ProTee Sim Room

[aja]

I have decided that my sim room is finally finished.

Of course there are a few things yet to be done so that it's 100% complete, but that's the nature of DIY projects.

I'll share some photos of the process that show the build from start to finish.

PS. - A very big Thank-You to the moderator(s) and many contributors to this forum without whose work my project would not have been possible. Thanks for your work and sharing your experience.

[aja]

Great job. I'll be using several of your ideas. Where did you get the PEF slabs?

Hi! I was lucky enough to find a local supplier who sold PEF in 1.0 meter x 2.0 meter sizes. I used 50 mm thick slabs cut to the sizes I needed.

I'm located in Europe. You'll probably have to search around locally to find the PEF

[aja]

How far is your screen from the back wall? How think is the memory foam?

My back wall is slightly out of square so the distance varies from 30 to 36 cms (12 to 14 inches). The memory foam is 7.5 cm or 3 inches thick. It's the "egg crate" type.

I don't think I've hit a ball hard enough to actually have the impact screen touch the foam since I am using a golf net to back up the impact screen and the net's tension is pretty tight.

[mthunt]

Nice set up by the way. You went all out. Thanks for sharing the info.

I set up my HQ screen at 14 inches for testing. I have a net supporting it. I planned on memory foam but with ball speeds in the high 160's, I never even came close to the wall. I then tested it at 12 inches then 10 then 8. At 8, I barely touched the wall. I'm in Canada and memory foam would be crazy money. I was going to line the wall in foam. I bought a 2x2 piece in memory foam. It was $50. I put it against the wall and hit 6 iron at it. The shot put a hole in the foam. Next I'm going to sew a bunch of moving blankets together and hang them 2 inches behind the entire screen. My new goal is to be 8 inches from the plywood back wall. We'll see.

[Hoosierdaddy]

I always thought the idea of putting memory foam up was to hang it on the backup net to quiet the blow and deaden it(no bounce back). Has anyone tried that? I think anything that is not touching the screen is going to create a thud as the ball impacts. The moving blankets are a good idea try hanging them on the backup net and see what happens. Also try the foam on the net and tell me if the ball bounce back is minimized (or shortened).

[JV17]

Hoos, memory foam on the back of the net would definitely deaden the blow. What I did to accomplish the same thing, (or close to the same) at less cost and easier installation, was to place thick curtains directly behind my screen and in front of the net. I wish I had seen this post before, because this would have gotten mthunt to the 8inch gap he's looking for. All balls stop dead. I'd be surprised if any balls speed could get this combo to move more than 4"... Definitely no more than 6". For reference, my gap is down to 10".

[mthunt]

I actually ended up suspending two 3 inch king size memory foam mattresses behind the screen. They were pretty cheap when target went under. They hang from the ceiling. My screen is 8 inches so with the mattresses, it's pretty good.

[JV17]

This must be one of the very few posts I've missed! Wow! Thanks for sharing aja... You have done an amazing job on this!

[Joko]

Those ceiling baffles are cool - I don't quite understand how it protects completely though, it appears there would be a chance the ball could get hit in-between the baffles, if that makes sense. Any clarification on this would be awesome.

[aja]

At first I was also concerned about the spacing of the baffles and balls getting in between them.

In practice, the baffles are heavy enough and resilient enough that they absorb the impact of the golf ball and don't move very much. The ball's impact is absorbed and it deflects into the impact screen.

It also has to do with the angle that the golf ball arrives at. The baffles come into play with lofted clubs. This means that the ball approaches from an angle of 50 - 45 degrees which also means that the ball is less likely to make its way into the space between the baffles which is vertical.

Here's a rough diagram of my design. Golfsim_3.pdf The baffles are shown as thin lines when in actual fact they are about 3 inches thick. That also serves to reduce the space between them.

[vrpunk]

Great room and some valuable information

Just starting my sim room design, it will be using 1" poles and steel wire.
Really like the tent pole / rod idea around top and left/right sides of impact screen (thinking of bungee rope on bottom as it will be loose).

Just need to think how to fix bungee's to 1" poles so adjustable for getting a nice flat screen (no ripples)...ball based bungees?
What thickness are the impact screen poles and I presume they have a bit of give...like tent poles.
What thread did you use for making the pockets in your impact screen?

Regards
Mark

[aja]

Impact screen poles are maybe 3/8" Got them on e-bay. They are aluminum military grade tent poles. They don't need much flex since they are supported every 10 inches.

A professional seamstress sewed the pockets. They were overlapped and there are 2 rows of stitching. Probably polyester thread.

I would definitely recommend using a net behind the impact screen. It will reduce wear on the screen.

Good Luck!

