It's an accurate observation of what I saw. It's 95 fucking dollars for an appleseed pistol clinic. The attendees at the one I watched were robbed of their money, they just don't know it.
So no, I don't give a shit how it comes across.
If you're going to teach, have some subject matter expertise. If you don't, call it entertainment instead of training.
Which day did you catch it on? 2nd day does not have a lot of instruction and is usually an AQT target grind with some misc refinement instruction here and there. Almost all the instruction on the pistolseed I attended was on the first day. It is geared towards newbies: how to hold single and double grip, NPOA, how to present, index centerline, controlled pairs, different types of mag changes and malfunction clearing drills for different failures. Basic safety is always covered. There is NO holster work, everything is off a table you stand behind. Distance 7 meters or yards, cant remember which.
Being a pistol newbie I got a lot out of it, enough to go try some USPSA style matches. What I was taught in appleseed was useful for the matches. I still need a lot of work, but find it rewarding enough to go again
Pistolseeds are relatively new to appleseed, 2nd year I think. Their rifle program is very well dialed down and is the best beginner/intro to 3 position shooting I've experienced. They are also pretty rigorous in how their instructors teach, every rifle clinic I've been to has been almost a copy of the previous clinic in what is taught and how it is taught. Pistolseed program may be going through some growing pains as it gets polished and finalised.
I've Been to much more expensive rifle instruction classes that did not cover half of what appleseed covers in their 2 day rifle clinic, and to be frank I was pretty disappointed that a "big name" class I attended didn't even cover NPOA or breathing techniques and was marketed towards beginners. I paid 5x what Appleseed costs and got maybe 1/10 of that value, yea it was that bad (basically a local swat guy filling in for the missing big name and prone shooting, and off a vehicle hood at paper target practice, no real instruction outside of "breathe in and focus" WTF???, waste of $$$)
Compare that to where I have seen a brand new shooter at an appleseed clinic shooting beachball size groups (if they hit their own target) learn and get proficient enough to be shooting 2-3" groups at the end of the next day. I consider that a big win for the 2A all around. I always drag 1-3 friends, coworkers, neighbors a couple times a year to Appleseed events. Everyone says they had a good time and would like to shoot more. I think its a great program that advances shooting sports in a positive way with some great history lessons on how our country was founded.
