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Hello, fellow golfing fanatics. I learned so much from this forum, I wanted to share my experience, so here’s my write up of my new garage simulator, along with some random lessons learned.
I built my frame with 1” EMT from the local hardware store and connectors from tarps.com. Due to space available, I wasn’t going to be able to go much more than 10’ wide, so I decided to stop there so I could avoid cutting some EMT, which comes in 10’ sections, and I could use a 10’ wide screen that was on clearance at Carl’s. Since the available screen was 10’x7.5’, I decided to go with those dimensions for the cage. I used a conduit cutter, which made cutting the EMT a breeze. A little pressure and then turn, tighten, turn, tighten, rinse and repeat, and it cut clean after about a dozen or so spins. I cut the EMT to 8’ for the vertical poles thinking that would give me a little slop to work with. This led to the first challenge and blessing – extra space at the top or bottom. It quickly became apparent that I needed it at the top and not the bottom, both for the immersive experience and to prevent balls getting under the screen. The challenge was figuring out how to get the top of the screen connected to the top pole, since the bungees only extend a few inches. Solution: put two bungees together. The blessing was the extra space really helps catch high-lofted wedges and I don’t really notice the missing video at the top. Lesson learned: if I had the room, I’d do 9’x16’, but I wouldn’t do less than 8’ if you have the space available, whether you fill it with screen or netting. I used the 2’ sections of EMT left over for the top section. My favorite part of my cage is the wider bottom sections for s-word catchers. I used the specialty corners from tarps.com to have it angle out at 12 degrees as it goes to the floor. I honestly had to pull out a sheet of paper and do some trigonometry to figure out the front vertical lengths (SOA-COA-TOA). The top knocks down wedges after they bounce off the screen and the extra width on the bottom really reduces the anxiety. I literally can’t hit a flop shot or hosel rocket that misses the cage from about 8’ away from the screen. Lesson learned: don’t pull on the EMT if there’s any pressure on a connection. I took a piece of skin off my arm by trying to pry off a connection and having the tube gouge my arm.
As for the screen, I went with a clearance piece of preferred impact screen from Carl’s with edging and grommets. I figured it was too cheap to not try it out. Others talk about not being able to tell that their screen was a clearance screen, but I could definitely tell. It had marks every foot on one side, so I just put that side on the back. I think it was the back anyways, but I couldn’t really tell. I like the screen. The bleed through seems minimal. Only complaint is that a few impacts with the same iron leave a pretty sizeable pot-mark, but it goes away when you hit another area. I used the bungee cords to secure it to the EMT, but I got wicked bounceback at first. Lesson learned: undo the bottom bungee cords to reduce bounceback. All of a sudden, the balls dropped down and rolled out a few feet. Last thing about the screen – my guess is that the way a screen hangs or folds depends on how straight the edges are sewn.
Finally, I put netting on the back, sides, and top of the cage. I had my old Rukket net so I attached that to the back. I bought a 10’x15’ piece of netting to cut into sections for the top and sides and then secured them with zip ties. If I did it again, I’d buy a 10’x 20’ net so I could just secure it to the bottom, up the back of the screen, and across the top. That would make most of the netting one piece with enough left over for the sides. Personally, I prefer netting to blackout material, for some reason.
I got the mat from rubberflooring.com. I ordered about a dozen samples and the one I picked was noticeably quieter with less bounce. Yes, I did drop a golf ball on each sample from as high as I could reach to see what would happen. Yes, the results were noticeable. The shock pad on this flooring makes a real difference. Lesson learned: shipping is brutal on a roll of flooring, so order everything you might want the first time. This flooring comes in 6.5’ widths, so ordered enough to go under the cage, planning to put the hitting mat behind it. If I did it again, I might order enough to lay down two sections and then put the hitting mat on top of it, so I could have more options and a cleaner look for the hitting mat. Not sure how it would do if you tried to hit off this mat.
As for the hitting mat, I had a CCE, but wanted something less brutal, so finally took the plunge on the Truestrike. I bought the smaller version, which is enough to stand on the same surface that I’m hitting on. I figured this would make it easier to adjust the GC2, and I can order an additional section if I want it. Lesson learned: turns out that this would be the decision I most regret. The end caps were glued on and had shifted in transit due to the heat here, getting glue on the frame and part of the caps no longer being secured with glue (not to mention they didn’t fit the endcaps anyways. One of the range mats fell out of the frame when I turned it over to see how it was built, and I was unable to get the clips back in cleanly based on the crazy design (too hard to describe). Additionally, the three panels have two distinct shades of green and the gel section wasn’t the odd one out as you might expect. The gel doesn’t feel as forgiving as my homemade hitting mat (re-doing it with another mat), and I can already see the fibers thinning after two days of hitting. Finally, after trying for a couple of hours, I simply couldn’t get the sections to snap together enough to lay completely flat. I tried different sections, different sides, and yet nothing would work. It’s like the gel section was molded about a millimeter off. Thus, I’m using about half the value of what I paid for, and I get angry looking at the dang thing. And, by the way, the angle of the side it a touch steep for a golf ball to roll up the side. If I ever forgive this company, I might buy two more edge pieces and put the other two sections together to make a standing platform. If I had it to do all over again (no way you’ll want to pay shipping costs to return the Truestrike), I’d go with Fiberbuilt, and I don’t particularly like the texture of the Fiberbuilt mats. Or, I’d stick with my homemade mat, which I’ll add when I get it done.
