side walls.

[EricD]

Hey all, I've done a search but can't find an answer.
What do you all use for the walls of an enclosure? I have an Optishot and will be building a semi permanent enclosure in on one side of my two car garage.
The screen will be against the back wall and the tee 'box' near the garage door. To the left will be my wifes car and to the right is an exterior wall.
Ceilings are 12 feet. I plan on using EMT conduit for the frame. I'm not sure about final dimensions yet. trying to price material and all first.
Trying to figure out what to use on the sides to 1) create the room effect and 2) protect wifey's car.
Did you pad the walls too?
TIA. Trying to be as cost effective (read: cheap) as possible!

[fluxcapacitor]

Overall, unless you or people that use it are terrible golfers, I've found my side areas get almost no impact with golf balls whatsoever. So just keep that in mind - don't over think it.

Having said that - layering was the key for me. I started with netting, considered plywood, blankets, mattresses, padding, foam, pillows, etc. I ended up with a great final setup for my impact wall (sounds like you aren't as worried about that) where even the hardest hits just give a deep "thud" and fall straight to the floor, its perfect. That wall is essentially a couple layers of blankets I picked up for almost nothing at a thrift store, and an overkill mattress behind it - probably don't even need that. Obviously its all buttoned up so you can't see any of that, covered by a white impact/projector screen.

For your sidewall I would probably go with plywood as the "final stop" - the layer closest to your wife's car for total safety. You could even paint it black or whatever to make it really nice looking from that side if needed. Then I would do blankets in the middle for your main "padding" - then whatever else you want to make the visual nice - something like black sheets to cover the blankets. All that is honestly probably way more than you need.

Another option would be plywood and semi-taught black netting (given the low likelihood of impact on the sides). Or just plywood for the paint option. Anything would probably be fine. The sides are the easy part.

I'm right handed, so my left sidewall is almost nothing - just a netting and black sheet cover for visual. My right side is the same with plywood behind it to protect a wall/window of the room its in. I like my setup and feel like I found a good balance between total safety, looks, and very cost effective compared to what I see some do. I can post pics if you think that would help.

[Scottwissing]

Side walls don’t really provide much of anything for a simulator that is at least 9 or 10 feet wide. I bought a pair of sale blackout curtains on amazon for $25. They are 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide. I rigged up a little curtain rod I made out of plumbing piping and flanges and attached to my ceiling. Whenever I use the sim, I just pull the curtains out and when I’m done, slide them back against the wall. I think they’ve been hit one time ever. Don’t spend too much money or time on them and don’t listen to the others who say you need commercial grade heavy duty curtains...you don’t. Hope this helps.

[Buckminster]

We use our simulator for social events. So at times we have poor golfers and/or people that are drinking while playing. So side protection was important to me.

I bought the 45 degree angled nets that I attached to the net that is behind my screen. The bottoms of each side net attach to the floor about 10 feet from the screen and the angle takes them up to align with the top of my impact screen. I also hung blackout curtains that I bought on Amazon.