.49.

But I'd hesitate before simply crowning Dorset and walking away.

Wiltshire has the strongest median at 63.70.

Buckinghamshire has produced a staggering 89.02 peak.

Worcestershire has reached 83.40.

South Wales combines some outstanding venues with an enormous 505-event sample.

And Bristol's comparatively low 55.89 arguably tells us as much about the breadth and accessibility of its darts scene as it does its strength.

That's what I'm increasingly enjoying about Tournament Strength.

Sometimes the most interesting number isn't the biggest one.

It's the number that makes you ask:

Why?

And as more areas join the Q4QS database, I suspect we're going to be asking that question quite a lot.

Where Are the Toughest Places to Play Darts South of Birmingham? Q4QS Venue Rankings 2026

 

Over the past few weeks, I've been using the Q4QS Tournament Strength database to look at darts from a slightly different perspective.

I've compared the major tours.

I've looked at the toughest individual tournaments.

I've compared ADC Vaults with recognised international circuits.

Now I'm bringing things much closer to home.

Where are the toughest venues to regularly play darts south of Birmingham?

Not which venue has produced one spectacular tournament.

Not which has the biggest names or the largest prize fund.

But if you repeatedly turned up and entered tournaments at the same venue, where would you statistically be most likely to encounter a strong field?

This is the first version of the Q4QS venue rankings. My current database coverage is strongest across the southern half of Britain, so rather than pretend it represents every part of the country equally, this opening edition concentrates on venues south of Birmingham.

I'll be expanding the geographical coverage in the very near future as more tournaments and venues are added to the database.

First – What Does Tournament Strength Mean?

As always with this series, an important explanation comes first.

Tournament Strength is NOT a tournament average.

A venue with a Tournament Strength figure of 65 does not mean its players average 65.

The Q4QS Tournament Strength Score is a calculated field-strength measure incorporating factors such as player ratings, recorded performances and the overall quality of the players taking part.

In simple terms:

Tournament average tells us how players performed.

Tournament Strength attempts to tell us how difficult the field was.

For this particular analysis, I've taken that one stage further.

Rather than ranking a venue by the strongest tournament it has ever staged, I've looked at its results across multiple events.

A venue needed at least six qualifying tournament records in the database to make the main table.

That gives us a much better indication of where strong fields appear consistently.

Q4QS Toughest Darts Venues South of Birmingham – 2026 So Far

Rank	Venue	Events	Typical Strength	Peak
1	Lindsay Constitutional Club, Cefn Hengoed	17	65.20	73.44
2	The Sartan Club, Bishopsworth	23	64.89	69.26
3	North Star Club, Calne	25	64.77	67.86
4	Bridley Moor & Batchley Social Club, Redditch	14	64.54	68.31
5	Brynmawr Social Club, Brynmawr	28	64.35	67.85
6	Dorchester Trinity Club, Dorchester	20	64.05	68.51
7	Faringdon Football Club, Faringdon	37	63.74	68.59
8	The Academy, Basingstoke	7	63.60	66.37
9	Windmill Hill Golf Centre, Milton Keynes	21	63.53	66.43
10	The Banckers Draft, Minehead	12	63.51	67.55
11	Bradmoor Farm, Aylesbury	42	63.51	68.72
12	Frimley Green Working Men's Club	6	63.39	65.21
13	County Conservative Club, Cardiff	16	63.28	69.35
14	Woodbridge Hill Working Men's Club, Guildford	7	63.28	65.05
15	Bagley Sports & Social Club, Shrewsbury	20	63.25	66.96
16	Topsham Football Club	13	63.04	66.58
17	St Johns Club, Banbury	23	62.94	66.08
18	The Cue Corner, Worcester	7	62.94	66.55
19	Chalvey WMC, Slough	19	62.93	66.96
20	Phoenix Pub, Portsmouth	12	62.79	67.34

Typical Strength is the mean Q4QS Tournament Strength of the qualifying events currently recorded for that venue. This opening ranking focuses on venues south of Birmingham where the current Q4QS database has sufficient coverage. Figures are for 2026 so far and will change as further tournaments and regions are added.