For the projector, I spent more time on projector central than I care to admit. I never realized how many variables there are when it comes to projectors. It really boiled down to figuring out your range options on how far from the screen you need to be, and any options you really want. I wanted the manual zoom and I'm glad I got it. Based on my variables, I went with the BenQ TH671ST. I might have wound up with another projector if I could have been back at 9-11', but I do like it this one. The bracket mounted to the ceiling was adjustable enough for this and I would imagine any other projector. The downside is that there’s a lot of pieces to tighten to get it to stay right where you want it. I’d prefer three screws total – one for each axis – if I could find one, but you’d probably pay a lot more for it.
Lastly, bought a reflector lamp that clamps on and shines on the floor and covered the cords from the GC2 with a protector. Lesson learned: since the outlet is in the ceiling, I have no way of turning off the lamp, so I’m currently waiting to see how long the bulb lasts until it burns out.
Well, hope that helps somebody. Hard to put a total cost on it, because I owned some stuff already (CCE, Rukket net, GC2/HMT, etc.), so I listed the exact stuff I bought recently below for reference.
Complete parts list…
$80 - 1” EMT Conduit, 8x 1”x10’ (Home Depot)
$31 - EMT Conduit Cutter (Home Depot)
$175 - Carl’s Preferred Screen, 7.9x10 (on clearance)
$80 - 1” EMT Connectors (Tarps.com)
$7 - Turf Samples (rubberflooring.com)
$320 - 6.5x10’ mat (rubberflooring.com)
Performance Turf Rolls Lime Green with Shock Pad
$23 - 4’ Cord Protector (Amazon)
$16 - Vivo Projector Ceiling Mount (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01013QA86
$13 - 25’ HMDI Cable (Amazon basics)
$732 - Projector (BenQ TH671ST) https://www.amazon.com/BenQ-Theater-.../dp/B076MHKTFH
$94 - Golf Netting (Amazon) https://smile.amazon.com/Just-Nets-N...dp/B00768EVFE/
$5 - 2x 6’ Pipe Insulation (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...8-HD/307279252)
$670 - Truestrike Mat (Rain or Shine Golf)
I built my frame with 1” EMT from the local hardware store and connectors from tarps.com. Due to space available, I wasn’t going to be able to go much more than 10’ wide, so I decided to stop there so I could avoid cutting some EMT, which comes in 10’ sections, and I could use a 10’ wide screen that was on clearance at Carl’s. Since the available screen was 10’x7.5’, I decided to go with those dimensions for the cage. I used a conduit cutter, which made cutting the EMT a breeze. A little pressure and then turn, tighten, turn, tighten, rinse and repeat, and it cut clean after about a dozen or so spins. I cut the EMT to 8’ for the vertical poles thinking that would give me a little slop to work with. This led to the first challenge and blessing – extra space at the top or bottom. It quickly became apparent that I needed it at the top and not the bottom, both for the immersive experience and to prevent balls getting under the screen. The challenge was figuring out how to get the top of the screen connected to the top pole, since the bungees only extend a few inches. Solution: put two bungees together. The blessing was the extra space really helps catch high-lofted wedges and I don’t really notice the missing video at the top. Lesson learned: if I had the room, I’d do 9’x16’, but I wouldn’t do less than 8’ if you have the space available, whether you fill it with screen or netting. I used the 2’ sections of EMT left over for the top section. My favorite part of my cage is the wider bottom sections for s-word catchers. I used the specialty corners from tarps.com to have it angle out at 12 degrees as it goes to the floor. I honestly had to pull out a sheet of paper and do some trigonometry to figure out the front vertical lengths (SOA-COA-TOA). The top knocks down wedges after they bounce off the screen and the extra width on the bottom really reduces the anxiety. I literally can’t hit a flop shot or hosel rocket that misses the cage from about 8’ away from the screen. Lesson learned: don’t pull on the EMT if there’s any pressure on a connection. I took a piece of skin off my arm by trying to pry off a connection and having the tube gouge my arm.
As for the screen, I went with a clearance piece of preferred impact screen from Carl’s with edging and grommets. I figured it was too cheap to not try it out. Others talk about not being able to tell that their screen was a clearance screen, but I could definitely tell. It had marks every foot on one side, so I just put that side on the back. I think it was the back anyways, but I couldn’t really tell. I like the screen. The bleed through seems minimal. Only complaint is that a few impacts with the same iron leave a pretty sizeable pot-mark, but it goes away when you hit another area. I used the bungee cords to secure it to the EMT, but I got wicked bounceback at first. Lesson learned: undo the bottom bungee cords to reduce bounceback. All of a sudden, the balls dropped down and rolled out a few feet. Last thing about the screen – my guess is that the way a screen hangs or folds depends on how straight the edges are sewn.
