Fold up Garage Sim V3 - UK - Par2Pro Stealth / SportScreen

[p3eps]

I’ve been golfing in my garage for a little over 4 and a half years. In this time I’ve been continually evolving my setup - with this being the third “restart”. I have 2 other build threads kicking about on this site. My V2 build thread can be found here: https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum...e-simulator-uk

Here’s a photo of my 95% complete V3 build - which this thread talks about. I use the new Par2Pro “Stealth” setup.



Here is a photo of my V2 build that I’ve upgraded from…



And here’s a photo of how I started - my V1 build…



Let me start off by saying there was absolutely NOTHING wrong with my V2 setup. It worked perfectly for about 2 1/2 years. I still get messages every so often complimenting me on that setup, thanking me for writing about it, and asking for advice. Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to read my rant!!


Here is how and why I changed to the V3 setup…

The issue I had with V2 was about the space around me. I felt like I was having to change the swing of my driver due to things behind me. It was subconsciously eating at me knowing that I ‘may’ catch the shelves on my follow through. I’ve only ever done it a handful of times, but it made me change my indoor swing... which then effected my outdoor swing!
I’d been thinking about changing it for a while, and then I read that Par2Pro were collaborating with ‘The SportScreen’ to make a golf solution. I spoke to Cory about it, and he gave me a price for the SportScreen / SQHQ - modified to go with my existing HQ drapes.
It seemed reasonable ( a lot for shipping to UK! ), but it seemed a good solution. I could have potentially done it myself cheaper, however I’d rather pay a bit more and be sure it was going to all integrate together.

The theory was that I could fit the SportScreen in front of my garage door. It rolls up within 15 seconds, and only requires me to clip 2 bungees onto it, then close my drapes. Overall setup time - less than 2 minutes. This means I can go widescreen, and also have significantly more room to swing. My previous setup would take 15-20 mins to put away. It was pretty much permanent, with me retracting it 5 or 6 times a year when going on vacation. It protruded just a bit too much to get the cars in... and even then, I’d be scared a dirty bumper left a big mark on the screen!

The Stealth Screen seemed like a simple solution, but with a lot of work ahead of me. The downside - all of my current setup revolved around me hitting at the back wall. I’m now hitting at the front door, so everything needed to swap around.
My garage needs to be a garage 95% of the time as well as a part time golf sim room - so I have to work round my current storage requirements. The PC needed to be at the other end, my bikes moved from one side of the ceiling to the other, and I had to move some lighting. I had a TV on the wall for watching when playing - which also had to move, along with all aerial / electrical connections, as well as my network sockets.

Doesn’t sound like much - but a lot of hours went into re-shuffling everything!
Some additional shelving brackets were purchased and everything was carefully rearranged to make the best use of the available space.

Then I had to disassemble my existing setup. It was amazing how it took me weeks / months of planning and labour to put this all together, and it took a matter of hours to come down!! I did it with a lot of care to make sure nothing got damaged or touched the floor and got dirty. I managed to sell the extra bits on to another forum member to recoup some of my costs. (Screens / backing net / ceiling net and frame). A fraction of what I’d paid, but better someone getting the use of it than it gathering dust in my loft.

My 2 wooden beams for holding my frame and ceiling net came down, and were modified to be a single one for the SportScreen to go onto. This would ensure that it got screwed into something substantial rather than the drywall on the ceiling.
Once it had all been taken down and repositioned, I had to fill in LOADS of holes in the ceiling and repaint it as it was a total mess!

[p3eps]

My SportScreen and Par2Pro screen were sent as 2 separate shipments. The SportScreen was shipped from Canada on a Friday and arrived in the UK on Monday! The SQHQ screen took nearly a week. Despite it arriving in a box that must’ve been about 2m tall, the SportScreen managed to miss any import duty! The downside was that it arrived with some incorrect pieces and the main roller was dented. Credit to them - this was resolved and new parts were with me in the UK within a week.
The SQHQ screen wasn’t quite so lucky with customs, and cost me an additional £68 in duties / tax.