Cefn Hengoed Takes Number One

Perhaps the first surprise is that the current number one isn't one of the venues that immediately springs to mind when talking about English grassroots darts.

It's in Wales.

Lindsay Constitutional Club in Cefn Hengoed leads the rankings with a typical Tournament Strength of 65.20 across 17 recorded events.

And this isn't simply the result of one huge night.

Its median Tournament Strength is also above 64, while its strongest recorded event reaches 73.44.

That's exactly what I wanted this ranking to identify.

Not somewhere that happened to attract one exceptional field.

Somewhere that repeatedly does it.

Sartan Confirms Its Reputation

Second place probably won't surprise many people who follow the South West darts scene.

The Sartan Club in Bishopsworth scores 64.89 across 23 tournaments.

What's particularly impressive is the consistency.

Its median score is almost identical to its overall figure, and its peak reaches 69.26.

That tells us Sartan isn't being pushed towards the top by one or two exceptional competitions.

Strong fields are simply normal there.

For players around Bristol, that's probably confirmation of something many already suspected.

If you turn up at Sartan, expect a difficult draw.

Calne Might Be the Most Impressive of All

Third-placed North Star Club in Calne is particularly interesting.

Its overall figure is 64.77, but its median is actually slightly higher at 65.22 across 25 tournaments.

That's significant.

It means the typical North Star event is consistently landing around the very top of this entire venue dataset.

Its peak of 67.86 isn't the highest in the rankings.

It doesn't need to be.

North Star's strength is consistency.

There appear to be very few easy nights.

Redditch and Brynmawr Complete the Top Five

Bridley Moor & Batchley Social Club in Redditch sits fourth at 64.54, followed by another Welsh venue, Brynmawr Social Club, at 64.35.

Brynmawr is particularly convincing because that figure comes from 28 recorded tournaments.

That's a sizeable sample.

Once a venue maintains a figure above 64 across that many competitions, it becomes increasingly difficult to dismiss it as a temporary spike.

Then Comes an Interesting Group

Dorchester, Faringdon, Basingstoke, Milton Keynes and Minehead complete the Top 10.

And there's something worth noticing here.

These aren't all venues concentrated in one recognised darts hotbed.

We're seeing strong tournament environments spread across Wales, the South West, the Midlands, the South Coast and the Home Counties.

That's one of the things I've enjoyed most about building this database.

Strong grassroots darts isn't confined to the places that receive the most publicity.

Faringdon and Bradmoor Deserve Special Mention

Sample size matters.

Faringdon Football Club ranks seventh with 37 recorded events.

Bradmoor Farm in Aylesbury ranks 11th with 42.

Those are two of the largest samples anywhere near the top of the ranking.

Maintaining Tournament Strength figures of 63.74 and 63.51 respectively across that many tournaments is arguably more impressive than reaching a slightly higher figure from six or seven events.

It suggests players attending those venues aren't occasionally encountering strong fields.

They're encountering them over and over again.

And What About Paignton?

This is where comparing peak strength with regular strength becomes fascinating.

In the previous ADC analysis, 8 Ball Bar & Sports in Paignton produced the strongest ordinary Vault event I'd found:

75.08.

That's still an exceptional result.

But across its 12 qualifying events in this analysis, Paignton's typical Tournament Strength is 62.64.

That puts it just outside this Top 20.

There is no contradiction.

It simply answers two different questions.

How strong can Paignton get?

Extremely strong.

Is every Paignton tournament played at that level?

No.

And that's precisely why looking at venues over a longer period gives us a different picture.

Peak Strength Still Matters

It would be wrong to completely ignore those exceptional nights.

Some venues outside the Top 10 have demonstrated how strong they can become when the right field assembles.

Among the notable peaks are:

Paignton – 75.08

Cefn Hengoed – 73.44

Cardiff – 69.35

Sartan Club – 69.26

Bradmoor Farm – 68.72

Faringdon – 68.59

Dorchester – 68.51

Those peaks tell us something different from the main ranking.

A venue's regular score tells us what you're likely to encounter.

Its peak tells us how difficult the room can become.

Both are useful.

