Hold the axe in your dominant hand. Keep that elbow tight to your side. The axe head should be somewhere behind your ear, as straight on target as possible. Step forward, as naturally as if you’re walking into a room, and use enough force to drive the axe toward the wood target but not so much that you end up putting a twist on the trajectory. If the handle hits the board, take a step back between the throwing lines. If the head hits the board, take a step up. If the head glances off the target, you flicked your wrist. If the head sinks into the wood with a satisfying thunk, then you know you’ve found your groove. Welcome to axe throwing. It’s addictive, and we have two Axes & Armor Hatchet House locations, one in Fayetteville, one in Spring Lake.
General Manager Matt Smith will also show you how to throw underhand. You can try with your thumb on the base of the handle, but he uses a pinching grip with the thumb and middle finger while keeping the index finger down the spine of the handle. Then naturally step forward and throw underhand, releasing when you’re pointing at one of the advertising boards under the target. You can also try throwing two axes at the same time. You’ll learn all of this in your five-minute safety brief. Someone is always present, though, if you need a review or an analysis of your form because your throws keep clattering to the floor.
Bring your date, bring your approximately 7-year-old-or-older child, bring your family, your friends or reserve space for a team-building session with your employees. Prices range from $23 to $26 for one hour, $28 to $31 for one and a half hours, or $33 to $36 for two hours, depending on which time and day of the week you go. Want to try something different? For $5 you can try two throwing stars, two throwing playing cards or, most challenging, one throwing shovel (think entrenching tool). For $10, you can test your skills with a lumberjack axe. Beer, cocktails, soft drinks and snacks are available, or if you’re planning a larger gathering, you can advance-order soda and pizza.
Smith is the ideal host. He knows if a parent, for example, is strapped for time. He’ll make accommodations on the minimum time. If a party overstays the time limit, he’s generous with folks or asks if they’d like to extend for an hour. Of course, if he has people waiting, he can’t extend this courtesy, but he wants everyone to leave happy after their experience. And this truly is a fun and family friendly place. Smith knows not all children are the same, but that as long as he or she can get the axe as far as the target, he can work on form with them. The boards are stenciled with glow-in-the-dark painted targets so that on Friday nights, the lights can be dimmed for a different atmosphere. Your bullseye could be a pumpkin, a heart, a four-leaf clover, depending on the season or holiday.
There are five lanes. If you happen to arrive when all are occupied, you can play a game of chess with the giant set ready to go in the waiting area. Or for $1/game or $5/hour, you can play pool at one of the three tables. No jumping the cue ball. No trick shots with the axes, either. If someone were to get hurt, it would involve extra paperwork, Smith jokes. You will need to sign a waiver by scanning a QR code to bring up the form on your phone. You are also required to wear closed-toe shoes. Now, Smith is a trick thrower and has quite a following on TikTok. He’ll demonstrate a few if you’re interested and then throw his hat on an embedded axe handle for a final flourish.
Smith is a native of Fayetteville. He attempted to enlist in the military right out of high school, but he’s deaf in his right ear. If you happen to call to him for a drink and he’s looking at his phone or otherwise not responding, it’s not because he’s rude or inattentive. Quite the opposite. With a 98-percent loss in that ear, he can’t hear where sounds are coming from, especially if it’s busy. Walk up to the bar or catch his attention visually.
Axe throwing is not all Axes & Armor offers. They have a rage/splatter room. Say, you’re feeling all Jackson Pollock. Whether it’s you by yourself, you and a friend all dressed in white, you and a child, you’re put into a room with tubes of different-colored paint and you can splatter the walls, each other or a canvas to your heart’s content. Canvases can be left to dry and picked up later, but if you don’t pick up your work within a week, it’ll be disposed of or hung up around the hatchet house for decoration. A plastic poncho, gloves and goggles are provided. Prices range from $26 to $41 per person depending on time spent.
Alternatively, if you’re going through a challenging period or are just in the mood to destroy something, you can use the space as a rage room. Tired of your table setting? Throw them against a wall or take a hammer to them. Want to smash a computer, a microwave or something you can carry in? Or need to eliminate that water heater that’s been giving you fits for months? Smith has a dolly. It’s all based on the size of the item and how much time you want to spend letting your aggression out on it. Pricing starts at $16 for 10 minutes with something you bring in yourself. It’s a great business model when you can sell one guy a beer and then sell his empty bottle to another guy to break it, Smith says with a laugh. Ten minutes with 10 empty beer bottles in a colorfully painted room goes for $26. A medium, 15-minute rage costs $41. Large and extra-large rages are also available.
Axes & Armor also has double axe-throwing lanes on wheels. You’ll pay a flat rate of $399 for two hours of throwing time. Each additional hour is $190. If the locale is within 10 miles of the 4005 Raeford Road location, there’s no charge for transport. Outside of that area, mileage rates may apply. This can be a cost-effective alternative for a larger group, and an instructor is present the entire time. For instance, a church reserved the mobile lanes for an event they were hosting for couples.
The Spring Lake location is at 409 N. Bragg Blvd.

(Photo: Take an easy stride as you throw. General Manager Matt Smith is demonstrating a double-handed overhead grip, an alternative if one-handed isn’t working for you. Photos by Erin C. Heal)