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Even though I need between 12 and 15 width for the sim image, I'm thinking only the middle 6 feet or so will actually be hit by the golf ball. Can you good people comment on the actual impact area of your screen? I'm thinking of creating a 6 foot wide pass through section in the middle of the screen, and then having a 3 foot section of impact screen on either side. That would provide a 12 foot wide image but should help reduce wrinkles and impact marks.
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I would say from about 9ft away from my 10ft x 9ft screen,vertically it is probably anywhere from the bottom 2 feet to the top of the screen where Ill hit on normal stuck shots depending on the club. As for horizontal, probably a 4 or 5ft area left to right should probably cover it...6 ouught to be great!. If you do this, please post pictures, would love to see it and how it is done-
Thanks for the info, that gave me an idea! I'm leaning toward hanging a full screen, then cutting vertical slits in it where the ball hits most often, then putting horizontal elastic behind that followed by the net. If I decide to do it, I'll create an entire thread with pictures of the entire process.
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Gotta say, I'm still not able to picture what you're trying to do. Will the screen be in 3 pieces? Will the middle be farther back than the sides?Comment
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My working theory is that the outer parts of the screen rarely get hit, while the middle section gets pummeled and therefore gets big indentations from repeated ball strikes. I've noticed this at the PGA Tour Store by my house, Dick's Sporting Goods, and GolfSmith. I like the idea of the Full Swing Golf pass through screen, which has 2 inch strips of elastic vertically on the front, 2 inch elastic horizontally as the second layer, and a net behind that. When the ball hits it, the 2 layers of elastic allow the ball to pass through into the net and then snap back into place. I haven't seen this in person, but it looks nice on video. I could build my own version of this for the entire screen, but that would take a lot of time and elastic. So I'm think of just doing the middle section as the pass through to save time and effort, but haven't decided how to accomplish it so it all looks seamless.
Option 1 - Buy 10 X 16 raw material from Par2Pro and hang it, then mark vertical lines in the middle 6' section and cut it in 2 inch increments. Then put horizontal elastic strips behind that, followed by the net. Raw material would be about $450, so this would be a risky and expensive experiment, but I think would be the least effort and possibly look the best.
Option 2 - Do the whole thing in 2 inch elastic strips (basically replicating the Full Swing screen. Probably around $400 for the material and would take a lot of effort to do the entire screen. And then I still have no idea how good the image quality would be.
Option 3 - Hang 3' solid impact screen on each side and create 6' middle elastic section. Not sure how to pull this off, or how it would look.
Option 4 - Just do what everyone else does and hang a normal impact screen!
Has anyone seen the Full Swing pass through screen in person? If so, how is image quality?
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Option 4 for me, my HQ screen gets well used and doesn't leave indentations or marks. Be interesting to see how you get on if you go down some of the other options. Good luckComment
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Originally posted by abirdie4me View Post
This sounds like it would be pretty damn awesome if you can pull it off. Never thought of cutting strips into the raw material itself to make the vertical strips, just pictured option 3 when you first mentioned it but also wasn't sure how you would make it work and look nice. If I were you id buy a cheap king size bed sheet or better yet, a tarp or something, hang it as you would the actual screen, test cutting the vertical strips on that, and then place the horizontal elastic behind that and see if it will work in concept. This way you don't immediately have to cut up an expensive HQ screen for something you aren't 100% positive will work as you envision yet.
This whole thing sound super cool though and would love to see someone make a homemade version work, in theory it seems very doable and not overly difficult once you figure out how to hang the strips.Comment
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That's a great idea about the bed sheet! I bought angle iron today and have a buddy coming over tomorrow to help me mount it. I bought a canvas painter's tarp for $20 bucks to hang until my actual screen gets here, I may do practice strips on that. I plan to hang the screen using tarp clips that I got at Home Depot, so it should be easy to put up and take down while I experiment. I don't have a net yet, so will have to rig something temporarily if I'm going to actually hit a ball into it.
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I have the same type of tarp clips I got off amazon for my HQ screen and they work amazingly well. And yea, maybe hanging a loose heavy cover or something behind the sheet/tarp for a bit may work to make sure to stop the ball. Ive never used a bed sheet or tarp to hit a golf ball into but wouldn't trust it by itself (especially under tension) to hold many of the bigger clubs at least haha. Definitely look forward to the post if you decide to go for this. Id be interested into trying something like this myself as well once I am ready to buy a new screen. May not be for a good while though, a year in and not seeing any wear or indents on my HQ screen as Smudge_si said, it really is a quality product. Having said that, cant deny the coolness that a working pass through screen would be.Originally posted by abirdie4me View PostComment
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I think the biggest risk in doing this is the material bending away from the cuts as you lose all horizontal tension. I would definitely consider trailing this on a smaller scale, but with the same material. Other materials may not behave the same in terms of the bending.
Consider a mini 3ft high version for example. That way you're not wasting too much cash if it fails.Comment
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The more I think about it, cutting strips in the actual screen probably wouldn't work in the long run because the edges would get frayed and look bad pretty quickly. I may try to create a mini version like you said out of all elastic. -
How far back will you be hitting from? Might have to be a lot more than the typical home distance of 10 feet or so to avoid seeing any Venetian blind effect. -
Only 8 feet or so from the screen...screen door effect will probably be pretty bad.
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I must have missed something... been away for a day and...I thought this was a golf sim forum and turns out it's also a site for mad scientist inventors!
OP - Option 4! you are overthinking it! Exactly what 'problem' are you trying to solve?
Buy the HQ material in the size you need and install an impact screen the same way that 99.9% of the rest of us have and enjoy playing on your sim.
The Full Swing screen is just a gimmick.Last edited by aja; 05-01-2016, 06:50 PM.Comment
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Got the angle iron up today and threw up a cheap painters cloth to get a general idea of how this will work. I'll order bungees, net, and HQ2 screen this week. I'll probably mess around with the pass through option on this canvas since it was only $20, I'll post those pictures next weekend if I get it done.Comment
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When I'm done in a few months, the whole room will be protected. I just threw the tarp up there for now to test the angle iron. I've got 2 feet behind the tarp and I've only hit Almost Golf Balls so far, I won't hit real balls until I get a net / impact screen put up.Comment
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Did this project end?Comment
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I'm afraid not. Life stuff cropped up, so I did pretty much the minimum to make it functional and never got it finished. I've been revisiting the idea and may start the next phase soon.Originally posted by John Tomel View PostComment
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Awesome! Please keep me posted.Comment
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