Wales Is Producing Some Serious Fields

One of the clearest geographical stories in the rankings is Wales.

Cefn Hengoed is number one.

Brynmawr is fifth.

Cardiff is 13th.

That's three Welsh venues inside the Top 13.

Given how much attention English grassroots darts receives, that's worth highlighting.

The data suggests there are some extremely competitive regular tournament environments on the other side of the Severn.

The South West Is Very Much in the Picture

From my usual South West perspective, there is plenty here too.

Sartan is second.

Calne is third.

Minehead is tenth.

Topsham is 16th.

And immediately below the Top 20 are venues including Paignton, Yeovil and Gloucester.

So while Wales currently supplies the number-one venue, the South West has a very strong presence throughout the rankings.

And the numbers reinforce something I've seen repeatedly while covering darts in this region:

There is an enormous amount of quality operating well below the level that receives national attention.

Does This Mean Cefn Hengoed Is the Hardest Venue to Win At?

Not necessarily.

And that's an important distinction.

Tournament Strength measures the quality of the field.

It doesn't account for everything involved in actually winning a tournament.

A 16-player tournament and a 128-player tournament can have identical field-strength ratings but present very different challenges.

Format matters.

Number of entrants matters.

Match length matters.

Seeding matters.

The draw matters.

So this isn't intended to answer:

"Where is it mathematically hardest to lift a trophy?"

It's answering:

"Which regular venues are attracting the strongest fields?"

That's a subtly different – and I think equally interesting – question.

This Is Only the Beginning

There's another important caveat to these rankings.

This isn't yet intended as a definitive ranking of every darts venue in Britain.

The Q4QS database is growing all the time, and its geographical coverage isn't yet equal everywhere.

That's why I've deliberately started with venues south of Birmingham, where I have enough data to make meaningful comparisons.

I'll be expanding the coverage in the very near future.

As more regions and tournaments are added, we'll start to see whether these venues can hold their positions when they come up against the strongest rooms elsewhere.

And that should make the ranking even more interesting.

And What About My Own Regular Venues?

I was obviously curious to see how some of the venues I regularly cover and play at compared.

Hangar 61 in Patchway comes out particularly well. Across 42 recorded events, it has a typical Tournament Strength of 61.65, with its strongest tournament reaching an impressive 70.03. That leaves Hangar just outside the current Top 20, and there have been several particularly strong fields there recently.

DartAsylum HQ produces a very different number, averaging 53.22 across an enormous 132 recorded events, but that figure needs some context.

DartAsylum runs a huge variety of competitions, including Under-55, Sub-70, junior and other restricted events, so its overall venue figure is naturally pulled down by the type of tournaments it stages. When the stronger fields assemble, the numbers can be very different – DartAsylum's peak Tournament Strength this year is an excellent 73.33.

For me, it's a useful example of why the numbers need a little interpretation. These rankings measure the strength of the tournaments being staged at each venue, rather than rating the venue itself.

Final Thoughts

Looking only at the strongest individual tournament tells us where an exceptional field has assembled.

Looking across repeated tournaments tells us something more useful.

Where is strong darts normal?

Right now, among the venues south of Birmingham sufficiently represented in the Q4QS database, the answer is Cefn Hengoed.

But Sartan and North Star are extremely close.

Redditch, Brynmawr and Dorchester aren't far behind.

And venues such as Faringdon and Bradmoor Farm are producing strong numbers across dozens of competitions.

Perhaps most importantly, the difference between many of these venues is tiny.

A player looking for tough competitive darts doesn't need to enter a PDC event.

Across the southern half of Britain, there are plenty of clubs where strong fields are turning up week after week.

And as the Q4QS database expands, we'll find out just how those venues compare with the rest of the country.

What Are the Toughest Non-Televised Darts Tournaments of 2026 So Far?

 

Over the past few weeks, I've been using the Q4QS Tournament Strength data to look at the competitive landscape of darts from several different angles.

I've compared the world's leading tours, looked at the difference between the Players Championship, Challenge Tour and Development Tour, and most recently investigated just how tough ADC Vault tournaments can become.

This time I'm asking a simple question:

What have been the toughest individual non-televised tournaments of 2026 so far?

