Raising ceiling via low profile ceiling joists--tray ceiling above the swing area?

[G-$]

Hi! New to the forum and researching my own sim room.

Here is my situation. I have a large basement with 9' ceilings in which I'd love to build a sim room. However, I'm 5'11" and I took my driver down there - standing on an unfinished floor with my driver, I will hit the ceiling with my follow through (and it will be worse on a 2" hitting mat). There is definitely no option for digging down deeper into the foundation (it's a post tension slab with cables going through it).

Which got me thinking, what about increasing height?...The joists in the ceiling run in the same direction I would be hitting. If I had a raised "tray ceiling" in the area only above my hitting mat, maybe about 3-5' wide and maybe 8' long, it would probably make my swing doable. My thought was if I could raise the tray up 8" or so, it would give me enough height just in that area. Here is my crazy idea: I was wondering if I could replace 2-3 of the existing 12" tall engineered I-joists with some sort "low profile" joist (I was googling around and found some metal I joists that were 3" high). Anyone have any thoughts on whether this is feasible before I go down the crazy bath of enlisting the help of a structural engineer/architect?

Thanks!!

[mthunt]

I saw a product on this old house once which replaced above floor joists with a product that was only 3 inches thick. This replaced a section of 10 or 12 inch floor joist above with something 3 inches. You may find something on the internet that will give you that space you need.

[jrz]

Anything is possible with enough funds... I like what mthunt said - hopefully that works out. I just went through a big basement dig project and don't wish it on anyone.
Are you sure you don't have enough room? I am 6'1" and in my previous home's garage I had 9'6" of clearance from floor to finished ceiling. The only time I ever touched the ceiling was with driver in hand and after a lingering follow-through where I kind of kept the club high in the air. It would scrape the drywall enough to leave a scuff mark, but there was no damage.

[G-$]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, jrz...I'm just 2" shorter than you, and I have long arms, so you're experience sounds about right in line with mine. If you 6'1" and are maxing out at 9'6" on driver, I'm probably pretty close to that. That is why 9'0" doesn't work and I'm trying to get to something in the 9'6"-9'9" range via using a low profile joist over the hitting area. We will see if the juice if worth the squeeze on this. Thanks!

[GolfinToad]

Here is something another user did. My get some ideas.

https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/golf-simulator-forum/simulator-builds/136148-my-simulator-build

[G-$]

Golfin Toad...Thanks! This is right in the spirit of what I was imagining!

[Jeff50316]

Hey i was just wondering if you ever figured out what to do. Did you get estimates on shortening the joists?

[G-$]

Still researching options! Will keep you posted if I find anything!

[bionicboogerboy]

G-$

Instead of using a 2 “ mat, you might try putting a piece of 1” Tee-line down and then use a shorter shaft for your driver. Some pros actually use 45” drivers.

[WoodlandHills]

What I did for an different problem sounds like it could be a solution for you. I needed to remove a piece of single ceiling joist so that I could install a drop-down ladder to my attic. I cut out the piece I wanted gone and then used joist hangers (like one of these in the appropriate size https://www.homedepot.com/b/Building...s/N-5yc1vZaqxb ) to support the ends of the joist that were simply flopping because I removed a section. If you could remove sections from 2 adjacent joists and tie it all together like that, it could give you adequate ceiling height over where you swing the driver. You really don't need the height over the ball or your head but actually over the area behind you.

In my similar room, I have a vaulted ceiling which goes from 8 ft up (over my computer that I'm facing as I address the ball) to 13 ft. and it is about 10 ft over my head and gets taller behind me.

I'd suggest that you discuss this with a general contractor to be sure that you don't create a problem. You can replace a taller joist with a shorter one but that shorter one problem needs to be steel and it's far more difficult to remove a joist across its entire length of the room and tie it back into the supports than to simply remove perhaps a 4 ft section to accommodate your driver swing. Good luck

[G-$]

Yeah, I'm not sure how I would get a steel I beam joist into place if it needed to be one contiguous piece across the whole span! But yes!...your drop down ladder example was right in line with what I was thinking. I just need a small portion of the ceiling to be raised higher (around the back arc and forward arc of my swing).