Best layout for this room

[ks-man]

Hi all,

Just joined the site after spending a lot of the morning researching on the web. I'm just starting my potential journey towards a simulator. The first step will be getting the wife's permission which probably means I should stop everything now but hey, I'm an optimist. I've attached a photo of the room in the basement that I'm hoping to use. The ceiling is about 9.5 feet but I need to double check for the exact number. I'm trying to decide if the best setup would be a longer room but not as wide or a wider room but not as long. The entryway shouldn't be an issue with either layout but I need to also be cognizant of the door to the bathroom. Any recommendations on what typically works out better?

Also a few other things to mention to see if anybody has any thoughts. Right now my son (who is only four) is a lefty and I'm a righty. As he grows older I'll want him to be able to also practice on the simulator so is there anything I should consider at the beginning to allow for use on both sides? I don't really mind physically moving the simulator but I'm guessing it is still something I should think about.

Finally, from my morning of research it looks like Par2Pro is one of the leaders for purchasing. I also like the look and simplicity of golfsimulatorguys.com although they don't appear to be as mainstream as Par2Pro. Any other vendors I should consider? Pricing is pretty up in the air right now. If I do this I want to do it right so could see spending what is necessary for a good system. I don't necessarily need the best setup but would be willing to spend an extra $5-15k if it means a far more enjoyable and accurate experience.

Thanks.

[wbond]

Before you settle on a laptop, review the requirements for TGC if you are thinking of going that route. From the responses, laptops are not ideal.

[ProTee United]

Its not like Laptops will not work at all. We are using MSI Laptops (i7 / 16Gb) with GTX880m adapters and they run fine. Yes, they start slowing down on 4K (3840x2160).

At 1920x1080 - High Detail, the fans will start making noise, but it does not lose performance. It all runs smooth.

We do not recommend Laptops mainly because:
a] On high detail they have a hard time cooling, so you will hear the fans (different with mini tower pc's and decent cooling).
b] A GTX 880m (m=mobile) performance can not be compared to his PC twin brother GTX880 (without the m).
c] For ProTee they do not have easy access to USB ports to hookup the sensors and 2 cameras to different hubs.

Laptops are usually more expensive than a normal PC. We always advise to get a "gaming pc" (these are tweaked and optimized for gaming) and not to try to save a $100 on a graphics card, because you will regret it later.

FYI, The game runs great on a Xbox and PS4. The PC equivalent for the PS4 GPU is just a Radeon 7850.

[ks-man]

Thanks. Getting a gaming PC instead of a laptop is no big deal for me. My main focus right now is figuring out a simulator (foresight and protee are the front runners) and the best screen/enclosure for my room. Is widescreen vastly preferred to fullscreen? I'm not sure if widescreen could work in my room but I could potentially make it work. I have two window wells behind where the screen would go but don't think that would be an issue. I see the enclosures on GolfSimulatorGuys only go up to 7'6". Isn't that pretty low for a top of the screen? Most of the ones on Par2Pro are 9' high.

[ks-man]

So I did some actual measuring in my room and found that it is slightly smaller than what the floor plan indicates. Wall to wall (ignoring the crown moldings on the floor) it is roughly 12’2.5” wide and 18’1” deep. The ceilings are right around 9’5.5” high. The north wall (one with the bathroom on it) has a soffit that comes out 24” and down 14”. I’m using a 10’ wide x 9’ high impact screen figure for my calculation and had some questions. I’m also leaning towards ProTee for my simulator and software but haven’t ruled out the GC2 with ProTee/TGC software completely yet.

1) If I figure the screen is centered between the south wall and the end of the soffit that would leave about 1-1.5” between the end of the screen and the wall on one side and the soffit on the other. Will that be enough room to mount it? I’ve been looking at the HQ2 from Par2Pro as reference but don’t know if I’m cutting this whole thing a little too tight. I think they do custom sizing so I could shave a couple inches on the width and height if that would make it better. I like the look of it with some type of cover as seen in this picture but don’t know that the cover has to be that thick. Do most people put some type of cover around their screens or just have their screen floating?

2) As I put in one of my earlier posts, my son is 4 years old and a lefty. With my setup as described above there would be about 7’1” from the hitting position to the left wall when facing the screen (righties) and 5’1” from the hitting position to the right wall (lefties). I’m guessing that should be enough space for my son as he is small and has very small clubs but wondering how long it would last. Do you think this type of setup would be ok until he is about 10-12 years old? He is short for his age so I would guess he won’t hit 5’ tall until he is older than 12.

3) Is it my best bet to try and maximize screen space in the room? With the above screen I can try and fit in 10’x9’ for the screen. I also am considering either this enclosure from Par2Pro or this enclosure from Golf Simulator Guys. Both are shorter in height and the Par2Pro one is narrower. Does a 9’ high screen matter with a max width of 10’ since the picture is going to be 4:3? Guessing that is why Golf Simulator Guys screen is 10’x7.5’.

