Training With The Way Forward: Defensive Performance Handgun

At the beginning of March 2025, I was fortunate to be included in a small group of students who gathered at the Wallis-Orchard Gun Range [outside of Houston, Texas] to witness and be a part of Matt McGuire’s first official solo handgun training class under his own flag – The Way Forward Training. Templar Defense, a local company with which I’ve trained at the same venue, took on the responsibility of hosting McGuire on this occasion.

For his solo instructor debut, McGuire taught Defensive Performance Handgun, a two-day intensive pistol class that blends performance shooting with aspects pertaining to practical concealed carry. On his website, (and he repeated this in person at the start of class on Day 1), McGuire expressed that the inspiration for curating the curriculum for Defensive Performance Handgun came from a desire of wanting teach a useful and nuanced class that combined the knowledge that freely flows in the sphere of performance pistol shooting and grounding it to everyday concealed carry.

Unless it’s explicitly in the course’s title, I loathe to use the term “advanced” to describe a shooting class for my own philosophical reasons. But objectively speaking, Defensive Performance Handgun is not for beginners. It’s a full-speed class that moves at a quick pace.

While the prospective student does not need to have a 1.80-second bill drill from concealment, they must be proficient in operating their handgun while also being comfortable with drawing, shooting, and working out of their holsters. This is not the class for the student who isn’t fully confident in their concealment setup or is barely getting accustomed to shooting and reloading their firearm.

Defensive Performance Handgun: Training Day 1 

At most ranges, nearly every tactical bay has a picnic bench of some type on the opposite end of the main berm. These benches always end up being the communal place to put gear, ammo, snacks, etc., and they’re also the de facto lecterns where instructors lecture and speak.

I’ve come to appreciate the tactical bay picnic bench, and true to fashion, McGuire set off his inaugural class speaking next to the bench. He introduced himself and told us his mission statement and goals under his new venture, The Way Forward.

These are best summarized in that the goal of The Way Forward is to educate and empower citizens to contend with the worst day of their lives, which hopefully never happens.

McGuire then segued into a discussion with some personal anecdotes about the ugliness of violence and how the criminal element has no concern for inflicting its brutality on others. We also discussed gun safety, and McGuire mentioned something interesting, which I hadn’t quite heard summed up that way: that gun safety could ultimately be distilled into muzzle safety and trigger discipline.

I really like that because it skips over the needless semantics discussions over the “four rules”, especially in the context of defensive firearms use.

Once on the firing line, McGuire also revealed his new The Way Forward Training targets, which we proceeded to shoot at for the remainder of the course, save for some steel at the end of Training Day 2.

Training Day 1: Zero Confirmation And Drills 

Training Day 1 began with a zero confirmation as everyone was shooting a pistol with a slide-mounted red-dot. Especially nowadays, starting class off that way is a good sign.

We zeroed and/or confirmed from the 10-yard line, and McGuire also had students shoot a few of their chosen carry rounds at 25 yards to illustrate the nuances between the original 10-yard zero and the different point of impact (if applicable) at 25 yards. 

The rest of the first training day continued with several drills and many more reps; we shot under timer pressure and got our guns nice and hot. Among the critical topics covered on the firing line on the first day of training was the “trigger control at speed” and how the manipulation of the handgun’s trigger changes not so much in distance, but rather the size of the targeting area.

It was around this time of day that McGuire gave a discussion about matching hand size to the right grip and frame size of a carry gun. It was my first time hearing an instructor mention something like this, and given my own interest in handgun grip contours and ergonomics, it really caught my attention. 

Defensive Performance Handgun: Training Day 2 

Training Day 2 of Defensive Performance Handgun was about locking in and turning the intensity up to 11—at least I felt that way. We students combined the drills and repetitions from the first day of training (shot timer pressure, drawing, trigger control) and added visual control and movement.

When I mentioned turning things “up to 11”, I mean to say that although I live for this type of intense firearms training, I recall Training Day 2 to have some of the most mentally challenging and taxing sessions I’ve ever had. 

Most of Training Day 2’s drills involved shooting and movement. The “retreating” Bill Drill, Tim Herron’s Barrel Drill, and McGuire’s own barrel drill were some of the exercises we worked through on the second day. For the uninitiated (and even those with some experience), nothing scrambles the brain’s ability to process information like trying to draw, shoot, and move while also negotiating barriers and obstacles. (Another reason why this class is better for those with basic proficiency.)

And not to mention, the timer is running, so while trying to mentally juggle all the tasks correctly, you’re also hauling ass downrange. One of the second day’s drills involved shooting Bill Drills in intervals starting at the 25-yard line and working our way to the 5-yard line as quickly as possible.  

“Your brain cannot do things it has never experienced before.”

It’s a line I caught McGuire saying while he was talking about the movement drills that morning. It stood out because I’ve been of the opinion that there ought to be more movement, no matter how ego-wrecking it is, in more defensive handgun courses.

Friendly Competition

The class ended with a friendly man-vs-man steel plate shoot-off, which is always a fun activity that fosters a little bit of competition but also some camaraderie between students.    

To Be Continued In Part 2