There is one important distinction before looking at the rankings.

This analysis does not include the PDC's televised events.

The ranking is based on the floor, qualifying, pathway, regional and open tournaments currently represented in the Q4QS Tournament Strength database. Events such as the World Championship, World Matchplay and other televised PDC tournaments are therefore not part of this comparison.

And, of course, we're only in August. This is a snapshot of 2026 so far, not a final end-of-year ranking.

First – Tournament Strength Is NOT an Average

This distinction is particularly important when looking at the numbers below.

A Q4QS Tournament Strength Score of 93.00 does not mean the players averaged 93.00.

Tournament Strength is a calculated Q4QS measure designed to assess the overall quality of a tournament field. It incorporates factors including player ratings, player performance and the overall strength of those competing.

It allows tournaments from very different levels and parts of the game to be compared using the same scale.

Think of it as a field-strength rating, not a three-dart average.

The Toughest Non-Televised Tournaments of 2026 So Far

Rank	Tournament	Q4QS Tournament Strength
1	PDC Players Championship 4	99.01
2	PDC Players Championship 1	98.15
3	Winmau World Masters – Preliminary Round Finals	97.99
4	PDC Players Championship 3	97.81
5	PDC Players Championship 2	97.75
6	European Tour 1 – Tour Card Holder Qualifier	96.51
7	European Tour 2 – Tour Card Holder Qualifier	95.00
8	UK Q-School Final Stage – Event 2	93.00
9	UK Q-School Final Stage – Event 1	92.81
10	PDC Challenge Tour 1	92.80
11	UK Q-School Final Stage – Event 4	92.61
12	UK Q-School Final Stage – Event 3	92.53
13	PDC Challenge Tour 2	92.46
14	PDC Challenge Tour 9	92.31
15	UK Q-School Stage 1 – Event 1	92.00
16	PDC Challenge Tour 3	91.50
17	EU Q-School Final Stage – Event 3	91.44
18	PDC Challenge Tour 4	91.41
19	EU Q-School Final Stage – Event 4	91.19
20	EU Q-School Final Stage – Event 1	91.18

Players Championship Is Still the Benchmark

Within the non-televised tournaments covered by this analysis, the Players Championship is the clear benchmark.

Players Championship 4 leads the database with a Tournament Strength Score of 99.01.

Players Championship 1, 3 and 2 are also all inside the top five.

These are 128-player fields packed with Tour Card holders, and there simply aren't many places for a weaker player to hide.

You can draw an outstanding player in the opening round and, should you win, potentially face another immediately afterwards.

The Players Championship doesn't have the crowds and atmosphere associated with televised darts, but purely in terms of field strength, the numbers underline just how unforgiving the floor circuit can be.

The World Masters Preliminary Stage Is a Standout

Sitting amongst all those Players Championships is something very different.

The Winmau World Masters Preliminary Round Finals scores 97.99, putting it third in the entire non-televised ranking.

That's an enormous Tournament Strength Score.

And it illustrates something that has become increasingly apparent while producing this series:

the most prestigious part of a tournament isn't necessarily the strongest part statistically.

When large numbers of extremely capable players are fighting for a limited number of places, preliminary rounds and qualifiers can create extraordinarily concentrated fields.

Tour Card Holder Qualifiers Are Brutal

Two European Tour Card Holder Qualifiers are next, scoring 96.51 and 95.00.

Those aren't European Tour stage events.

They're the tournaments players have to survive simply to reach them.

With fields consisting almost entirely of PDC Tour Card holders and only a limited number of qualification places available, straightforward matches are difficult to find.

Some of the strongest fields in darts therefore aren't playing in front of thousands of spectators.

They're playing on the floor trying to earn the right to do so.

Q-School Really Is That Difficult

Anyone who has followed Q-School knows its reputation.

The Tournament Strength data gives us an indication of just how difficult it really is.

UK Q-School Final Stage Event 2 records 93.00.

Event 1 scores 92.81, while Events 4 and 3 register 92.61 and 92.53 respectively.

For comparison, the strongest Challenge Tour event in the current data is 92.80.

That means the strongest UK Q-School Final Stage event actually edges it.

