which course?

[cxr]

PTS, TAC-1 and St. Crispian Rifle 1 courses are all coming up.
is there a preferred instructor/course?

[Mazdaspeed Jon]

St. Crispian. Stan is an awesome instructor.

[dwalker]

I highly recommend taking a few days and going over to Tactical Performance Center in St George Utah. Excellent facility and instruction. Huge bang for the buck.

[SPE]

I'll offer my strong endorsement of Phoenix Tactical Solutions.

I've been training with Maani and Sean at Angeles Ranges for over 4 years now and the results they produce are amazing. Very focused drills, emphasizing accuracy and technique, and a constant emphasis on safety.

A big plus for me is that their Saturday classes are from 7:45 to approximately 1-2pm, so it's easier for me to attend the class and still take care of other things in the afternoon. Full day or two day classes are very tough for me with family, errands, chores, life, etc.

Maani posts a lot of clips on YouTube, so you can see his exercises and drills and see the results. Even brand new pistol shooters are doing 3-4" groups after their first half-day class.

https://www.youtube.com/user/PhoenixTacSolutions/videos

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

What are your goals after taking the course? The instructor backgrounds are different at those companies. If you are interested in self defense then you might want to consider St Crispian or TAC 1 because the instructors come from LE and MIL backgrounds. If it is just for fun then consider the price, the course length, and the different instructor backgrounds to help you with your decision.

I haven't trained with any of those companies but I highly recommend ITTS. I also recommend Falcon Operations Group, TFTT, and Firearms Training Associates.