Doing the Basics Really Well in a Special Location!

Review of BATL Portlands, Toronto, Canada

I mostly leave an axe throwing venue thinking: “that was a fun throwing session”. On rare occasions, I’ve come away thinking: “that was terrible. I’ll never go back”, But, on a few occasions I’ve come away thinking simply: “That was really special!”. Such was my experience of BATL Portlands.

The building did add a lot to the experience. Outside it is fairly nondescript. Just another warehouse in a post-industrial area (we had some difficulty finding it, until a passerby pointed us in the right direction). But, inside it is a huge industrial space, with a series of dual-target lanes each side of a wide central auditorium, all divided up by steel columns and wire fence. It wasn’t particularly busy when we arrived first thing on a Sunday, but, with the background music pumping out and the sounds of the handful of throwers thwunking here and there, there was still a real buzz running through the place.

At the head of the main auditorium, one wall was dominated by a list of champion throwers. The effect enhanced the overall atmosphere of competitivity. It gave the feel of almost some sort of place of worship, a sanctuary to the sport of axe throwing, while highlighting exactly what it is, first and foremost a sports facility dedicated to the sport. It certainly boosted our expectations for the session.

We’d opted for the casual throwing option, which meant that after a very quick (but professional) safety brief and throwing instruction, we were left to ourselves. Curiously, the axe coach only showed us how to throw with two hands initially. Once he was happy we could do that, he left us to do it. I presume the thinking is two handed is easier to pick up for beginners. Our coach did pop back after a while to see how we were doing and offer a few pointers on throwing with one hand, so clearly they don’t advocate two handed as being the only way to throw. We were more than happy to be left to get on with it, but you can also book a Premium session and get a dedicated coach throughout your time.

There were only two of us, and we had a single lane to ourselves, with two targets side by side in the standard IATF set up, ie one board each, with the IATF three band targets painted on. The quality of the boards would have been perfectly acceptable in a high level competition. Plenty of life in them and well watered.

Scoring was on a simple laminated sheet with a marker pen. Fine, except the pen was running out (minor criticism to add some balance to the review 🙂 ). The sheet also had a few suggested games to play on the standard target. We had a go at the games, which were fun, but mostly played the IATF standard three sets of 5 throws, head to head. The BATL Premium option provides organised games and digital scoring (ie you type the score in to a digital scoreboard).

The house axes were excellent. An actual throwing hatchet, rather than a generic kindling chopper. It had a nicely balanced head and a straight handle that was narrower than a standard hatchet. Not top of the range (of course) and very well used, but they definitely enhanced our throwing, particularly with the more precise shots. My throwing partner in particular hit her personal best number of Premier clutches¹, (ie splitting the 1.5″ white rectangle within the green spot) – and I still enjoyed the visit! You could also pay extra to throw knives and big axes.

There was a basic bar serving the axe throwing sport enthusiasts, as opposed to the fancy bars you can get at some venues where the axe throwing is an added entertainment. I liked that balance. We just bought a couple of cans to drink on our lane, but there is a large central area, including pool tables, which serves as a good social area to hang and also as a spectator area for competitions. There would have plenty of space for a group event.

Some places just have that extra special wow-factor, which is often easier to experience than to describe. I’m not sure that my review specifically draws out what is special about the place, because it is essentially just doing the basics really well in a cool building. That said, I’ve been to plenty of other venues that have pretty much the same set up and haven’t left so upbeat as we did when leaving Portlands.

It probably did help that this was my first visit to Portlands. My expectations were high before I arrived and I did wonder if I would be disappointed. The BATL chain has 18 venues including Portlands, and had a key role in bringing the sport of axe throwing into the public domain (see The Remarkable Backyard League That Inspired International Axe Throwing). BATL Portlands has a unique place in that story, being essentially the first indoor venue. However, I was definitely not disappointed. My visit could have been simply an interesting pilgrimage to a significant location, but instead it was much more than just that!

Disclaimer: “The Axe Inspector” receives no payment or benefit of any kind from either TheAxeThrower.com or from the venue, for this review. The review is the subjective opinion of one person (albeit as objective as possible) and we encourage throwers to try out the venue to make their own mind up.

1. The term ‘Clutch’ is a registered trademark of BATL Global Corporation ↩︎