Q-School brings together former Tour Card holders, leading Challenge and Development Tour players, international competitors and ambitious players attempting to break into the professional game.

The numbers reinforce something anyone who has attempted Q-School already knows:

earning a Tour Card is brutally difficult.

Challenge Tour Shows the Depth Below the 128

Challenge Tour 1 reaches 92.80, with Events 2 and 9 recording 92.46 and 92.31.

That's another indication of the depth immediately beneath the PDC Tour.

It can be tempting to see Tour Card holders and non-Tour Card holders as two clearly defined standards of player.

The Tournament Strength data suggests reality is considerably less straightforward.

There is a huge amount of quality immediately outside the professional 128.

And Then It Starts Getting Really Interesting

The overall Top 20 is understandably dominated by Players Championship, Q-School and Challenge Tour events.

But move a little further down the rankings and tournaments from very different parts of darts start appearing alongside one another.

One in particular stands out.

ADC Winmau Championship South – Event 3: 89.02

The ADC Winmau Championship South Event 3 scores 89.02.

That's a significant number.

The event attracted more than 300 players in the Q4QS database, while another Championship South event scores 87.90 and the Friday night warm-up reaches 86.86.

In the previous article in this series I looked at how strong the sharp end of the ADC Vault system could become.

The Championship data takes that story another step further.

The strongest ADC Championship fields aren't at Challenge Tour level – there is still a meaningful gap between 89.02 and the Challenge Tour events above 92.

But they're considerably stronger than the term "grassroots darts" might lead some people to assume.

And Then There's the Dutch Open

The 2026 Dutch Open records 88.56 in the Q4QS database.

There is an important caveat with this figure.

The Q4QS Dutch Open data currently covers the tournament from the Last 1,024 onwards, rather than the complete entry.

The 88.56 Tournament Strength Score should therefore be interpreted as the strength of the section of the tournament represented in my database – not as a measurement of every player who originally entered the Dutch Open.

Even with that qualification, it provides another interesting reference point for the strength of major open darts.

Beyond the Top 20

Once we move away from the PDC-dominated top of the ranking, the variety becomes much more apparent.

Tournament	Q4QS Tournament Strength
ADC Winmau Championship South – Event 3	89.02
UK Q-School Stage 1 – Event 3	88.80
Dutch Open*	88.56
ADC Winmau Championship South – Event 1	87.90
EU Q-School Stage 1 – Event 1	87.86
PDC Europe Next Gen – Weekend 1	86.64
EU Q-School Stage 1 – Event 2	86.59
PDC Asian Tour 2	86.58
Scottish Open	86.56

*Dutch Open score represents the tournament from the Last 1,024 onwards.

This might actually be the most interesting part of the analysis.

We have ADC Championship darts, Q-School, Next Gen, the Asian Tour and major international opens all beginning to occupy similar territory.

They're very different competitions with very different purposes.

But Tournament Strength gives us a way of asking the same question of all of them:

How strong was the field?

A Bigger Tournament Doesn't Necessarily Mean a Stronger Field

Tournament prestige, prize money, crowd size and Tournament Strength are completely different things.

A small invitational event can contain some of the greatest players in the world.

A huge open tournament can contain hundreds or even thousands of players across a massive range of abilities.

And a qualifier can contain an unusually concentrated group of extremely strong players because almost everyone in the room is fighting for only a handful of places.

Tournament Strength isn't designed to tell us which event matters most.

It measures the competitive strength of the field represented in the Q4QS database.

That's a very different question.

And it's producing some fascinating answers.

Final Thoughts

So far in 2026, one thing remains very clear.

Within the non-televised tournaments covered by the Q4QS database, Players Championship darts sets an extraordinarily high benchmark.

But underneath it lies a much more interesting hierarchy.

Tour Card Holder Qualifiers are exceptionally strong.

Q-School really is as brutal as its reputation suggests.

The Challenge Tour demonstrates the enormous depth immediately outside the PDC's professional 128.

And further down, ADC Championships, major opens, Next Gen and international PDC circuits show just how much quality exists across the wider darts world.

