My Build 3.0 - Maybe the final one???

[gene438]

Well, I have been at this for a couple of years now and I thought I would try to put everything in one place. I've had a lot of questions, some discussions, some failures and some success...so here is my current setup. I'll start with the pics and then try to give as much detail as it can.








OK, now some stats:

1)Room is 22 x 25
2)Screen is 17 x 10
3)Protee System
4)Screen direct from mfg. (Ordered with all guys on this forum), tied with bungee cords and tarp clips. I have emt frame bolted to ceiling/floor. Behind the screen are thick moving blankets and a canvas tarp. I get zero bounce. You will notice that there is 1.5 feet trough between screen and putting surface. All balls hit screen and collect in this area.
5)Optima 1080 projector
6) Synlawn turf
7)Putting green is 15 x 22. Turf comes in 15ft width some made the most sense so as to not have any seams.
8)The subfloor system is 3/4 in plywood on top of 2 x 4's laying on their side. Then 1/4 carpet padding then the 1/2 synlawn turf. This comes out to about 2 3/4 which matches up with protee mat
I purposely overdid the 2x4's plus I stuffed with insulation to kill any noise when walking. Results were great...solid floor, no noise, feels great.
9)Electronics (computer, projector, sound system, protee mat, lights, etc) are all controlled by Google Home. Simply go in and say "Hey Google, start the golf simulator" and everything comes on.
10) Added wood flooring in viewing area and I have one row of 3 theater style seats with recliners on order.
11)Frame around the screen is simply heavy black curtains.
12)5 holes on putting green and I think my longest put is about 20 feet.
13)My protee mat is about 9.5 feet from screen. This is the same as the projector...so, my projector is basically over my head right next to the light for the protee. Works great, no issues.
14)Yes, the original protee mat has been replaced with one made by The Simulator Guys. Great mat, tighter turf which gives better feedback than the fiberbuilt and luckily matches my putting green.

That's the basics.....also wanted to share that I think this has been a great investment. My family uses the room for various functions:

1)Me - Golf
2)Kids - HTC Vive or Virtual Reality Room
3)Wife - Loves watching her exercise videos on the big screen and having all that open space on the putting green to workout.
4)Family - Movie theater
5)Added karaoke system - Don't ask.

The above is my attempt to help you justify the costs....just do it, you'll be glad you did,

OK, I tried to cover as much as I could think of.....any questions, just let me know.

Gene

[penrose]

I bet you are happy the wife watches the exercise videos. Some say a happy wife is a happy life...I say a fit wife is a happy life. Great looking room.

[Greasegun]

Lol. Ill use that next time mine says happy wife happy life. not

[GoldenSim]

Great job on the room Gene. It certainly looks like v3.0 is a good one. I'm hoping my imminent build will be as nice as this. I wonder if you can tell me which Synlawn product you have for your putting surface? And where you got your putting cups (are they sunk into the 2x4's)?
Thanks
Dave

[gene438]

I heave the “classic putt” product..... the cups are too deep and I had to cut mine to make them fit....my putting green is about 2 3/4 inches high...here is the amazon link

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LEIMQWM/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvp_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3524794222&pd_rd_wg=XHAGc&pf_rd_r=2NCW7TVZ8ZC6CZ2HV480&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-bottom-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B00LEIMQWM&pd_rd_w=rJYin&pf_rd_i=Putting+cups&pd_rd_r=1509241c-f5b0-4986-b97c-ca6beaa53861&ie=UTF8&qid=1522639125&sr=1

I located the holes so that there was no 2x4 underneath, and I bought a 4 in circular drill bit and cut through the plywood... I then took my time and used a xacto knife to cut out the turf

[GoldenSim]

Hi Gene - thanks v much, that's much appreciated. Great work on the build and thanks for all the info. Love the Google Home touch - had not thought of that, and might have to steal that idea

[frankiepap39]

how high is the ceiling?