Once I had the SportScreen, I was able to remove the motor and see the specs of it. This allowed me to buy a suitable ‘stepdown convertor’ to make the SportScreen work at 240V in the UK. It came from Amazon and was about £25.


With some careful measuring, the SportScreen brackets were fitted to my wooden beam - and with 5 mins help from my wife, the assembled roller was placed into the brackets. You can see the Velcro strip on the roller.




With another 5 mins help, the SportScreen backing screen was attached to the Velcro on the roller. You can see how excessively long the SportScreen backing is… and where the extra strip of Velcro has been sewn on to. This allows the SportScreen backing to do well over a full rotation before the screen is attached - which secures it on.


The next step was for me to put my drapes up. My existing tracks and drapes went up using some heavy duty drywall fixings. I bought a whole stack of cheap curtain tie backs off eBay, and fixed them onto the wall in pairs. These allow me to slot my drapes when not in use and keep them tucked against the wall and completely out of the way.




The other half of my garage was changed to Philips Hue lighting. I no longer have a curtain separating the 2 halves so I need to dim them all. The downside to the Hue bulbs (other then costing about £50 each) is that they’re not that bright. Even though I have 8, they don’t light up my garage enough for using it as an actual garage.

I bought a couple of LED strip lights from Amazon to brighten it up. These were wired into the socket for my projector as wiring into the lighting circuit would have involved tearing the walls / ceiling apart. The next problem was that I needed a ladder or pole to switch them on / off from the socket on the ceiling. A simple solution was to buy an Amazon Echo and Amazon smart socket in the Black Friday sale. For £35, I am now able to control the lights by voice via Alexa. The Echo also works well for controlling my Sonos amp out there, so £35 well spent!

[p3eps]

Once all the ‘dirty’ work was complete, I attached my SQHQ screen onto the SportScreen. I immediately noticed something was wrong... there was no Velcro to attach my drapes to! It seems this was missed at manufacture. Another one got sent to me - but in the mean time, this gave me a target for aiming my projector at.
I fixed my projector bracket to the ceiling with some more heavy duty drywall fixings, and made use of the trunking from the lights to run my projector cables. Using the test pattern feature on the projector, I managed to get it all lined up without having to use any Keystone.


With an image on the SQHQ, I was able to figure out how much blank space I had at the top. This allowed me to order my ceiling netting the correct size so that it covers the blank space.
Part of using the SportScreen / SQHQ is that it needs to be anchored to the floor. Par2Pro recommend attaching a couple of small eyelet fixings to the floor and connecting a bungee between that and the bottom of the screen.
I have underfloor heating in my garage, so I’m reluctant to drill any holes in the floor - as I might go through a water pipe!
The bottom corners of my screen are right next to my plastic storage drawers. I removed the bottom drawer from each one, and bought some pieces of wood from the local hardware store. I cut and shaped some blocks, and then attached the hooks to these instead. Now, the hooks are as close to (if not closer) than they would be if I’d attached them to the floor as instructed.




Something else I realised when waiting for the replacement screen was that my hitting area suffered from multiple shadows due to me having 8 ceiling spot lights. I needed a single light focussed on my mat. I bought a surface mounted spotlight from Amazon and wired it up to the plugs on the ceiling. I purchased another Amazon smart plug too, and added it to my ‘Alexa, play golf’ routine. Now when I say that, my 8 Hue bulbs dim to a green colour, the LED strip lights go off, and the single spotlight comes on. The spotlight was aimed at the hitting mat, and solves the shadow issue - without compromising the projector brightness on the screen.


The replacement SQHQ screen arrived and was fitted. I the set the limits of the SportScreen so that it stops rolling up and down at the correct points. This makes the whole operation much smoother, as I simple press up or down, and the screen stops in the correct place. Trying to get the SportScreen roller to stop with the screen in the exact perfect spot was tricky... but now it does it automatically!!

