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Garage Simulator Orientation in Garage, Need Input

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  • Garage Simulator Orientation in Garage, Need Input

    Hi all, im new to the forum but have been reading up. Alot of great info and designs in here. So Im planning on a simulator, and although I have a massive basement, my ceilings are SHORT, at only 8ft from concrete to wood (with the existing drop ceiling its much much lower even). So after much deliberation ive decided it needs to go in the garager where I have 111 inches, or a about 9.15 ft of height.
    The plan is to do to a full sim, skytrak, unless anything comes out before then. I want to do proper screen and projector. Will be putting natural gas heater in garage (gas line is close). Ill start soon by epoxy painting the floor (recommendations welcomed).

    So now my real question is how to fit my simulator in the garage, and how to orient it (parallel to the garage track and garage bay, or perpendicular). Ive started to price out moving my garager motor and tracks to a high lift type, but this is starting to add some significant costs. I need to make sure both cars will still be able to get in and out of the garage, so I will need to do something rather flexible (I like the recent ideas posted using a winch and a platform that folds down, though I dont know if I have the ceiling height for that).

    I have attached pictures of my garage (which still needs to be cleaned up), and a drawing of the dimensions I have to work with. Would greatly appreciate any opinions or recommendations on if I should shoot for option A or option B for screen mounting position (see the attached drawing). FYI option A is the screen on the wall with the windows shown in the pictures.

    Many thanks!
    J

  • #2
    Option B for your screen may give you a little additional room and not require pulling out both cars if you need a little extra space.

    Most folks here hit from approximately 10 feet from the screen. That means you have to add 3 or 4 feet for club travel to create a backswing. You also have to allow for the space your screen is away from the wall. Screen distance can vary from as little as 8 inches to well more then a foot. Option B looks like it allows a little more "Fudge" room.

    JMT's

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    • #3
      It looks like with Option B you still have to go with the jackshaft high rail option for the left door. also if you are a righty, if you can get rid of one shelving unit you may gain some elbow room both from the hitting area & the screen. Put some ceiling side curtains & outside of your hittting mat s/b able to put cars away without touching screen area.

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      • #4
        I have a very similar situation and garage. I went with option b and am very happy with it. It allows you to park the other car while playing. I also had the floors professionally epoxied, but after the hitting mat, and area rug, you actually can’t see the floor on that side. While we could put 2 cars, I just leave mine outside because I’m using the room any time I’m home. My garage track was already high so didn’t have to move that. I’d recommend pretending the ball is right below the opener and trying a practice swing. See what happened before spending any money to move something. IMO You will definitely want more width. I’d move a few shelves to get yourself 14’ or so of width. Even then you’ll probably be offset a bit. Finally put a ceiling track curtain in between the bays so that you can park the car and not shank one into your fender(wife did that on swing #2). Feel free to PM me for some pictures of my setup. You’re gonna love it!!!

        Comment


        • #5
          Have you tried a few practice swings to see what works for you? I tried option A in my garage but I tend to release the club higher at the end of the swing vs. the start. Because of this I had to swing towards the opposite direction, where your stairs are

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          • #6
            Thanks everyone. I took some of the advice and spent some time swinging around with driver in the garage. With option B, I would have to be pretty severly offset from screen in order to make sure I dont hit garage door tracks. I have looked into going to a high lift garage door with jackshaft motor, but having a pro do that would cost me probably $1200-1600 after some prelim quotes. Im an engineer and handy, saw a DIY walk through on how to do it, but I just dont really have the time to do that with other home reno's im working on.

            So I took another look at option A, and I now feel that I can get a near perfect solution going this this route. Only downside is that I cant have any cars in garage during play, but I think I can manage. Good news is I can avoid the hassle/cost of moving garage door tracks, and I can still keep my shelving unit that I so desperately need in the garage. Take a look at my attached quick drawing and let me know if you see any issues...

            I should be able to keep my ball position approx 4 ft from the wall. Therefore I was thinking an 8ft wide screen to be on center, is that big enough? Or should I go bigger? Any recommendations on specific screen? I should have a little over 9 ft from ball to screen. This seem ok? Again I have 9.16 ft ceiling height.

