The simple answer is "yes." Many nationally and internationally recognized instuctors either host courses in Texas or call Texas home. In addition to this, you can certainly learn a lot from joining IDPA and USPSA clubs. While IDPA and USPSA competition are "just games," they offer one of the very few environments in which we can induce stress. The stress of making a good time and being accurate on even the best field course never approaches that seen combat. But the same can be said about the training stresses naval aviators see in simulators before strapping on a real jet and engaging in air combat, let alone, attempting their first night trap on a carrier at sea.Abraham wrote:I enjoy target shooting, but it seems that "Draw and Point and Shoot" practise at close range makes more sense when it comes to self defense.
That said: Are there courses for this type shooting?
The way I look at it, USPSA and IDPA are a great place to learn/practice the basic skills needed to run the gun and shoot effectively. An actual class with the likes of John Farnam, Brian Hoffner, Paul Howe or Clint Smith is where you will learn tactics and the remaining skill sets that don't overlap into the games. I will warn you that it can be hard to balance reality with the games. If self-defense is your focus, you may choose to avoid the games all together and instead commit to attending formal training as often as your budget and schedule allow. I'm not going to sell you on one particular school because it's my experience that they all have something to teach you, even if it's simply a lesson in what NOT to do.
If you are in the Houston Area and don't want to do play the IDPA or USPSA games, Gregg Garrett of Comp-Tac holsters helped form, and largely leads, a training group that works out at Top Gun on Tuesday evenings and Shiloh Shooting Center on Wednesday evenings. The existing website to host these events is down right now but shoot me a PM if that's something of interest to you. The idea of both these groups is to share knowledge. Gregg has said more than once that he does not want it to be the "Gregg Show." So if there's a particular skill the group has agreed to work on, that's the subject of the evening. I haven't heard anyone say they left one of the group's meetings claiming they didn't learn something.