With Velcro now on the screen, it was time to attach the drapes. They make a great seal on the Velcro... too good in fact! It was very difficult to undo the seal with the SQHQ only anchored at the bottom... and about 9ft of 2” Velcro attached!
I decided it would be easier if it wasn’t attached for the top 2ft, and a couple of spots in the middle. The easy way to do this was to stick some sticky back ‘loop’ Velcro to the ‘hook’ of my drape - so that it wouldn’t stick at those points.
Once I realised this would work, I peeled off the backing of the sticky back, and stuck it to a black refuse sack. It now has a non stick surface!
When the drapes are ‘closed’ to the SQHQ screen they make a good seal... but are now much easier to pull apart.

The final part of the puzzle was the ceiling protection arriving from Par2Pro. Thankfully it managed to escape import duties. I have a couple of speakers on my ceiling, so the net had to be short enough to not interfere with that.
I asked Cory for advice, and he gave me a couple of options. The one I chose was the ‘swag’ method, with an additional deflection flap.


The ceiling net had a load of eyelets, so I screwed every second one into the ceiling directly above the SportScreen.
I attached a 2 x 3ft long pieces of wood that were 4” wide and 2” tall ontop of each other to the ceiling at both sides.
The ceiling net was then attached to the wood like in the diagram from Par2Pro - pulling it as tightly as possible across the way to stop it sagging.




I’m don’t think the net across the ceiling would stand up to a direct blow from a ball, but I don’t think there is any chance of that actually happening. What it does offer is protection of the SportScreen roller with the swag. It also stops balls hit with anything more lofted than an 8iron from deflecting upwards off the screen and bouncing off the ceiling. They bounce into the swag, and fall straight to the floor. Prior to fitting this, they’d bang off the ceiling and then come flying back at me!

[bbauernf]

I am a little late to the party here but just came across your post.. I am in the process of putting together a similar setup (10ft sportscreen) and was trying to figure out how I was going to do the ceiling protection.. I think I get the jist of what you did with the swag method.. cant quite tell from the pics exactly how you got it the way you did. would you mind providing a little more specifics on how you got the loop? Looks like you attached the "middle" part of the ceiling protection screen onto the wood strip above your sportscreen? and then created a loop in the remaining length of the screen and then somehow attached to the ceiling in front of the sportscreen roller? Did you put anything "in" the swag part or just the fabric providing the impact protection? Really appreciate your help on my questions...

[p3eps]

So… that’s what’s new! For those that haven’t read the V2 thread, I’ll write a little bit about what else I have.



RED BOX: PC Tower up high and out of the way.
PINK BOX: 120fps Camera for use with FSX and home made button for turning PC on since its up high.
YELLOW BOX: Old iPad for controlling music / lighting / security cameras and also for HMT data .
GREEN BOX: Home made keyboard stand attached to back of monitor.
BLUE BOX: 2 x 8 way snooker racks joined together to act as club holders.
PURPLE BOX: 32” TV for watching sport when playing golf!

When I’m not golfing, I take my GC2 / HMT into the house with me. The easiest way to do this, is to pop it into a case. I have a contact through work that makes custom Peli Cases (Pelican Cases in the USA!) with CNC cut foam. I went round to him with my GC2 / HMT and accessories, and he made me a custom case for holding it. It’s designed to hold the GC2 with the HMT plate still attached so that my setup time is much quicker. It’s also has spaces for the charger, plastic shield, dot dispenser, and even my iPad if I want to take it to the range.


As I pack my GC2 away after rounds, I had to make something to help me align it. The simple solution was to make a board that would align against my mat. I took some time to get the GC2 perfectly aligned, and fitted some thin strips of wood to either side to lock it in place.
As long as I put the GC2 between these rails, I know it’s parallel to my mat. I put some green felt over it to make it look more ‘golf’ like. This is now 4 years old, and possibly one of the 5% I’m not happy with at the moment. I think I may re-cover it with something else in the future as it’s starting to look a bit tatty!