Perhaps the biggest lesson from this series continues to be the same one:

The name above the tournament doesn't necessarily tell you how difficult the draw is going to be.

The players in the room do.

And that's exactly what the Q4QS Tournament Strength Score is designed to measure.

These are the standings in August 2026.

There is still plenty of darts to be played.

It will be fascinating to see whether anything can dislodge Players Championship 4 from the top before the end of the year.

Coming Next: The Toughest Darts Venues in Britain

We've compared tours.

We've compared individual tournaments.

Now the next question is:

Where are the toughest places to play?

Are ADC Vaults Tougher Than People Think? The Numbers Tell an Interesting Story

 

The ADC Vault has become one of the biggest developments in grassroots darts.

Thousands of players now compete across the UK and Ireland, from relative newcomers to players capable of competing at MODUS Super Series and professional level.

But how strong are the tournaments themselves?

Having already used my Q4QS Tournament Strength Score to compare the major tours around the world, I wanted to apply the same measurement to the Vault.

Could an ordinary night at your local Vault actually produce a field comparable with some recognised international tours?

The answer is more complicated than I expected.

First – What Is Tournament Strength?

The Q4QS Tournament Strength Score is not the tournament average.

It is a calculated measure designed to assess the overall quality of a tournament field, incorporating factors including player ratings, performances and the strength of the players taking part.

That means two tournaments producing similar match averages don't necessarily receive the same Strength Score.

For this analysis I've also separated ordinary weekly Vault tournaments from the larger Regional Finals and MODUS Super Series qualifying events.

That's important.

A normal £6 Vault night open to players of widely differing standards isn't really the same competition as a Regional Final containing many of the strongest players from an entire region.

How Strong Is a Normal Vault?

This is where the size of the Q4QS database becomes particularly useful.

There are more than 3,500 ordinary 2026 Vault tournament records in the dataset after removing Regional Finals, MODUS qualifiers, Level Up events, break-week competitions and obvious malformed records.

Across that enormous sample, a typical Vault sits at around 60 Tournament Strength points.

But that doesn't tell the whole story.

The strongest ordinary Vault nights are considerably tougher.

Some of the Strongest Regular Vaults in the Database

Event	Tournament Strength
8 Ball Bar & Sports, Paignton – Vault 17	75.08
Lindsay Constitutional Club, Cefn Hengoed – Vault 18	73.44
Bengeworth Club, Evesham – Vault 18	71.06
Hotshots Sports Bar, Bletchley – Vault 18	70.62
Sartan Club, Bishopsworth – Vault 18	70.25
Lindsay Constitutional Club, Cefn Hengoed – Vault 18	69.93
Samba Darts Academy, Tipton – Vault 17	69.81
Beechwood Club, Blackburn – Vault 17	69.50
Cardiff County Conservative Club – Vault 18	69.35
Sartan Club, Bishopsworth – Vault 16	69.26

That immediately demonstrates something important.

There is no single standard of “Vault darts”.

One venue can produce a substantially stronger field than another, and even the same venue can change significantly from week to week.

That's hardly surprising when Vault is deliberately accessible to players across a very wide range of abilities. The ADC describes the format as being for everyone, from beginners through to experienced competitors.

Paignton Produces the Standout

The biggest surprise in the regular-event data is 8 Ball Bar & Sports in Paignton.

Its Vault 17 event on 27 April scores 75.08.

That is particularly interesting when compared with the figure from the previous article in this series:

PDC Women's Series – 74.95

I wouldn't interpret a difference of 0.13 points as meaning the Paignton Vault is definitively "stronger than the Women's Series".

The methodology and samples are different, and we're comparing one exceptionally strong Vault with the leading events used for a whole circuit.

But it demonstrates the level that an unusually strong local Vault can reach.

A grassroots Monday-night tournament producing a field that even enters the same numerical territory is noteworthy.

Then the Regional Finals Change Everything

Once we move from ordinary Vault nights to the end-of-series Regional Finals and MODUS qualifiers, the numbers rise again.