[vrpunk]

Time flies 2017 and just starting build...life took over.....trying to duplicate your sim room now Aja.
Have my HQ2-Raw (and a seamstress ready!)
Sourced aluminium tent poles 2 x 3m and 1 x 4m
Going to decide on 22mm golf impact netting or archery netting (price is 4 x for archery netting though)
Will be using super king memory foam mattress toppers 2inch ( i only have 8-9 inches screen to wall) hung.
Using angle iron as cannot find perforated U channel in UK (yet)

Just have a few questions please...if you can remember your build!

1. When your U channel, left and right, is attached to walls and you had your finished screen, what is the gap between each edges of the U channel and the finished screen (basically how did you calculate your finished screen size once you knew the width of the room with the U channel on the walls).
2.Did you use U channel so you could hang the net from the back side of the U and the impact screen from the front side, so the two don't touch, or you think this doesn't matter e.g. could hang net and impact screen from same angle iron,
3. What was the size of the Hook Bungees you used.

4. Now you have used it for sometime, any updates or anything you would of done different?

Thanks.

[aja]

I remember my build quite well, even though I don't get to use my sim as much as I'd like.

1. The gap between my finished screen size and the angle iron is about 4 - 5 cm (basically 2 inches) each side, so about 10 cm (4 inches ) less than the distance between the angle iron. My seamstress was very diligent, since the impact screen material does have a bit of "give" to it - but I ended up with the exact size that I asked for.

2. I did use the "U" channel to separate the backing net from the impact screen, but I don't believe that it actually makes much of a difference. You should be fine with the angle iron.

3. The bungees are "12 inch mini bungees", I'd say they are about 3/16 of an inch thick.

I'm pretty pleased with my set-up. Not really much that I'd change.

Good luck with your build.

[aja]

Some pictures that help explain the underlying construction.

[Brettster]

Thanks for pics aja - I can see you did a great job with that angle iron. The foam topper glued to back wall - that's a new one to me. How does it hold up, I bought a 3" memory foam mattress and it must way 25-30lbs. I'm considering ripping it into 2'-3' sections and use for protections on collar joists and around my rafters in a gambrel (barn) roof shed shape. You can see more info on my post. You can also see how difficult it was to hang a single piece of commando cloth (from Chicago Canvas) that was 19'x9' to fold down and create baffles - I hooked them to the rafters and collar joists above by using a grommet tool to create grommets - and screwing in eye hooks in to hook the grommets through as I went! One huge task that took me 4-6 hours and a lot of frustration when I had to give up trying it without the grommet tool first. Your way certainly looks better - but I can tell you, the Gambrel roof shape creates all kinds of tough choices in folding/cutting and securing fabric to ceilings/walls, joists, rafters and the top/rim board of my shed.

Here's my post - where I'm finishing up my build (very soon now)! I can almost smell the golf balls and grass at this point:

https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/golf-simulator-forum/simulator-builds/348365-golf-sim-shed-build-finally?p=365387#post365387

[hankydysplasia]

Love the setup. I have my impact screen up and going but now I'm working on fixing the room up. I too used angle iron to put it on the walls, rather than a EMT frame. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do what you have pictured here though. I have the angle iron on the studs and then the impact screen bungeed to the angle iron. I'm very happy with the tension on the screen - doesn't ripple too badly, and bounceback is just right. Bungee adds about about a 5-6" distance. So the screen starts ~6-7 inches into the room, which gives some room on the sides to put shank curtains.

What I don't quite get - in your picture, it seems that this carpet is much narrow than mine would have to be. You say you used a 2x2. I'm worried a larger piece of wood like a 2x6 (which I think I would need) would create a whole lot of area a ball could hit and bounce back. I guess I could run the curtains up the sides into the 2x6 so there's not as much exposed wood... Do you have any advice?

[aja]

Hi!

Sorry, haven't been on the Forum for quite a while.

I think I understood what you were asking about using a 2x6 vs. a 2x2. The space you are trying to "protect/cover" is about 6 inches.

In my case, I am covering about 4 inches since my walls inside the sim ( hitting side of the screen) are covered with padded panels which take up about 3+ inches.

I'm not sure that you necessarily need to use a 2x6. If the carpeting is quite stiff, in my case it was a high grade berber style, the carpet itself will have enough stiffness to keep it's shape. The carpet strip (guessing 14 - 16 inches wide) is first fastened to the back side of the 2x2 (the side towards the screen). Then the 2x2 is fastened to the wall close to the angle and bungees. Then the carpet strip is wrapped towards the front (towards the tee position) and fastened to the side of the 2x2 facing the hitting position.

The result is that the stiffness of the carpet helps to form a "u" shape which serves to make up about 6-7 inches of protection for the gap between the wall/angle and the actual impact screen.

The carpet is really stiff so the only way to fasten it to the wooden 2x2 is with pan head screws.

Kind of long winded. Hope this helps.

[schwame]

This is a great post. thanks