Retractable Garage simulator build need advice!

[Greekpsu79]

I am going to be doing a garage sim build using a sportscreen for a retractable screen. I have read sereval posts that make me believe it is the best option for me. I can’t decide on whether to do a wide screen that would limit the screen height to 7 ft but be 16 feet wide or 10 ft wide screen which would allow me to have an almost 10 ft high screen. If I do the widescreen set up I would be hitting directly into the middle of the screen but if I do the more narrow set up I would be hitting on the right half of the screen. Both set up locations have enough room to swing all my clubs without any problem. I would prefer the wide setup but I am worried that 7ft may not be high enough to hit higher lofted clubs into. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[Jtangm04]

16x10
pros:
Bigger is better with golf sim experience
Could forego side netting unless got some really bad shankers playing with you.
Right and and left hand player flexibility
Cons:
Increased cost of screen
Will need to do netting underneath garage railes
Moving 2 cars out and in bigger hassle to set up and clean up.

10x10
Pros:
Less wear and tear on sportscreen motor retracting less weight from impact screen
Easier set up if you don't have to move the cars.. Can't tell how deep your garage is.
Cheaper
Side netting much easier to set up than ceiling netting.

In my case has 2 car door and single car door Went with 10foot option for me since I live in Chicago and moving 2 cars in and out during the winter was a bigger hassle. Also snow from tires makes a mess and would double the mess for me keeping the area clean.

[Captargo]

Another option, albeit more expensive, is to see if a "high lift" door is an option for you.
rails would be higher, closer to the ceiling, so maybe you would get 16x10 with 10' high

[Greekpsu79]

Yeah I have considered lifting the rails but I think that is too expensive for me at this point.

[dagratest816]

i did this option for my third car garage. wasnt cheap but was well worth it, imo.

[Boerdoc]

Definitely go 16 feet wide!! To do that .....

Option 1. Get a liftmaster 8500 garage door opener. You eliminate the opener from the center of the garage.
If you want you can also extend the rails up to lift higher than they are. Not really needed but easy to do by a garage door guy.

Option 2 Turn around and hit to the other end of the garage. There is plenty of room for Righty/lefty between the 16 feet garage door rails and the opener is not in the way. You can leave the screen down more often. I have this as my "temporary setup" until the shop is built. I simply hung my screen on a cable with shower curtain holders on a 1/4 inch cable. I just slide it out of the way when needed and I use tarp clips and bungies to tension it to get a good picture and bounceback. This is very easy to do.

[Greekpsu79]

Thanks for the feedback! I don’t have the funds to lift the door but I may explore hitting to the rear. That is how we enter the house so we could t leave it down but maybe I could hit that way.Thanks

[mp1972]

I’ll second the LiftMaster 8500. I used this same model. It wasn’t an absolute necessity as I could swing with the old opener there but this made the entire garage feel so much more open. Less than $300 and was easy to install myself. Very glad I did it.

[Greekpsu79]

Yeah if I spent the extra 300 for the garage door opener it would def solve my problem but we just built this house and everything is new. Hard for me to justify the expense when our current opener is less than a month old

[mwh1023]

I put my 10’ x 10’ Setup on the back wall of my garage and had the floor lower down with a hoist motor. If you have the height of 10’ you should definitely go with a 16’ wide screen as it will much more enjoyable. You can also then set everything up for center of screen hits.

https://youtu.be/anc-HAqCG-w

[Greekpsu79]

I like your setup a lot. How far does it stick out from the wall when it is in the raised position? Also how much space do you have between the screen and the wall? If I do the 16 ft setup I can only get 7ft of height.

[mwh1023]

My screen sits off the wall about 10” with the bracket system that came with the screen. I have 2x12’s on the side as my end walls and they attach to a 1x6 that lays flat on the drywall so a total of 12-3/4 out from wall. I built the floor out of 2x4’s laying flat and have 1/2” plywood on each side. The flat 2x4’s, plywood and hitting mat ended up being the exact height needed for the Protee sensor. The floor is 5” high so when raised it sticks out around 17-3/4” from the wall. The floor is heavy which is why I went with the winch motor to raise and lower. Since this is on the back wall of the garage you should have plenty of height? I hade to raise my garage door track and opener up to allow rom to hit, this was simple to do and I can send you pics if needed. I should also add that I have about 4” of room to my GMC truck bumper when I pull in at night, if I had a Tundra or something it wouldn’t fit in my garage.

[Greekpsu79]

Thank you for the detailed response. That really may be a setup option for me . If you could send me pics and an explanation of how you raised your garage door that would be very helpful as well. Also how much did it cost you to raise the door? Thanks!

[Greekpsu79]

How large is your fold down floor (base)? Also how far does this put the spot you got from the screen?

[Tresslerd]

I am doing the same thing using the sportscreen and have the same issues! I decided to hit toward the side where your 10x10 area is but since your using a Roll Up Screen Get the 16 foot version, Mount from the ceiling inside the rail away from the wall using chain inside conduit to sportscreen end mounts mounted to 2x4 on each end. Roll us as needed to put car in if needed. Put between outer rail and motor rail. Just a thought. It’s what I’m planning to do to solve the same problem.

[mwh1023]

I raised just the opener by raising the unit on the angle iron supports so it’s closer to the ceiling. I then raised the rail above the door header and remounted using a scrap 1x6 of material as shown. When I raised the opener I had enough angle iron to extend the arm that attaches to the door. It was really pretty easy, pictures should show each area. The door is now very quiet when raising and lowering due to being mounted so close to the ceiling, very solid. Having the opener raised gave me about 9’ of headroom at the opener and since this is centered on my screen I’d never swing and hit it. Hope this helps?

[Tresslerd]

Thanks for good suggestion! I just did this as well. It worked out fine and easy to do. Due to the longer extension door puller it didn’t rais my door as high (about 6” less) but still was high enough for big truck to go under!

[mwh1023]

Here’s a pic from the side with my screen folded up against the back wall.

[Tresslerd]

Added a pic of my install copying your idea!

[mwh1023]

I have to admit I was a little nervous doing it but it’s been working well for three years. Looks good!

[Greekpsu79]

Well after much consideration and a ton of research on the site it looks like I’m going to go with the placement on the side wall. It will be a 10 x 10 screen with a fold up base. Got a lot of inspiration from replies to this post as well as this build:

https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/build-your-own/mats-turf-and-flooring/120519-another-fold-up-garage-build

I will start to post as I go.
I don’t think my wife knows what she agreed to! Lol

[Tresslerd]

Here are two pics of my solution to same problem posting all final pics in a new post.