AAR: Todd Green's Aim Fast, Hit Fast in Sacramento March 14-15 2009

[DocGKR]

AAR: Todd L. Green's Aim Fast, Hit Fast at Sacramento Valley Shooting Center March 14-15 2009

I have been issued, qualified with, and used 1911’s for over 20 years; I am very comfortable with the platform. As I have stated previously, I also qualified with 9 mm Glocks, however, I do not shoot them as well as 1911’s. In an attempt to remedy this situation, Todd Green graciously offered me an opportunity to work on my Glock shooting skills. I took a brand new G19 to the course this weekend to see what I could learn.

Sacramento Valley Shooting Center offered a wide array of nice typical civilian square range facilities, although it is a bit off the beaten path. I did not observe any automated or moving targets nor any shoot house facilities. The facility closed promptly at 1700.

Todd proved to be a masterful handgun instructor. He appropriately emphasizes accuracy, in much the same way as Larry Vickers does, but also spends considerable effort at improving overall shooting speed. Todd was able to tailor his instruction and drills to make them relevant and useful for folks that were interested in basic civilian self-defense needs, those wanting to improve their pistol competition results, as well as for uniformed end-users. One of the key areas that distinguished Todd’s instruction was his ability to diagnose shooter technique issues and apply relevant corrections. He used a wide variety of well thought out drills—including timed, multiple target, and variable distances. Given the mix of shooter abilities in the class, it was reasonably paced, with minimal down time.

I was not happy with how poorly I shot the Glock, however, all of the problems I had with the G19 were shooter induced—pulling shots left to 7-9 o’clock, failure to have the slide lock back after the last shot, movement inefficiencies on reloads, inconsistent sight tracking, hesitation when breaking shots at push-out, and shot cadence issues. Todd adjusted my grip, helped locate a place for my right thumb (which is too used to sitting on top of a 1911 safety) that would not interfere with the slide lock, and changed the trigger contact point on my right index finger. In addition, he offered extremely helpful pointers on improving my reloads, press-outs, and shot timing, as well as general shooting fluidity, smoothness, and efficiency. I definitely found myself wanting to incorporate more timed drills during future training.

Unfortunately, I was only able to attend on Saturday; I fired 1000 rounds. Thanks to Nelson Ong for hosting the event.

This is a VERY GOOD class and one I will definitely attend again in the future if the opportunity arises—HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Hints:
Bring lots of magazines and ammo…consider bringing even more ammo.
Bring a reliable pistol, preferably two in case something goes down.
Be able to hit a 3x5 card on demand from 3 to at least 10 meters, preferably 15 meters.
Be able to shoot 3-5 round extremely rapid “bursts” of shots into a 6-8” paper plate at 3-7 meters.
Practice smoothly firing 2 shots, reload, shoot 4 more.
Be ready to shoot, a lot.

[rob_s]

Originally Posted by DocGKR

I was not happy with how poorly I shot the Glock, however, all of the problems I had with the G19 were shooter induced—pulling shots left to 7-9 o’clock, failure to have the slide lock back after the last shot, movement inefficiencies on reloads, inconsistent sight tracking, hesitation when breaking shots at push-out, and shot cadence issues.

Doc, that sounds like a sentence I could have written myself. I'll have to keep an eye out for a TLG class in our area.

[gotm4]

Great AAR Doc, ToddG is one hell of a handgun shooter!

[G34Shooter]

It was an excellent experience overall and I intend to take this class again in the future. 45R will be doing a detailed AAR coming up, It would take me forever to finish one


Todd thanks for the fantastic class and pushing me, hope to take it again in the future.

Doc, nice to meet you as well

[45r]

DocGKR shooting his Glock 19 on TD1. I post an AAR as soon as I collect my thoughts.

[Bigboote]

Sounds like a class I'd really like to take. I hope one will be offered around northern VA in the near future. Time to get plenty of 3x5 cards and practice like a mofo!

[HowardCohodas]

Originally Posted by gotm4

Great AAR Doc, ToddG is one hell of a handgun shooter!

More importantly, he is an effective and inspired teacher.

[rob_s]

which leads us to the $64,000 question....

What vest is he wearing?!

[G34Shooter]

Originally Posted by rob_s

which leads us to the $64,000 question....

What vest is he wearing?!

I won't tell

[G34Shooter]

A few thoughts...

