So I believe it's nearly universally agreed that BJJ is the gold standard for empty hand skill training. I do not have a reasonable option for BJJ training. The BJJ places nearest to me are frankly too far for me to drive consistently over the long term. Maybe not too far for you. But too far for me. (Know thyself...)
So my local options are things like "karate" or tae-kwon-do. My question is whether you think something is better than nothing.
I'm a middle aged office-worker-type guy with no martial arts background. I am not hoping to become a serious kick butt sort of person. I'm just interested in learning a bit of empty hand stuff. But is karate likely to be worse than nothing? Or is it likely to be decent but flawed? I realize that this is highly dependent on whether the lead instructor is a doofus, and so you likely can't give a really clear answer in the abstract. But I'd appreciate any guidance you're willing to offer.