4) Any opinion on ceiling mount vs. floor mount for the projector in this type of room? I don’t like the look of the projector box on the floor as much as it would probably get in the way of visualizing putting and the videos I see of balls bouncing in front of the projector don’t looks as good, however if I’m going to have issues with the projector constantly getting hit with a low ceiling I guess a floor mount is something I would have to live with.

5) What do people like to use to protect walls and stuff from stray shots? I’d want something that looks clean and could be tied into the room.

6) I’m not very handy but can do basic tasks around the house. I’m not sure yet if this project exceeds my level of home competence. I still keep in touch with our home builder and also have a good handyman I use for odd jobs around the house. If I decide to going the route to outsourcing the labor anybody have an idea on how much it should cost (or how many hours it would take)? For this I’m strictly speaking labor as I’d probably provide all the materials.

Thanks again for all the help. This forum has been a lifesaver and I can’t believe that I really am going to one day (hopefully soon) have a golf sim in my basement. My friends have already said that I’m crazy but are also lining up for “tee times”.

[wbond]

ks-man i will try to help out with item 2 tonight. My son is 11 and he is on the shorter side as well. I will have him swing his driver and see what we get for distances before you start getting to close to the wall behind him.

[wbond]

ks-man OK, my son is 57.5" tall and his driver is 38.5", although he currently chokes up on it about an inch or more. At 5' from the tee to the wall behind his back, he hit the wall. At 5'6", he could swing and it was close, but you could tell he felt cramped.

[ks-man]

Thanks for checking.

[ks-man]

One question which I wonder if you or somebody else knows. How should height impact swing arc and distance to the wall. If your son doesn't hit the wall at 5'6" (ignore the fact he felt cramped) and my son was 6" shorter than him does that mean my son wouldn't hit the wall (assuming the same swing) from 5' or does it not relate 1 to 1 like that?

Thanks.

[mthunt]

1. The screen is mounted with bungees which get covered. My gap is 2 inches from loop to angle iron.
2, you're in trouble here. With a GC2, you'll offset. With Protee, you might look at 2 sensor pads if it'll work and offset. Google aboutgolf compact to see what I mean
3. Maximize the screen based on 4:3
4. A ccieling mount is fine as long as it's behind you.
5. Plywood covered by carpet or carpet tiles is great or fabric on curtin rods for low cost. The fabric will be tough in a small room
6. That's a loaded question. That rabbit hole can go pretty deep

[ks-man]

Thanks. Question about #2 and #5. The way it will be setup there would be no offset for righties. Since the screen is not centered in the room the mat won't be either. I thought about the second ProTee option. If I go the ProTee route I'd probably hold off doing anything for now for the lefty setup as I'm guessing I have a few years before it becomes an issue and even a few years after that he'd probably be able to hit all clubs but driver. I can revisit in 3-7 years based on how cramped things get. For right now he'll just want to be able to hit and see something occur on the screen.

Why do you recommend mounting the projector behind me? Everything I've read says to use a short throw projector and mount it in front so you don't see the player's shadow on the screen.

What do you use to cover the bungees on your screen? Did it come with the screen or did you put something together separately to cover the bungees?

Thanks again.

[wbond]

There is really no 1-1 comparison for height and swing, just too many factors come into play, height, spine angle, swing type, length of clubs, follow through, etc. If you build your own stance mat, you could make two dropins, you could use the CCE hitting strip (for GC2) or a protee system to drop in on your side and then you could just do an optishot to drop in on the side for your son. It's a cheap alternative and at his age give some feedback and it would give him something to see when swinging.

[aja]

Re. Projector mounts. My short throw projector is mounted 7 feet from the impact screen, 11 feet above the hitting surface. The sensor pad hitting tee is 10 feet from the impact screen.

My experience has been that no golf ball has come remotely close to striking the projector. To hit the projector would require a launch angle of 67 degrees.

Best guesstimate for how far from the impact screen lob wedges have hit the ceiling is 2 feet away. That's a good 5 feet from the projector.

[ks-man]

I've been working with Par2Pro and am getting much closer to what I think I will be going with. One big change that I'm considering making is going from a 4:3 screen where the righty hitter is centered on the screen to a 16:10 screen with the hitter slightly offset. At first we were discussing a 110" x 82.5" screen and now I am leaning towards a 134" x 83.75" screen. The offset would be needed due to the soffit I mentioned which reduces the ceiling from about 9' 5.5" to 8' 3.5". If I figure the same hitting position for the two screens I would be one foot offset from the center but getting a lot more screen space and also going closer to a true widescreen which I have to imagine would be a better experience.

Looking for people's thoughts around here and which they think is the better path. Would you prefer a smaller screen and a 4:3 aspect ratio but hitting from the center of the screen or would you go with the bigger screen, 16:10 aspect ratio and accept the one foot offset?

I still need to confirm that we can find a short throw projector (I don't like the look of the shadows) that will do WUXGA without breaking the bank but I'd imagine we can find something.