[gene438]

Ceiling height is 9'7".....

[frankiepap39]

enough for a full driver swing?

[gene438]

Yes Frankie....I swing full driver with no problems...I'm 5'11"

[brock]

Looks fantastic and must feel great getting it done. Nice job!

[banjopete]

This looks great, is this in a garage? the dimensions are awfully garage like. Have you had other people over hitting that have had ceiling height issues (I see you have no problems as above)? I'm 6'4 and worry about this for my own ceiling height which hopefully will be in your ballpark.

[gene438]

Yes, the garage door is behind the screen. I took down the garage opener (which left perfect electrical spot for projector) and I removed the ceiling rails, but left the garage door itself. The garage is actually an extended on so there is a 10 ft. section that is 3 inches higher than main floor. (That is where I put the wood flooring. So, when I built the subfloor for putting surface, I designed it so that it would end up flush with the wood floor.

The guy I bought the house from build 2 double garages and both were extended...he was a boat guy.......

[Solstice72]

Gene, love it all. Similarities are amazing, I have a custom basement 22x27 and had planned something similar to yours even down to that wood or sim wood you got there! You the guidance for me man.

I was going to do a 16 foot screen 10 foot high why did you do 17 should I do that? Do you have the cameras associated with that protee mat? How accurate is the putting? Why didn't you go GC2? If I bought a Protee mat from Par2Pro now would it have that tighter turf of which you speak? You're using TGC prob right?
And lastly you don't need impact panels or curtains? Those lights near the screen, how are they not shattered.

Sorry, hungry for knowledge.

[gene438]

Thanks for comments.....yes, I have one overhead camera and the vertical camera. I actually have 2 additional cameras to film my swing, one from behind and the other front facing. I love the putting on the ProTee and I don’t have the additional putting sensor you can buy.....I think putting off the mat is good enough for me. If you buy one it will come with the standard fiber built mat which is very good....but I do like the one I got from The Simulator Guys... if you get a ProTee and want one, I will give you their contact info.

Yes, I use TGC ... love it.


I prefer to hit closer to the screen than most guys... this gives me a more immersion experience and more importantly allows me to hit full wedge shots into the screen without hitting the ceiling... my mat is 9.5 feet from screen and most guys are 10 to 11 feet....I’ve never hit side walls.... but technically it could happen

Finally, most guys love the GC2 so I assume it’s a great product.... I believe the ProTee is just as accurate once setup which is harder than just plug n play of gc2 but and this is just me... I cannot stand any kind of shot delay... I really like hitting the ball, watching it hit the screen, and immediately seeing the ball take off on the screen.... a 2-3 second delay takes all the WOW factor out of it for me.....

Plus, if you are going to have a permanent setup, once you get the ProTee dialed in, you just turn it on and hit.....

Good luck and let me know if you need anything

[PUNTE]

This is the gold standard of GSF builds. Hat's off, Gene, and thank you for sharing.

I was wondering if you had any issue getting Wifi into your garage, presuming that's how you power Google Home. Also, are you lights for the ProTee sensors recessed into the ceiling? I had trouble telling from the images. Thank you.

[gene438]

Thanks Punte,

The lights are recessed....I was very careful in measuring and the lights were installed after the mat, so I knew exactly where they had to be. I also bought the kind that will rotate back and forth a little to give me some tweaking ability.

As for the wifi, I had my cable internet actually moved to the sim room so that I have a direct connection to my gaming pc and I run my wifi from there. I have the google wifi system which I have to say greatly improved the wifi service throughout the house. The system comes with 3 units. One in the sim room, the other my bedroom, and the other upstairs in my daughters room...we have fantastic service through out our home.......I highly recommend it.

[afmilboy02]

Great setup!!! Can't wait until my family and I establish roots somewhere and I can do something similar.

