Netting advice

[thegreatradish]

Hi all,

Looking for some help and advice here about my simulator project. I have managed to grab some space in one of my sheds for an indoor sim area and have just modified it so that I now have the height required to swing a club. Image of the area as it is now below is attached (excuse the mess, the area will be spruced up with some nice flooring material and a partition wall just in front of the boat, the whole area is approximately 16ft x 16ft).

I currently use an R-motion with almost golf balls but desperately wish to upgrade to Skytrak and real balls. So, I would like something a little more secure and safe to hit into than the 8ft x 8ft pop up net I already have. The renovation of the shed and the upcoming Skytrak purchase will leave little cash for anything too advanced, such as The Net Return which is outwith my budget and not easy to get holf of in the UK in any case. There are few nets that are suitable here without importing at great expense and that meet my needs (must be very strong and I need side protection too because I WILL shank it at some point, I already have with the Almost Golf Balls and even that was scary). The best I could find was the Haack net but it does not come with the side barriers and this company https://www.golfswingsystems.co.uk/p...luxe-golf-net/ haven't responded to any of the e-mails I sent over the last two weeks so I don't wish to provide them with my custom if they can't be bothered to answer a few simple questions. A 10ft sq. cage would have been nice but I don't have the room sadly.

So, I have been thinking about purchasing some netting like this https://www.networldsports.co.uk/22m...dard-size.html and maybe an archery panel for in front of it and suspending them from the first still complete joist with my existing net as the right side barrier. Is this a viable, safe option? Is it advisable to leave it loose at the bottom? Are there other other things I should consider? I like this option because it is cheap and customizable - I don't intend to project at present so I think a net with a baffle panel should be sufficient?

Thanks for reading and I eagerly await your input!

[thegreatradish]

So, I'm super excited to report that I am now a Skytrak owner - the unit and the metal cover will arrive on Friday and I have already subscribed to the GI package. I still can't figure out exactly how I'm going to do this though, any help or advice to get me up and running.

I have been quoted on the below by a second company I contacted and they believe it to be suitable for my shed. I should be able to take a stance relatively close to it so should help me with any problems with wedges launching high. What do you guys think? A good solution? Could allow projection somewhere down the line when I can afford it?

[thegreatradish]

Haha, I'm now getting really worried that the silence indicates I'm doing something really wrong here and no one wants to say!

[andygg1986]

I would just hang some netting from that joist like you said in your first post. You could make it fairly wide and stand close enough that you shouldn't need any side protection, although if that was a concern you could just run a 2x4 perpendicular to the joist and wrap the net around to the right (if you are right handed). Depending on how often you would need to move it, you might consider a sliding track so you could pull everything to the side.

Personally I wouldn't bother putting a full cage inside a shed as that seems like overkill and likely costs quite a bit more.

[thegreatradish]

Thanks - I am certainly seriously still thinking of doing this. However, I'm now quite keen on the idea of building my own PVC frame 10ft wide and just as tall as I can get away with, probably 8.5 ft, maybe just a smidgen more. I can build my own side panel too. The main frame would have high impact golf netting attached by cable ties with white archery baffle on bungees in front of that. How do people feel about the PVC pipe? 22mm overflow pipe or something with a greater diameter?

Whatever I decide to do I'm lucky enough that it can be a permanent solution.

I'm all over the place with ideas but also full of doubts and worries I've never done this before and no one at all locally has ever heard of indoor golf simulation so I'm kinda leaning on you guys for help and advice.

The really cool thing is the Skytrak is here and I can hardly contain my excitement!

[andygg1986]

I wouldn't use PVC because it will sag from the weight of the net and crack if a ball hits it. If you want to build a cage I would look at how people have used electrical conduit. You can buy kits on eBay that have the corners and then you just buy the straight lengths at home depot or Lowe's.

[Smudge7204]

I bought a golf net that was 20x10ft for like 125 CDN dollars of amazon. It used angle iron on the top of my beam (9ft high) and left it loose to take the impact of the ball. The remainder of the net wrapped around my side frame posts and gave me approx 3-4 ft of protection either slide. I also attached it to a cheap curtain rail system so it would slide back and forth but sounds like you can leave yours extended. Looking at your shed, throw up a the net and you could simply use bungees to secure it at an angle to the sides of your shed.

Only issue you should watch out for is if you smoke the top beam with a wedge it will come back at you real quick.

[entrag]

I bought a golf net that was 20x10ft for like 125 CDN dollars of amazon. It used angle iron on the top of my beam (9ft high) and left it loose to take the impact of the ball. The remainder of the net wrapped around my side frame posts and gave me approx 3-4 ft of protection either slide. I also attached it to a cheap curtain rail system so it would slide back and forth but sounds like you can leave yours extended. Looking at your shed, throw up a the net and you could simply use bungees to secure it at an angle to the sides of your shed.

Only issue you should watch out for is if you smoke the top beam with a wedge it will come back at you real quick.

Your setup smudge sounds like something I would be interested in doing! Any chance you could post a couple pictures of this set-up?
thanks!
shawn

[Smudge7204]

Your set-up is much different than mine, i am not sure a picture would really give you the insight your looking for. I used this netting:

https://www.amazon.ca/Dynamax-Sports-Practice-Barrier-10X20-ft/dp/B00DX3LMCG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523199272&sr=8-1&keywords=golf+netting+10x20

I then bought angle iron https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...1347/204325578

(if you are going to eventually hang a screen then get angle iron with two sets of slots on one angle)

I screwed in the single side of the angle iron on the top of my beam and used zip ties to make sure it was snug to the angle iron

As i had built a 12 ft frame i pulled the net around the side posts just like you would for a football net (Soccer) for your setup I would just secure the top of the net to the width your looking for i..e 12ft and then pull the remainder of the net at an angle and use bungees to secure it to the side of your shed.

Hope this helps.