I eluded to purchasing an outdoor golf dome (you're descriptor may be different than dome as you hit from in it to out so tent may be clearer) in another thread and received a few questions about it. Now that it is here I can give some updates (I have no relation to any of these companies so hopefully no issues on posting the details).
My current setup is in my garage with 8' ceilings which worked for irons and my hybrid if I choke all the way down to the grip. I also had an old driver made short (ladies flex shaft cut down to 5 iron length and club reweighted by my club fitter) in an effort to play without mass amounts of boost. I graze the ceiling on occasion (once putting a club somewhat through the drywall but my relatively flat swing has worked ok in this setup for 2 years). I live in a very wet rainy climate so an outdoor setup was on my mind but it had to be temporary for each use and I wondered how much I would use it with busy work schedule and kids (I did not foresee COVID coming obviously). I bit the bullet and started getting organized to hit balls outside as my driver needs most of my practice energy but rain still worried me.
I found a ton of canopies etc. but nothing really that would work for golf. They were too low, not big enough or didn't have sides until I found The Golf Tent which was exactly what I wanted. I looked in to ordering one (and I'm sure they are great) but pricing was $3,600 for the US (I'm in Canada) and "call" for the rest of the world (and almost nothing is cheaper in Canada relative to the US) and I assume shipping and duty would be on top of the price. As nice as it looked I couldn't justify this much.
I then started using different key words in my searches and stumbled on to the world of Alibaba.com. I found a "golf dome" from Yantai Waha inflatable Co which was 4 meters by 4 meters length/width and the they told me approximately 3.1 meters underneath (they had bigger models also). The one I ordered was $250 USD plus $190 USD shipping (duty turned out to be $40 USD but I'm in Canada so it could vary to other places). For less than 10% of the price of the name brand one I decided to take a gamble as the seller had good ratings (I also figured I could find a use for it if it didn't work for backyard golf). It has a built in pump that runs all the time to keep it inflated (think kids bouncy castle) but it's not too loud (may help drown out me hitting golf balls for the neighbors a little.
In 2 weeks they had built it (they don't stock them but build on order it seems) and it arrived at my door (it's been 3 weeks since I ordered a pair of golf shoes from Golf Town and they still aren't here so I was impressed on my golf dome). It was sunny here today so I set it up to see how it looked. I've attached 3 photos, one is from the handful of photos the factory sent me after it was built before they shipped it (because at its size I couldn't get a good photo once I set it up) and the other two are from my backyard. You'll see from the photos in my backyard I underestimated the size of this thing. I knew it would be tight in my yard but the height is 14' on the outside of the tent (I think they may have estimated a bit low on inside clearance and I didn't add 2' for the inflatable tube in my thinking) which also created steeper walls than I anticipated which hurts my setup a bit (I have a tree I'm near so I have to be about 2-3' closer to my net than I was hoping and 1-2' closer than I had expected). I have a Mevo+ so instead of 10-11' of ball flight like I'll have when not raining I will be back down to the 8' minimum which is actually a touch shorter than I have inside.
First time setup was a bit rough as it didn't nicely inflate and raise the roof the way I originally laid it out. Once I took a more strategic approach (tent pegs to hold each corner) it went up reasonably easily. It came with some empty little bags that I assume are to be sandbags or something similar and each of the four pillars allows you to zip open to let air out so I'm thinking I'll get some weights to put in there and avoid sand but something better than the tent pegs as they got pulled out as I hadn't staked it perfectly distanced. It was sunny today so I couldn't test the waterproof levels but the material is pretty "plasticy" so I suspect it will be waterproof but it may not be the greatest sun shade if that magnifies heat. I didn't time myself but my first try was definitely not faster than driving to the range. I think it'll be quick once I get some weights and now that I know what it should look like.
I got what I ordered. Time will tell if it is too much work to setup and take down to be worth it (I'll need to let it dry in the garage before putting it back in the bag like a tent). Happy to answer questions if I missed anything.
My current setup is in my garage with 8' ceilings which worked for irons and my hybrid if I choke all the way down to the grip. I also had an old driver made short (ladies flex shaft cut down to 5 iron length and club reweighted by my club fitter) in an effort to play without mass amounts of boost. I graze the ceiling on occasion (once putting a club somewhat through the drywall but my relatively flat swing has worked ok in this setup for 2 years). I live in a very wet rainy climate so an outdoor setup was on my mind but it had to be temporary for each use and I wondered how much I would use it with busy work schedule and kids (I did not foresee COVID coming obviously). I bit the bullet and started getting organized to hit balls outside as my driver needs most of my practice energy but rain still worried me.
I found a ton of canopies etc. but nothing really that would work for golf. They were too low, not big enough or didn't have sides until I found The Golf Tent which was exactly what I wanted. I looked in to ordering one (and I'm sure they are great) but pricing was $3,600 for the US (I'm in Canada) and "call" for the rest of the world (and almost nothing is cheaper in Canada relative to the US) and I assume shipping and duty would be on top of the price. As nice as it looked I couldn't justify this much.
I then started using different key words in my searches and stumbled on to the world of Alibaba.com. I found a "golf dome" from Yantai Waha inflatable Co which was 4 meters by 4 meters length/width and the they told me approximately 3.1 meters underneath (they had bigger models also). The one I ordered was $250 USD plus $190 USD shipping (duty turned out to be $40 USD but I'm in Canada so it could vary to other places). For less than 10% of the price of the name brand one I decided to take a gamble as the seller had good ratings (I also figured I could find a use for it if it didn't work for backyard golf). It has a built in pump that runs all the time to keep it inflated (think kids bouncy castle) but it's not too loud (may help drown out me hitting golf balls for the neighbors a little.
In 2 weeks they had built it (they don't stock them but build on order it seems) and it arrived at my door (it's been 3 weeks since I ordered a pair of golf shoes from Golf Town and they still aren't here so I was impressed on my golf dome). It was sunny here today so I set it up to see how it looked. I've attached 3 photos, one is from the handful of photos the factory sent me after it was built before they shipped it (because at its size I couldn't get a good photo once I set it up) and the other two are from my backyard. You'll see from the photos in my backyard I underestimated the size of this thing. I knew it would be tight in my yard but the height is 14' on the outside of the tent (I think they may have estimated a bit low on inside clearance and I didn't add 2' for the inflatable tube in my thinking) which also created steeper walls than I anticipated which hurts my setup a bit (I have a tree I'm near so I have to be about 2-3' closer to my net than I was hoping and 1-2' closer than I had expected). I have a Mevo+ so instead of 10-11' of ball flight like I'll have when not raining I will be back down to the 8' minimum which is actually a touch shorter than I have inside.
First time setup was a bit rough as it didn't nicely inflate and raise the roof the way I originally laid it out. Once I took a more strategic approach (tent pegs to hold each corner) it went up reasonably easily. It came with some empty little bags that I assume are to be sandbags or something similar and each of the four pillars allows you to zip open to let air out so I'm thinking I'll get some weights to put in there and avoid sand but something better than the tent pegs as they got pulled out as I hadn't staked it perfectly distanced. It was sunny today so I couldn't test the waterproof levels but the material is pretty "plasticy" so I suspect it will be waterproof but it may not be the greatest sun shade if that magnifies heat. I didn't time myself but my first try was definitely not faster than driving to the range. I think it'll be quick once I get some weights and now that I know what it should look like.
I got what I ordered. Time will tell if it is too much work to setup and take down to be worth it (I'll need to let it dry in the garage before putting it back in the bag like a tent). Happy to answer questions if I missed anything.
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