1. 1200 rounds of a centerfire handgun in 2 days is not as fun as it sounds, meaning that it is some work for those not use to it.
2. Bring Sun screen
3. Practice weak hand more often
4. Bring gear that works, my Bladetech duty holster broke on me and was flopping around making it difficult to draw.
5. Remove extended slide stop if you ride it which won't let your slide lock back on an empty magazine.
6. If you have some sort of self induced minor stoppage, don't talk about it... FIX THE PROBLEM!!!
7. Don't forget your lunch and drink enough water!!!
8. Be amazed when a Woman that's been shooting and competing for 2 whole months is better on average than most of the class including as well as her Fiance who's competed for 12 years, she was seriously unreal in her accuracy.
9. DocGKR is just as informative in class and a gentleman.
10. Drawing and reloading need to be second nature period!
11. Getting a low score on the F.A.S.T. drill is harder than it sounds.

[45r]

Errr User error.

[45r]

I had the pleasure of hosting Todd L. Green's Aim Fast Hit Fast course. Todd and I have been chatting on/off various forums for the last two years. I first bumped into him on SF quite a few years back when I started shooting Sig Sauer pistols on a regular basis. At the time I was more of a recreational shooter and wasn't "into" training.

However the "training mindset" evolved over a period of time and I invited Todd to come to CA. After a few months of working out details I got the green light to set up the class at Sacramento Valley Shooting Center.



TD1 started off with an introduction, briefing and a little getting to know each other. After that we were given several shooting tasks. I have taken multiple courses with 3 other instructors and Todd is the only person that I know that actually uses the first hour of TD1 to evaluate all your skills AND he writes it down on his trusty clipboard. We were then given instruction on how to shoot the FAST drill. After the morning test, he taught us as a group accordingly.







We were broken up into two squads for various drills. These drills involved all aspects of shooting. He broke them down into all of the various fundamentals and pushed us to perform at our best. This usually the time in most OTHER classes that that an instructor spends MOST Or ALL of the class working on the student with the least amount of skill sets.

This was never the case with Todd. That man has an eye like an eagle. We had shooters with Glocks, 1911s and Sig pistols. During all of the drills, Todd walked up and down the line looking for shooter induced errors, reloading issues, sight aligment, posture, grip and so forth. This was HANDS ON training.



(Todd helping G34 Shooter with his reloads)



One of my biggest pet peeves are students who are not ready to take a class and instructors spending too much time with a student who should not have taken the class in the first place. <----this comment is in no way reflective of G34s skills.

Todd spent an equal amount of time with all of us, and gave us genuine feedback.

As we understood the fundamentals of each of the drills, we were asked to perform these drills faster, shoot them in various bursts and we were expected to understand what was a good and what was an acceptable hit.





The drills got more intense as TD1 progressed. Near the end of the day my speed started to slow down a bit. Its been a while since I've shot any class with such a demanding round count.

This is were I thought Todd shines as an instructor. He pulled me aside and had me stop shooting. Then he shot two bursts. One was a slow 3 shot burst and the second was a "chain gun" burst. He asked if I heard the difference between the two. I said the second one was faster. He then proceeded to tell me that I was only shooting fast enough to be safe and comfortable. I picked up the pace.

The day ended with most of us making better hits and shaving off quite a bit of time from our FAST drill. It had been almost three months since I had shot a live round prior to TD1. The day was humbling and an eye opener to all of the various training exercises that you need to practice in order to Aim Fast and Hit Fast.

At the end of Day 1 Todd had completely exceeded my expectations, my speed shooting was much better and I had new skills to practice.

(More in a bit regarding Day 2)

[G34Shooter]

Originally Posted by 45r

One of my biggest pet peeves are students who are not ready to take a class and instructors spending too much time with a student who should not have taken the class in the first place.

I like how you wrote that under me lol


Now we're going to have a F.A.S.T. duel at noon

[45r]

Sorry bro. I fixed it for you

Hope you get that Blade Tech holster fixed. Its a total drag when you gear fails you on training day

I'll have more pictures of TD1 this afternoon.

[John_Wayne777]

Sounds like a good class. I've been wanting to get into one of Todd's classes for a while now, but it's just never worked out.

Perhaps those of us in Virginia could get together enough interest to work out a class with Todd.

[G34Shooter]

Originally Posted by 45r

Sorry bro. I fixed it for you

Hope you get that Blade Tech holster fixed. Its a total drag when you gear fails you on training day

I'll have more pictures of TD1 this afternoon.

It's all good

[G34Shooter]

1 thing I forgot to do was try out Todd's M&P to see how I'd like it.

[45r]

1354 1453 1342

[G34Shooter]

Originally Posted by 45r

1354 1453 1342

That was Brutal!!!!!

[Detmongo]

i'd love to get into one of todd's classes. sounds like a great class.