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Michael Smith
Stowe Buntz
Rowby-John Rodriguez
Haupai Puha
They say time flies when you’re doing what you love. The Shot Darts history stretches back more than 50 years, and four generations of the McCormick family.
Founder John McCormick’s dad was the accountant for the local hardware store, where the owner made coir dartboards. Inspired by the machine – John bought it, quit his job, and moved to small town Katikati with wife Pat, daughter Julie and baby Peter, building the original factory.
In 1970's New Zealand, port strikes blocked sports equipment imports. John saw an opportunity to make darts locally, and in 1972, Puma exported its first darts. A natural entrepreneur, John flew by the seat of his pants. Says wife Pat “I don’t think John had a plan. He was out there, he was vivacious, and just went with it. And he had me behind him.”
Early on, Puma also made brass darts in house for other brands. Then John met a man from Taupo who was trying to make bristle boards. John bought his company and in the late 70s bought and converted Donaghy’s old bailing twine line into a sisal processing machine to make bristle dartboards. Puma Darts began exporting into Europe after John attended his first ISPO Tradeshow, USA and the rest of the world soon followed.
Sadly, John passed away in 2003. Luckily the team supported son Peter and Julie through the evolution and growth that followed. Says Peter, “Players still drive all we do. They challenge us to get better. It’s an obsession for finding out what our players (at every level) need, and how we can make the game incredible for them.”
John & Pat McCormick and their young family launch Puma Dart Products in our hometown of Katikati, New Zealand. Our Puma Darts factory starts crafting coir paper dartboards – and the orders pile up.
Go, go gadget – our shiny new bit of kit, an automatic lathe – starts turning out precision darts
We outgrow our old factory and move into larger, purpose-built digs to keep up with production
A big decade for bristles, both in moustaches and dartboards. We start working on a top secret project – development, testing and prototyping.
The cat’s out of the bag – Puma Darts launches ‘The Bandit’, the world’s first bladed dartboard. Making bounce outs history (almost). That same year, Puma Darts sponsors the New Zealand Women’s Team – all the way to a win – with our "state-of-the-art" darts!
Like father, like son – Peter joins dad John, and starts learning the ropes. Another big milestone – we invest in ten Traub machines that are shipped all the way from the Soviet Union!
We proudly sponsor our first big international tournament – the WDF Darts World Cup in South Africa
And then follow up four years later in France. A sad year. John, the captain of our team, passes on, and son Peter steps up to the Oche as our MD
Nurturing the next generation – The Shot Young Guns Programme gets its start
We design and make a darts range that’s a collab with pro Michael van Gerwen, ACM Products and XQ Max Darts
The Shot brand gets an upgrade, and we celebrate by launching our epic Warrior and Tribal Weapon ranges
Our new pro duo, German darts aces Max Hopp and Martin Schindler sign with Shot Darts
With our high-tech titanium coating plant, Shot is the only manufacturer to make darts 100% in house
We celebrate our 50th Anniversary – still proudly designing, developing and making, right here.
We hit the bullseye! We are thrilled to announce the signing of world number one and reigning PDC World Champion Michael ‘Bully Boy’ Smith.
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