Try Something New: TimberJacks Axe Throwing Leeds

Have you got an axe to grind? We ventured to TimberJacks Axe Throwing in Burley Hill Trading Estate to discover what makes the pursuit so popular.

Transcript

00:00 Within the unassuming Burley Hill trading estate in Leeds you'll find Timberjack's axe throwing,

00:06 where manager Richard Whittaker was on hand to show me the ropes or axes and teach me the basics.

00:12 Fortunately I arrived before anyone else was there, so no one bar Richard could observe my shambolic attempts at the pursuit.

00:19 Richard admitted his archery background did stand him in good stead and over the past two years he really has aced his axe throwing skills.

00:28 The company first started up, opened up just before Covid.

00:32 Obviously we had the trouble and time that so many companies did from that.

00:37 Opened back up, then we had to relocate soon after there, but it worked out better for us, we got a much nicer building.

00:44 We got an opportunity to restart and rethink about where we wanted to go with the company.

00:48 When you attend you'll first be asked to sign a waiver, then we'll take you through the basics of it,

00:54 give a little demo, a little instruction, see how you go.

00:58 That normally carries on during your visit, so if we find a way to improve your throwing and improve your game we can do that.

01:07 Scoring, reds are 5, blues are 10. The number system works like that, then it goes up, best of 10 shots,

01:15 scored out from there, maximum of 100 obviously, which isn't that common, not by me.

01:22 It's a good way to enjoy an evening with friends and stuff.

01:27 We've had people from minimum age of 8, we've gone up to 96 when we had an old people's home visit one afternoon, that was interesting.

01:36 My only axe to grind was how terrible I ended up being at this.

01:40 I thought I would be axing lyrical at how straightforward it was, but if I was given my own axe throwing series it would surely be axed.

01:48 Any tips Richard?

01:50 If you get your basics sorted out and you get a good baseline for repetition, it makes it a lot easier.

01:56 Really all it is, is getting the distance through your rotation sorted out.

02:00 Once you've done that, they'll start going on the board a lot more easily, and you'll start enjoying it a lot more.

02:05 But then again if you miss, you've still got to throw an axe at a wall, who doesn't like that idea?

02:09 We do have other games as well that add on to the axe throwing, like the smashing apples, the golden bucket, the water bucket,

02:16 which is quite good with stag do's and hen do's, where someone sits under the water bucket, someone throws their string,

02:23 and obviously someone gets wet sooner or later.

02:26 Despite getting a score of 1 from one throw, it does appear that there are some natural axe throwers among us.

02:33 The guy that came about 6 months ago, he'd never thrown an axe before, and just nailed it down.

02:40 He got 76 on his, we took score, 76 which is his outstanding score, even for this good by my standards to be honest.

02:48 But first time here, didn't think he'd enjoy it, got 76, went away very happy.

02:54 People always worry about how safe it is, it's very safe.

02:56 We've got the rules in place to keep everyone safe, we want people to have fun as well obviously, but safety is paramount.