            The only issue with this setup is that left handers cant play-- but o well, too bad for any lefty friends.

            For side protection I was thinking to run some rails along the top, perpendicular to the screen, and then set some steel eye bolts into my concrete slab along the floor... I can run a steel cable tight from the screen end posts to the eyebolts which would sit - 1/2" off the floor. Then I can easily attach side screens between the upper rail and the steel cable at the floor wth rings (like shower curtain rings I suppose), and pull the side screens out and back in towards the screen for storage (so that I can fit my car back in the garage. The screen itself should not interfere with pulling my car in). If you can follow what I mean, any comments on this?

            Now that I have an idea that I really thing is solid and will work, Im even more pumped up now. I was going to wait to pull the trigger on this until much later, but now with a design in mind it seems easy to tackle. I just hope Skytrak is the best bang for my buck and something doesnt come out to take its place in the next year or so right after I buy it.

            Thanks for all the feedback all.

            Comment


            • wbond
              wbond commented
              Editing a comment
              Go bigger on the screen and just use the offset feature in the software.

          • #7
            Hmmm.... so if I do a 10 ft wide, screen, I probably cant have my ball setup at the exact center of the screen. Screen center would be approx 5 ft from the side wall, but my ball position could be no more than approx 4ft off the side wall to swing a full driver (reference the picture I shared). Is this feasible? Can you explain how the offset feature in the software works? Im really trying to nail down the projector setup.

            Also, maybe a dumb question,. but I understood that the ball has to be placed at same location everytime for Skytrak. But if I am teeing the ball up for driver versus just hitting an iron, that spot is going to change. Does that mean I need to move the Skytrak everytime? And ball position in relation to the screen will change everytime. Am I missing something?

            Comment


            • wbond
              wbond commented
              Editing a comment
              Some software allows you to move the aiming stick/starting point either left or right on your image. So if you had a 10' screen and you need to offset from the center, instead of having the aimstick in the middle of the picture you can move it to the right so that way you are still aligned with your target line and hitting straight into the screen. Skytrak stays in one spot and you hit the ball from the laser dot or just slightly off the dot in any direction. The base of the tee for the driver would be on the dot as well. You don't move the ST. Some have found that hitting driver, they put the tee slightly behind the dot away from the screen and wedges slightly in front of the dot closer to the screen.

          • #8
            I have a similar setup with double garage, and went with option B, with the screen on the right side of the garage (if facing the back wall). Although I was fortunate to have the door on the other side of the garage which helped. That way it only occupies one car port, and the top of my swing is near the middle of the garage, where I ended up raising the ceiling a few feet. The screen is movable, so I still have storage behind I can access, and by moving the floor mat I can part my truck if needed, and has no impact to the other car port. The computer and screen is on the right side of the mat, so I can look forward when swinging to view the computer.

            It's still a work in process, so excuse the mess Next steps are to have a pull curtain to prevent shanks (make shift setup for now), and epoxy the floor!

            Comment


            • wjochetz
              wjochetz commented
              Editing a comment
              Virtualadam Any chance you can provide some info/pics on how you raised your ceiling?

          • #9
            Hey Hotshot. Here are the pics I promised with option B. IMO an 8 foot screen wouldn’t be enjoyable. You’re gonna dump a bunch of money into this amazing hobby, so go ahead and do it right, moving the tracks.

            Comment


            • Laboroflove
              Laboroflove commented
              Editing a comment
              Standard garage size. 22’ square. My screen is 12’ wide and 8’ tall. But with the bungees and all its 14’ wide. If we took out the couch I could pull my car in. The other side fits a car no problem. I’m 8’9” from ball to screen. And it’s offset about 1’.

            • hotshot22
              hotshot22 commented
              Editing a comment
              Labor thanks! Im rethinking my decision on options. Had someone else come to give me an estimate on the garage today. Will see what he comes back with.

