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100% Finished
So I set out about a little less than a year ago on a mission to build my own simulator. I learned a ton and thought that I would share the route I went with you all. I have never done a builders write up before so please be gentle.
I did all the research and it seemed that the Trugolf system and its E6 software was the best for my budget. I searched the surrounding area for some establishments that would have the same simulator that I was looking for. I wanted to go look and play to make sure it was going to fit my needs. I stumbled upon two set ups. in the Denver area. The first one I looked at was at an apartment complex clubhouse. This unit was what you would see in the their $16k range and looked like it was a pull out of box plug and play unit. I liked what I saw but because of heavy traffic on the unit the bulb was burnt out and I was unable to fully test it out. So I continued looking and found an indoor driving range about 30 miles from the first sim I looked at. The place I ended up is called Striker Golf Academy. If you ever have the opportunity and your in the area you should definitely go and hit some balls there. The owner is a great guy. I digress...
After talking with the owner about my plans he offered up one of his used Sims to me. We talked about a price that we could both agree on and my wife gave me the nod on Christmas day 2017 to go and pick up the goods. What I received was the CPU, Keyboard, Touch screen, all necessary cables including Mics and Light fixture, an ultra low through projector made by Cannon, and the 19' wide impact screen with tarp and tight weave netting. for about $9K I had everything loaded up and I was on my way to start my build.
First thing I knew I had to do was figure out the space that was perfect for my new project. With a 19' wide impact screen I only had one option for walls so I stood on the striking pad and took some practice swings with driver to make sure I had the clearance. If it didn't work the whole unit was heading to the garage which I really didn't want to do If I could help it. After a couple days of designing my area and a few hundred dollars at Home Depot I had the proper materials to start framing.
At the time I used the previous owners measurements for pad placement but quickly noticed that those parameters were not going to work with my space dimensions. I moved the pad forward closer to the screen to allow driver to cycle full swing as to not hit the wall behind me. After searching endlessly for tolerances in relation to pad placement I still had very few questions answered. I decided to move forward.
We used 2x4's that were ripped down on a table saw to 2x3's so that the pad would sit on the floor properly after everything was trimmed out. To get our figure we measured the pad sitting on the carpet and knew that was the same number we had to come up with after the stage was framed with, 3/4" tongue and groove sheeting, and carpet placed on top.
This is my good friend Nick. Can't swing a club for shit but what a talent he has with carpentry!
The goal for that day was to get the enclosure framed up enough to mount the impact screen and start smashing balls to make for certain that our parameters were going to jive with the tolerances simulator.
We took several slow motion videos of the ball striking the impact screen and the result of the screen potentially impacting the wall. There seems to be lots of question as to the least amount of space you can get away with from screen to wall. I would show video but I apparently cant upload that type of file here. With the back wall so close it all came down to needing to use every inch we could get so we decided to place the screen 10" Trust me when I say that I have had some very heavy hitters in the simulator and have never contacted the drywall behind the screen with a shot not even once.
After we got to this point of the build we left it up for a couple days and hit some balls on it to make sure I loved it. While taking a break I did a ton of research on pad placement minimums and just couldn't get a solid answer.
Now at this point most people would had just called Trugolf and asked. For some reason I felt that I wouldn't get a clear answer from them since I didn't buy the unit from them directly. I gave them a call and their concern was that the pad was too close to the screen. Apparently there needed to be a certain amount of time delay from when the club impacts the ball to the ball hitting the screen. At that point I had to make the decision to have more width or have more depth in my hitting bay. If I keep it how it is I'm close to having it done. If i decide to narrow it some how and turn it, the tolerance for the placement of the pad would greatly increase. So after all that, I hate to say it....
We took it all down, cut the stage in half, narrowed the sides, turned it 90 degrees in the room and rebuilt the walls. Luckily I got away with only having to buy 2 more pieces of 3/4" decking! As for the screen I took it too an industrial seamstress and she narrowed the screen and backer netting from 19' to 14' wide. I kinda felt like an idiot after all of that for wasting the time and energy on the poor initial decision but it all later served well as a great decision and a lesson learned!
Now that I was finally comfortable with the direction my build was going I could really get after it!
Who needs two projectors in their house???
Apparently I do!!!
This pic is taken from the other side of the basement in the theater area. The framed wall will be dry walled to match the surrounding walls including the base board.
I want to point out something I thought was particularly cool. We designed this enclosure to be almost totally separate from the walls of the house. With the exception of a few screws in the ceiling and some caulking it is a totally stand alone unit. I chose this design just in case i later wanted/needed to take it out there would be very minimal damage to the surrounding walls.
After I was comfortable with the framing it was back to Home depot for some plywood for the walls of the enclosure. Nothing fancy here I think we used 1/2" thick. You can see that I started wiring the simulator. The cable in the wall that you see is one of three high def microphones that must be placed triangulated in the enclosure. All Wires are home run from my computer equipment, through the floor to the pad, and run down the center channel under the stage. They are then stubbed out of the floor behind the screen and routed to their rightful destination.
It really helps to have great friends!
This is my buddy Tyler who is a licensed electrician. We worked out some trade and he is seen here about to cut a hole in my ceiling to place the can light that will house the light needed for the sensors in the striking pad.
If I remember right he said "hold my beer watch this" right before he started cutting. He also added an independent switch for the light, some additional power for the projector, touch screen and computer equipment.
You can see behind Tyler I got the felt up on the walls. I went to the local fabric supply house an they had everything I needed in stock. I took that portion of the project on my own and that is most definitely a two person job. It really turned out pretty sweet for doing it alone. a hammer stapler and some 3M spray adhesive did the trick on the felt.