[JohnnyJedi]

Jezz, that made me throw up after drooling all over, i hate you man. LOL. Great set up, all looks just perfect, seems you really invested a lot of time just sketching it, I just currently started to build my own, most stuff is on the way already, although my budget is kinda of tight so I went with;

-the Skytrak TGC combination which i picked up both this week on discount.
-Carl's preferred Impact screen - 10x8 - to be mounted on 1" EMT. I wish I had the space like yours to get a bigger one but I don't.
-Optoma 1080P 4200 LUMENS 5 THROW RATIO (EH460ST).

still haven't decided on the hitting mat, at least 4x4 and the putting green. I kinda designed something like you did, hitting mat in the middle an the putting green all around it. Can u link which and where you got yours from? looks awesome.

[gene438]

Sure....I used the "Classic Putt" product, you can find it here.

https://www.synlawngolf.com/real-golf-products/

Can't buy direct, but you can find your closest dealer on the website.

[dunginhawk]

how did you do the google home things? using ifttt? or something else? I have smart things hub with 87 devices, and about 5 google homes around the house. id love to implement this system IF i ever get my room the way i want it.

[gene438]

I put the protee sensor and over head lights on one outlet. I call it "Golf Simulator". I have the computer on an outlet called "Computer" I have the PC setup to autoload Protee and TGC when it is turned on. By the way, I use MouseRecorder to start TGC, go through the menus, and load my favorite driving range. So, when I come in, I say" Turn on Computer" and "Turn on the Golf Simulator" and by the time I press the on button for the projector, everything is loaded and ready to go and I am at the range ready to hit balls. Took me about an hour to play around with MouseRecorder to get the timing right, but now it works flawlessly. By the time I put on my glove and take a few warm up swings, everything loads and I'm ready to hit.

[dunginhawk]

That is awesome i will likely just leave whatever PC i have in there powered up... i guess thats dumb, based on the cost of running a pc non stop...but the rest is super easy, thank you

[Joshua1745]

Gene, looking at your videos you have the least shot delay I’ve seen with Protee. I upgraded my cpu and motherboard to get usb 3 (I know the cams are usb 2) and that seemed to make a difference but I don’t think it’s as good as yours. Otherwise, I have a strong system. Anything special your doing to get that minimal shot delay.

Also, what camera are u using for kinovea. Looks pretty good given the required low lighting.

[gene438]

Thanks Joshua, I don't think I am doing anything special. I have a dedicated computer system with a 1080 Nvidia card. There are other experts on here, but I believe the strength of your graphics card is probably the number one thing to have. I'm like you though, zero shot delay is critical for the true experience and I like the ProTee system because it gives me that........

The camera I use can be found here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1080p-Full-HD-120fps-High-Speed-OV2710-CMOS-Mini-Box-USB-Web-Camera-2-1mm-Lens/222144549389?hash=item33b8d8d20d:g:d14AAOSwZd1VeVx~

[Joshua1745]

Thanks, I ended up getting the same camera; however, with a CS lens mount bc I have a few of those lenses.

For the computer, I have a GTX 1070 but I noticed a significant change after changing motherboard so I believe it might be related to overloading the USB interface and trying to run the cameras on different USB interfaces. I'll probably add a USB card to test that theory. My shot delay is pretty good; however, given that the hardware is all USB 2 or serial interface, I thought I was at the shot delay limit until I saw your setup.

[gene438]

Good to hear....let me know how your testing goes. I really think I have about a zero shot delay. I'm not really sure what the critical components are, but if your test is not successful, let me know and I will get the guy who build my system to document exactly what he put into it and I will document how I have the cameras, etc. plugged in.

I do know that at one time I switched all my usb cables to 3.0 because one of my cameras kept freezing up...switching to 3.0 cable solved the problem and maybe that has helped get my shot delay down

[Joshua1745]

Gene, for the camera. I have 2 of the OV2710 cameras as well. Are you using any additional lighting other then the 2 overhead spot lights required for the protee. I cannot get a picture anywhere close to yours no matter how I mess with the settings in that environment.