Among the strongest in the database are:

Vault Finals/Qualifier	Strength
South East & London Vault 16 MODUS Qualifier	82.19
South Wales Vault 15 MODUS Qualifier	79.98
South Wales Vault 17 MODUS Qualifier	79.19
South Wales Vault 16 MODUS Qualifier	79.17
South West Vault 16 MODUS Qualifier	78.79
South West Vault 17 MODUS Qualifier	78.53
Midlands Vault 17 MODUS Qualifier	78.12
South West Vault 15 MODUS Qualifier	77.70

And 82.19 changes the conversation considerably.

How Does 82.19 Compare With the World Tours?

Using the illustrative Tournament Strength figures from the previous Q4QS analysis gives us some context:

Circuit/Event	Q4QS Strength
Challenge Tour	91.85
Development Tour	89.26
Asian Tour	87.13
DPA Australia	83.25
Strongest Vault Regional Final	82.19
Nordic & Baltic	82.46
DPNZ New Zealand	79.22
CDC North America	79.05
Strongest ordinary Vault	75.08
PDC Women's Series	74.95
CDLC	66.48

Now it gets interesting.

The strongest Vault Regional Final in the database is sitting almost level with the Nordic & Baltic circuit, not far behind the DPA, and above the figures we produced for DPNZ and CDC.

Again, that doesn't mean ADC Vault is a stronger tour than CDC or DPNZ.

It isn't a like-for-like comparison.

We're comparing the very strongest Vault Regional Final with representative scores from complete circuits.

But it does demonstrate the quality that can assemble at the sharp end of the ADC system.

And the ADC pathway is specifically designed to funnel local Vault competition into Regional Finals, National Finals and ultimately opportunities including the Global Championship and MODUS Super Series.

But Is Vault Challenge Tour Standard?

This is where the data gives us a pretty decisive answer.

No.

At least not as a circuit.

The Challenge Tour score of 91.85 is in another bracket.

So too is the Development Tour at 89.26.

Even the strongest Vault Regional Final currently recorded at 82.19 remains around seven points below Development Tour level.

That's quite a substantial gap on this scale.

And an ordinary Vault, typically around 60, is obviously operating in a completely different competitive environment.

But that shouldn't really be surprising.

Challenge Tour fields contain former Tour Card holders and players actively attempting to enter or return to the professional game.

Vault has a completely different purpose.

Perhaps That's Actually the Strength of Vault

This might be the most interesting conclusion of all.

The attraction of the Vault isn't that every tournament is brutally difficult.

It's that the standard can stretch so far.

At one end, someone relatively new to competitive darts can enter their local event.

At the other, the strongest players progress into Regional Finals containing fields capable of registering Tournament Strength Scores above 80.

The structure deliberately accommodates that range. Vault operates through seven-week series before Regional Finals, while the wider 2026 pathway also includes average-banded Level Up competitions.

That's a very different model from the Challenge or Development Tours.

Location Matters – A Lot

There is another story hidden in these numbers that I'll return to later in this series.

Where you play your Vault matters.

Paignton reaching 75.08 while thousands of other Vault tournaments sit around the 60 mark demonstrates just how much local player pools affect tournament difficulty.

Sartan Club appears repeatedly towards the higher end.

So does Lindsay Constitutional Club.

Evesham, Bletchley, Tipton and several other venues also produce particularly strong nights.

That opens up another question:

Where are the toughest places in Britain to play darts?

That's an article for later in this series.

Final Thoughts

So, are ADC Vaults tougher than people think?

At the top end, absolutely.

A normal Vault isn't comparable with the Challenge Tour or Development Tour, and it would be misleading to pretend otherwise.

But the best ordinary Vault fields can reach the mid-70s on the Q4QS Tournament Strength scale.

And once the strongest players from a region are concentrated into the Regional Finals, scores can climb beyond 80.

That's enough to put the strongest Vault showcase events into territory occupied by some established international circuits.

Perhaps that's the real story.

The journey from a normal local Vault night to the sharp end of a Regional Final represents a considerable increase in difficulty in its own right.

And for a competition designed to provide a pathway from grassroots darts towards much bigger opportunities, that's exactly what you would hope to see.

Next in the Q4QS Tournament Strength series: The Toughest Individual Tournaments of 2026.