[p3eps]

Some photos of the 95% finished installation:

All away:


Setup with lights on:




Mid Round:

[p3eps]

Over the last few years whilst my V2 build thread was active, I had lots of questions / PM’s about sizes and dimensions. Rather than going out and measuring all the time, I decided to post sizes and specs here.

Room (garage) has a few oddly shaped bits to it - but at the widest part is slightly over 5m x 5m (16ft 5”)... and is 2.85m (112”) tall.

SportScreen Roller:
SportScreen comes as standard in 2 sizes. 10ft and 16ft. I have an electric ‘custom’ size, which is 15ft. In hindsight, I could’ve gone with a 16ft one. The ‘custom’ model involves someone at SportScreen taking a hacksaw to one of the sections. Had I known this, I’d have ‘modified’ it myself if I needed to!

The SportScreen is mounted 17” from the wall, and 25” from the garage door due to the recess. This doesn’t need to be nearly as much as this, but I was forced to make this bigger because of an access hatch in my ceiling that I didn’t want to cover. You could probably get away with 12”.

Screen:
My screen was purchased as 175” x 117.5” and is the Par2Pro Super Quiet / High Quality (SQHQ).
The visible screen size is 175” x 105” when rolled down. The image quality is great, and the screen feels very heavy duty and hard wearing. The noise is minimum on most of the screen, but if it hits the bit with the Velcro strip on the SportScreen backing, there is a bit of a thud. Not sure if I could unpick the stitching on this and remove it.

Hitting Mat:
My mat is 1.52m x 1.52m (5ft x 5ft). From the tee position, it is 2.70m (106”) to the screen.

Projector:
Benq TH682ST

Launch Monitor:
Foresight GC2
Foresight HMT

Software:
FSX
ProTee
The Golf Club

PC - custom built:
Aerocool Dead Silence Case
Asus H81M-Plus motherboard
Intel i5 3.2ghz Haswell Quad Core processor
Gigabyte Windforce Nvidia GTX1070 OC 8gb
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2333 16gb RAM
Corsair CX600M Power Supply
500GB Samsung Evo 850 SSD HD
Windows 8.1 OEM
Hanns-G HT231HPB Touch Screen Monitor
Keysonic ACK-540U USB keyboard / touchpad

Projector:
BENQ TH682ST Short Throw Projector

Mat:
Rangemaster Pro V3 ( http://www.rangemastergolf.com/ )

Lighting:
Philips HUE GU10 bulbs
2 x Amazon Smart Plug
Amazon Echo Dot V2

[Lacey777]

How far is the Projector from the Screen please ?

[p3eps]

What's left?! There's always something to improve. At the moment, I've only had the ceiling net up for a week, and haven't even played a full round of indoor golf with it.
I know that I need to get some sort of black material to "mask off" the top of the screen on the part that's not projected on to.
I also want to re-cover my GC2 stand.
There are lots of finishing touches that I'd like to implement like a small fold up table (for friends to put drinks on etc when playing)... and I have a whole heap of golf memorabilia to put up on my now bare back wall! I'm sure I'll think of more things as time goes on... but for now, I'm happy to have usable simulator again!!

[vrpunk]

Awesome, welcome to the world of widescreen....more immersive!

[p3eps]

Thanks! Yeah, it’s much more immersive. I feel like I’m in the middle of the course now!

[wbond]

Nice job. I'm also in the garage and going to be going to the sportscreen setup. Looking forward to widescreen format. I also have to change hitting positions and move everything. Not looking forward to that part.

[p3eps]

Thank you! It was a total chore moving everything about as it felt like I was going backwards. Needs must though! Playing in widescreen is so much better!

[Burtgolf]

You rocked it again!! Seems like each time you have a new design it is without a doubt a huge improvement! I need you to come help me!! I love the way your ceiling protection turned out!