After the felt was on I got my screen back from the industrial seamstress. As you can see here we also got that hung up.
It's really starting to look like something!!!
As you can see the sim is operational but not fine tuned. At this point I was still concerned on pad distance even though I moved it back further from the last position. The trim pieces are made of pine and have custom routed edges that my Dad helped me with. The sim remains like this unfinished all spring and summer because obviously the golf course is calling.
The sensors in the pad are very particular and apparently this is the only type of light that you can use for this set up.
Prepped the floor for turf after Finalizing and feeling confidant with the pad placement. I cut the bottom of my PVC holes down by measuring tapping and placing them each on the belt sander until they are perfect. 
I have more to share but its getting late. Ill share more soon!!!
I did all the research and it seemed that the Trugolf system and its E6 software was the best for my budget. I searched the surrounding area for some establishments that would have the same simulator that I was looking for. I wanted to go look and play to make sure it was going to fit my needs. I stumbled upon two set ups. in the Denver area. The first one I looked at was at an apartment complex clubhouse. This unit was what you would see in the their $16k range and looked like it was a pull out of box plug and play unit. I liked what I saw but because of heavy traffic on the unit the bulb was burnt out and I was unable to fully test it out. So I continued looking and found an indoor driving range about 30 miles from the first sim I looked at. The place I ended up is called Striker Golf Academy. If you ever have the opportunity and your in the area you should definitely go and hit some balls there. The owner is a great guy. I digress...
After talking with the owner about my plans he offered up one of his used Sims to me. We talked about a price that we could both agree on and my wife gave me the nod on Christmas day 2017 to go and pick up the goods. What I received was the CPU, Keyboard, Touch screen, all necessary cables including Mics and Light fixture, an ultra low through projector made by Cannon, and the 19' wide impact screen with tarp and tight weave netting. for about $9K I had everything loaded up and I was on my way to start my build.
First thing I knew I had to do was figure out the space that was perfect for my new project. With a 19' wide impact screen I only had one option for walls so I stood on the striking pad and took some practice swings with driver to make sure I had the clearance. If it didn't work the whole unit was heading to the garage which I really didn't want to do If I could help it. After a couple days of designing my area and a few hundred dollars at Home Depot I had the proper materials to start framing.
At the time I used the previous owners measurements for pad placement but quickly noticed that those parameters were not going to work with my space dimensions. I moved the pad forward closer to the screen to allow driver to cycle full swing as to not hit the wall behind me. After searching endlessly for tolerances in relation to pad placement I still had very few questions answered. I decided to move forward.
This is my good friend Nick. Can't swing a club for shit but what a talent he has with carpentry!
The goal for that day was to get the enclosure framed up enough to mount the impact screen and start smashing balls to make for certain that our parameters were going to jive with the tolerances simulator.
We took several slow motion videos of the ball striking the impact screen and the result of the screen potentially impacting the wall. There seems to be lots of question as to the least amount of space you can get away with from screen to wall. I would show video but I apparently cant upload that type of file here. With the back wall so close it all came down to needing to use every inch we could get so we decided to place the screen 10" Trust me when I say that I have had some very heavy hitters in the simulator and have never contacted the drywall behind the screen with a shot not even once.
After we got to this point of the build we left it up for a couple days and hit some balls on it to make sure I loved it. While taking a break I did a ton of research on pad placement minimums and just couldn't get a solid answer.
Now at this point most people would had just called Trugolf and asked. For some reason I felt that I wouldn't get a clear answer from them since I didn't buy the unit from them directly. I gave them a call and their concern was that the pad was too close to the screen. Apparently there needed to be a certain amount of time delay from when the club impacts the ball to the ball hitting the screen. At that point I had to make the decision to have more width or have more depth in my hitting bay. If I keep it how it is I'm close to having it done. If i decide to narrow it some how and turn it, the tolerance for the placement of the pad would greatly increase. So after all that, I hate to say it....
Now that I was finally comfortable with the direction my build was going I could really get after it!
Apparently I do!!!
This pic is taken from the other side of the basement in the theater area. The framed wall will be dry walled to match the surrounding walls including the base board.
I want to point out something I thought was particularly cool. We designed this enclosure to be almost totally separate from the walls of the house. With the exception of a few screws in the ceiling and some caulking it is a totally stand alone unit. I chose this design just in case i later wanted/needed to take it out there would be very minimal damage to the surrounding walls.
After I was comfortable with the framing it was back to Home depot for some plywood for the walls of the enclosure. Nothing fancy here I think we used 1/2" thick. You can see that I started wiring the simulator. The cable in the wall that you see is one of three high def microphones that must be placed triangulated in the enclosure. All Wires are home run from my computer equipment, through the floor to the pad, and run down the center channel under the stage. They are then stubbed out of the floor behind the screen and routed to their rightful destination.
It really helps to have great friends!
This is my buddy Tyler who is a licensed electrician. We worked out some trade and he is seen here about to cut a hole in my ceiling to place the can light that will house the light needed for the sensors in the striking pad.
If I remember right he said "hold my beer watch this" right before he started cutting. He also added an independent switch for the light, some additional power for the projector, touch screen and computer equipment.
You can see behind Tyler I got the felt up on the walls. I went to the local fabric supply house an they had everything I needed in stock. I took that portion of the project on my own and that is most definitely a two person job. It really turned out pretty sweet for doing it alone. a hammer stapler and some 3M spray adhesive did the trick on the felt.
After the felt was on I got my screen back from the industrial seamstress. As you can see here we also got that hung up.
It's really starting to look like something!!!
The sensors in the pad are very particular and apparently this is the only type of light that you can use for this set up.
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