The Toughest Vault 18 Venues in the South West – According to the Q4QS Database

 

Where are the hardest places to win a Vault 18 title?

It's a question I've heard several times, and like most debates in darts, everyone has an opinion.

Some players will tell you Bristol is the toughest place to play. Others swear by Gloucestershire, while players from Somerset and Worcestershire would no doubt argue that their local venues are every bit as competitive.

Rather than relying on opinion, I thought I'd let the Q4QS database do the talking.

Before looking at the rankings, it's important to explain exactly what you're looking at.

Tournament Strength isn't the same as tournament average

One of the biggest misconceptions in darts statistics is that a high winning average automatically means a strong tournament.

It doesn't.

The Q4QS Tournament Strength Index isn't designed to measure how well the winner played. Instead, it measures the overall quality of the field taking part. A tournament packed with highly-rated players will score highly, even if conditions mean averages are slightly lower than normal.

In simple terms...

Tournament Average tells you how well players performed.

Tournament Strength tells you how difficult the tournament was to win.

That's what makes it such an interesting statistic.

The table below shows the highest Tournament Strength Index recorded by each venue currently appearing in the Q4QS database. While these are benchmark figures rather than long-term venue averages, they provide an excellent indication of which venues are capable of producing exceptionally strong fields.

Q4QS South West Vault 18 Venue Rankings

Rank	Venue	County	Highest Tournament Strength
1	Bengeworth Club	Worcestershire	71.06
2	Sartan Club	Bristol	70.25
3	Yeovil Labour Club	Somerset	68.75
4	Bridley Moor & Batchley SC	Worcestershire	68.31
5	Magpies Social Club	Gloucestershire	68.02
6	North Star Club	Wiltshire	67.02
7	GWRSA Club	Oxfordshire	66.79
8	Choughs Hotel	Somerset	66.78
9	Faringdon Town FC	Oxfordshire	66.65
10	The Academy	Hampshire	66.37
11	Bretforton Sports Club	Worcestershire	66.31
12	Hangar61	Bristol	63.33

Figures based on the highest Tournament Strength Index currently recorded for each venue in the Q4QS database.

Worcestershire quietly leads the way

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the county at the top.

While Bristol has long been regarded as one of England's darts hotbeds, Worcestershire boasts three venues inside the current Top 15, including the Bengeworth Club, which holds the highest Tournament Strength recorded in the database.

Anyone who has played at Bengeworth will know exactly why.

Strong local players, regular visitors and a consistently competitive field make every draw a genuine test.

Bristol continues to deliver

It would be impossible to write this article without mentioning Bristol.

The Sartan Club continues to justify its reputation as one of the country's premier grassroots venues, while Hangar61 has established itself as another excellent destination for competitive Vault 18 darts.

What stands out isn't just the quality of the leading players, but the depth throughout the field.

Winning in Bristol rarely comes easily.

A healthy spread across the South West

One of the most encouraging aspects of these rankings is how geographically diverse they are.

Somerset is represented by Yeovil Labour Club and Choughs Hotel.

Gloucestershire has the ever-improving Magpies Social Club.

Wiltshire's North Star Club continues to attract quality entries.

Oxfordshire appears twice, while Hampshire also makes the list.

That's fantastic news for grassroots darts.

Players no longer need to travel huge distances to find strong competition. Across the South West there are now numerous venues capable of producing fields packed with county players, experienced competitors and ambitious youngsters.

The standard keeps rising

Perhaps that's the biggest story of all.

The purpose of the Tournament Strength Index isn't simply to rank venues.

It's to track the overall health of grassroots darts.

Looking at these figures, one conclusion feels unavoidable.

The standard is improving.

More players are competing regularly.

More venues are attracting stronger entries.

And more tournaments are becoming genuinely difficult to win.

For anyone looking to test themselves against quality opposition, these venues represent some of the very best the South West has to offer.

As the Q4QS database continues to grow, I'll be revisiting these rankings using long-term venue averages to see which clubs consistently attract the strongest fields.

For now, though, these venues have set the benchmark.

And judging by the quality on display week after week, earning a Vault 18 title at any of them is an achievement to be proud of.