I picked up my side tarps and ceiling tarp from Harbor Freight (HF) today and when I got home I seen your post and felt that is exactly what I need to do with mine. My previous plan was to put my old 15x10 netting up with the 10' part rolled up to at least 6" to hang in front of the sportscreen roller leaving about 4-5' to extend out and then I was going to use the HF 12x10 mesh tarp to hide the netting and provide a better look. So I tried your design instead and I have to say... wow.. looking great and I think with how tight it is the bounce back shots from the sportscreen should just drop down after going into it. Hopefully, I get a chance to test it out tomorrow, got too late so I didn't get to finish nor put up my right side barrier..

Thanks again for sharing your set up and the details in it..Truly helps the newbies such as myself!

[p3eps]

I used an old hosepipe to weigh mine down for a couple of days - so that it took shape. Now I don’t have anything in it.
Good to hear it’s working for you though.

[wbond]

Burtgolf can you post a pic of how you have your ceiling protection done now?

[Burtgolf]

wbond I cant add a pic to these replies here without adding a new comment (unless you know of some other way to add pics inside replies) and would not want to take away from p3eps post as his turned out looking much better than mine .

I copied what he has here but instead of one long piece of wood doubled up I cut a 2x4 into two 10" piece for the "loop" and then put the first eyelet into the back side (near the sportscreen) then the second eyelet at the front bottom (away from the sportscreen) like he has pictured above. I did this on both sides which created about a 7 inch "loop" and then put four 3' tube insulation inside the "loop". I then cut two 9" pieces for the "front" and secured the top corner eyelets to those.

I used your recommendation of the Harbor Freight black mesh tarp 12x10 and folded the 10' side back over the top so it is covering about 5' from the sportscreen. And using the 8x10 for my right side protection.

[retired_18]

Nice setup, great ideas here. Thank you for listing all components. I looked at the rangemaster mat on-line and am wondering if available in US. Quick search did not find anything.

[p3eps]

Thanks... I feel like I get wiser with each rebuild! Not sure if the Rangemaster mat is available in the US? I’ve now had it for 4 years and it’s still in great shape. It provides a good level of punishment for fat shots... without causing injury. If I have to replace, I think I’d just buy a Fiberbuilt hitting section and cut a bit out of the existing one to slot into.

[fraserjr]

I am doing a 3 - sided stealth/sports screen from par2pro in my garage as well. Unfortunately it won't be wide screen since I have two garage doors. The rest of my stuff comes on Thursday so I really appreciate all of the pictures as I will start my build out this weekend.

[p3eps]

Is that 3 motorised SportScreens? I thought it’d be pretty cool if you could have them all linked to 1 remote, and 1 press rolled them all up / down.
Good luck with the weekend - look forward to seeing some pics!

[fraserjr]

Yeah it's 3, all running on one remote. It was a little more expensive but was the only way I could still keep my garage so that I could actually park in it when not using the sim. I'm pretty pumped to get it all done. I have had the projector, PC, Skytrak and some other things sitting in my garage for over a month. The practice swings with foam balls won't cut it much longer.

[Sevvy]

Awesome looking set up. Did you see the retractable screen that Golftechsystems can supply?

https://golftechsystems.com/collections/impact-screens-golf-mats/products/electric-retractable-stealth-screen

[p3eps]

Awesome looking set up. Did you see the retractable screen that Golftechsystems can supply?

https://golftechsystems.com/collecti...stealth-screen

Same thing - they are in partnership with Par2Pro now. Still significantly cheaper to order from the US. I was under $2000 for a 15’ SportScreen, SQHQ screen, ceiling protection, and shipping. I did get stung for import tax on the screen, and got a bill for £93 for the import tax of the ceiling net the other day... but it’s still massively cheaper to buy from the US!

[JV17]

p3eps Man, you should be setting these up for a living! V3 looks incredible... Nice work!