Finally, I put netting on the back, sides, and top of the cage. I had my old Rukket net so I attached that to the back. I bought a 10’x15’ piece of netting to cut into sections for the top and sides and then secured them with zip ties. If I did it again, I’d buy a 10’x 20’ net so I could just secure it to the bottom, up the back of the screen, and across the top. That would make most of the netting one piece with enough left over for the sides. Personally, I prefer netting to blackout material, for some reason.
I got the mat from rubberflooring.com. I ordered about a dozen samples and the one I picked was noticeably quieter with less bounce. Yes, I did drop a golf ball on each sample from as high as I could reach to see what would happen. Yes, the results were noticeable. The shock pad on this flooring makes a real difference. Lesson learned: shipping is brutal on a roll of flooring, so order everything you might want the first time. This flooring comes in 6.5’ widths, so ordered enough to go under the cage, planning to put the hitting mat behind it. If I did it again, I might order enough to lay down two sections and then put the hitting mat on top of it, so I could have more options and a cleaner look for the hitting mat. Not sure how it would do if you tried to hit off this mat.
As for the hitting mat, I had a CCE, but wanted something less brutal, so finally took the plunge on the Truestrike. I bought the smaller version, which is enough to stand on the same surface that I’m hitting on. I figured this would make it easier to adjust the GC2, and I can order an additional section if I want it. Lesson learned: turns out that this would be the decision I most regret. The end caps were glued on and had shifted in transit due to the heat here, getting glue on the frame and part of the caps no longer being secured with glue (not to mention they didn’t fit the endcaps anyways. One of the range mats fell out of the frame when I turned it over to see how it was built, and I was unable to get the clips back in cleanly based on the crazy design (too hard to describe). Additionally, the three panels have two distinct shades of green and the gel section wasn’t the odd one out as you might expect. The gel doesn’t feel as forgiving as my homemade hitting mat (re-doing it with another mat), and I can already see the fibers thinning after two days of hitting. Finally, after trying for a couple of hours, I simply couldn’t get the sections to snap together enough to lay completely flat. I tried different sections, different sides, and yet nothing would work. It’s like the gel section was molded about a millimeter off. Thus, I’m using about half the value of what I paid for, and I get angry looking at the dang thing. And, by the way, the angle of the side it a touch steep for a golf ball to roll up the side. If I ever forgive this company, I might buy two more edge pieces and put the other two sections together to make a standing platform. If I had it to do all over again (no way you’ll want to pay shipping costs to return the Truestrike), I’d go with Fiberbuilt, and I don’t particularly like the texture of the Fiberbuilt mats. Or, I’d stick with my homemade mat, which I’ll add when I get it done.
For the projector, I spent more time on projector central than I care to admit. I never realized how many variables there are when it comes to projectors. It really boiled down to figuring out your range options on how far from the screen you need to be, and any options you really want. I wanted the manual zoom and I'm glad I got it. Based on my variables, I went with the BenQ TH671ST. I might have wound up with another projector if I could have been back at 9-11', but I do like it this one. The bracket mounted to the ceiling was adjustable enough for this and I would imagine any other projector. The downside is that there’s a lot of pieces to tighten to get it to stay right where you want it. I’d prefer three screws total – one for each axis – if I could find one, but you’d probably pay a lot more for it.
Lastly, bought a reflector lamp that clamps on and shines on the floor and covered the cords from the GC2 with a protector. Lesson learned: since the outlet is in the ceiling, I have no way of turning off the lamp, so I’m currently waiting to see how long the bulb lasts until it burns out.
Well, hope that helps somebody. Hard to put a total cost on it, because I owned some stuff already (CCE, Rukket net, GC2/HMT, etc.), so I listed the exact stuff I bought recently below for reference.
Complete parts list…
$80 - 1” EMT Conduit, 8x 1”x10’ (Home Depot)
$31 - EMT Conduit Cutter (Home Depot)
$175 - Carl’s Preferred Screen, 7.9x10 (on clearance)
$80 - 1” EMT Connectors (Tarps.com)
$7 - Turf Samples (rubberflooring.com)
$320 - 6.5x10’ mat (rubberflooring.com)
Performance Turf Rolls Lime Green with Shock Pad
$23 - 4’ Cord Protector (Amazon)
$16 - Vivo Projector Ceiling Mount (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01013QA86
$13 - 25’ HMDI Cable (Amazon basics)
$732 - Projector (BenQ TH671ST) https://www.amazon.com/BenQ-Theater-.../dp/B076MHKTFH
$94 - Golf Netting (Amazon) https://smile.amazon.com/Just-Nets-N...dp/B00768EVFE/
$5 - 2x 6’ Pipe Insulation (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...8-HD/307279252)
$670 - Truestrike Mat (Rain or Shine Golf)
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