              So with regards to the 1 foot offset to the screen, im curious how this is accounted for or effects game play. So you are hitting approx to 1ft off center to the right on your screen, correct? If you hit center of screen skytrak would think you are hitting the ball left, ya? Skytrak is always exactly perpendicular to the screen, correct?

            • Laboroflove
              Laboroflove commented
              Editing a comment
              Correct. The software knows you’re offset. You just hit it straight. Your launch monitor is perpendicular to the screen. Most folks are offset at least some because you’d need about 16 wide to have no offset, which is quite large.

          • #10
            Not to mention it doubles as a workout room for the wife, kids movie room, and video game room. Way better than wading the space as a parking spot!

            Comment


            • #11

              thanks. What do you think is the minimum size screen I need to really enjoy it?

              I might go option A with 10ft wide screen, then in future if I'm not happy I can re-orient to option b, modify garae tracks, maybe rebuild shelving unit if needed.


              Comment


              • #12
                The good news is that both A and B will yield a great sim experience, so you don't have to worry about the decision too too much ... other than wanting the best result, of course . I like option A because it avoids a lot of work/expense on the garage lift etc... always a plus lol.

                WRT hitting offset, if necessary, I wouldn't worry about it. I have a small sim room that requires me to hit quite offset... much like your option B would have you doing, and I don't mind it at all. It's still a very immersive experience. There are even some advantages to hitting offset, including the fact that you will wear your screen out on one side... allowing you to rotate it at least once instead of having to buy a new one.

                The general consensus on screen width is to go as wide as you can. Those fortunate enough to have really wide screens get the most immersive experience and can project the image in 16:9 aspect ratio. If you go with a 10' W screen, (and 9'H ceiling), you'll be very much like my setup, and will likely have a better experience using a 4:3 aspect ratio. It still gives a great result and experience.

                Enjoy the project!! I've been amazed at how much I've loved the whole DIY research and build process and using this forum... almost as good as getting to golf anytime i want in my own home!!!

                Comment


                • hotshot22
                  hotshot22 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Ya, this is addicting for sure. So if I was hitting offset, I say 4 ft into a 20 from screen is my center point, I would just adjust my aiming in skytrak?

                • gnomike
                  gnomike commented
                  Editing a comment
                  You aim the skytrak straight at the screen and hit parallel to the ST. What you see on screen (the view) will be centered on the screen, unless you adjust the offset. If you adjust the offset then your view will be shifted to where you hit, but it's just a 'view' issue... no effect on the play. Although, if you don't shift the offset, then you might find yourself hooking balls because your brain thinks the target is way left (for RH golfers)

              • #13
                Originally posted by hotshot22 View Post
                Also, maybe a dumb question,. but I understood that the ball has to be placed at same location everytime for Skytrak. But if I am teeing the ball up for driver versus just hitting an iron, that spot is going to change. Does that mean I need to move the Skytrak everytime? And ball position in relation to the screen will change everytime. Am I missing something?
                You don’t want to be moving the SkyTrak so you’ll need to get rubber or Tomahawk type tees, so you can tee it up in the same spot as you hit your irons.

                Dan

                Comment


                • hotshot22
                  hotshot22 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Interesting. So then what is a recommended mat that can do that? Ty

                • DannyMRICS
                  DannyMRICS commented
                  Editing a comment
                  I use Tomahawk type tees on a Truestrike mat but if you have a mat with fibres a rubber mat would work.

              • #14
                So my wife is trying to get me to trim the budget... For now... Ugh. So am am looking at doing a something cheap that measures club data, and then eventually integrating in a skytrak. Is r-motion the only thing that can do this? What about sky pro?

                Comment


                • #15
                  Sorry I seen this post late but I was in your situation and did a massive garage overhaul. The best thing I ever did was buy a wall mount garage opener. [url]https://youtu.be/Kz00Rhpq75U[/url].

                  Once I did that, it was a game changer. I was able to mount my screen against the garage. 16 feet wide. I have the motorized screens so that everything rolls up in about 30 seconds. I just roll the mats to the side and my wife and I can still park in the garage. The wall mount opener was $400.





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