Advice Wanted - New construction

[romine17]

I am in the process of building a new home and I am designing part of the basement to house a simulator. I have done a lot of reading on the site and found quite a bit of useful information. As I am in the design phase I was hoping to get some advice on the layout. I am digging down part of the basement to 12 feet to accommodate the simulator. I have chosen an area just over 16 feet wide and about 21 feet deep. I still have flexibility to change dimensions if needed. So I have a couple questions and any suggestions welcome.

1. What is the ideal set back from the screen to put the tee?

2. How far back from the screen is ideal for the projector?

3. How far past the tee is comfortable to put seating and/or a half wall?

4. I am considering putting an automatic tee built into the basement floor so there is no step up to swinging platform, any idea of total area needed dug out? And has any had problems with this?

5. I am considering just putting an area big enough to swing on in turf and hardwood around it? I was hoping I could cushion the screen enough to control most balls to drop straight down and not back onto the hardwood, Is this realistic? If so how big would the turf area need to be to accommodate right and left handed hitters? I would put some turf around the screen to catch the balls almost like a trough.

I appreciate and answers or suggestions as we are doing the architectural and electrical drawings now I want to make sure things are put into the right place. Thanks in advance, next will be trying to decide on the best hardware and software.

[mthunt]

I was in your boat so I'll answer:

1. 10 feet is really good
2. Depends on projector but too far and you get shadows. I'm 14.5 feet. No,shadows.
3. 7 feet is the bare minimum. I went with same dimensions as you and I wish I had 23 feet. It only matters when 3 or 4 people are there but a couch and 23x16 would be more comfortable. When alone, 16x20 is plenty.
4. I recommend you look at a ground mounted auto tee set up. They are cheap on Amazon.
5. I bought a 10x5 CCE mat. Do that and do hardwood around it. How tight your screen is will dictate bounce back.

The critical thing for,you now is size. Build 16x23x10 tall and you'll never regret it.

[wbond]

I'm assuming you've hit on sims before, balls always move around a lot after hitting the screen, some more than others. I'm guessing if you have hardwood between you and the screen, eventually some will be bouncing around.

[romine17]

I have hit on commercial simulators quite a bit and I agree they seem to be all over the place. I saw a video someone posted on here where they had a trough to catch the balls and feed the auto tee so that is what got me thinking about it. I am leaning towards turf from tee to screen and hardwood behind it. Thanks for the reply.

[CalgaryHack]

I'm building my simulator room now. I have my hitting mat 10.5' from the impact screen (measured to center of the mat). The room is 10' 3" wide (after drywall) and I will be putting Armstrong's Soundsoak 85 acoustic panels from floor to ceiling on the walls and on the ceiling as well in lieu of curtains and ceiling baffles. I'm hitting off of a TrueStrike single mat. My finished ceiling height is 9'1" and it gives me plenty of room to swing a driver (I'm 5'11"). Instead of hardwood, I will be using a putting turf from the mat to the screen and transitioning to a cork floor behind the simulator which should also help with the sound.