New build - some questions

[Millertyme]

I am in the planning stage of a new garage build and I have tried to do as much research as I can on my own. Wanted to share what I am planning for now as well as some questions.
The planned space is my garage which is 20x20 with 11ft high ceilings, however on the side walls where the screen would go I have garage door rails about 8.5 feet in the air so that is limiting me.
1) Tracker - Uneekor QED. I wanted something ceiling mounted for sure, only indoor use, this seemed like the best option. My ceiling is 11 feet tall and this needs to operate b/w 9-10.5 feet but the measurement apparently starts from the bottom of the unit which drops down about 5" and then I will have some mats which raise the flooring up another 2-3" so should be okay there. Going to go with the ignite package and then add TGC.

2) Enclosure/screen - I am looking at carls 16:9 with 5ft depth with the premium screen - the height on this frame should JUST fit under my garage rails. I have seen a lot of people suggesting putting a memory foam mattress behind the screen - is that necessary? I plan on having about ~1st gap in the back between the enclosure and the wall.

3) Flooring/mats - For the stance mat I plan on using the 9x4 fiberbuilt center strike and then I was going to add a birdieputt green running from that to the front of the screen. Below all of that I would like to get something to lay down as like a base layer before putting the stance/putting mats on - mostly for aesthetics (will not be striking on at all) - any suggestions?

4) Projector - This has been a tough decision, I think in theory the optoma EH412st looks like a good choice, it would need to be 6.5ft back from the screen to fill 177" which seems doable with 5ft depth enclosure, the concern I have is the lack of adjustability with the image and then having to ceiling mount it. It says the projector should be 14" offset from the top of the screen but my ceiling would be 40 inches to the top of the screen. There may be an adjustable ceiling mount option that could lower it. I also wonder if the projector was 6.5ft away but 14" above with a 5ft enclosure depth if the top of the enclosure would block the projector image?

5) Side protection - Assuming I am hitting ~9ft back or so with a 5ft deep enclosure and how bad I am at golf I have some real concerns about stopping balls from going sideways. Seems like netting or heavy curtains on a sliding track would be the best options here?

Thanks for any input

[Throttle]

Not sure of your handicap etc but one thing I learned in building a SIM is ceiling height and overall screen heights matters if you plan on practicing flop shots. I suggest you think about "high lifting" your garage rails and making the screen taller. I did that in my setup and was glad I did. It allowed me to practice flops without any worry. Having a screen enclosure that is only 8.5 feet high will probably not allow you to do that. I was 9 feet back of my impact screen in my setup and flops would often hit the top netting prior to hitting the screen when I was practicing them... If I did not high lift the rails those shots were out of the equation.

[Millertyme]

I am not entirely opposed to raising the rails however my understanding was the uneekor needs to operate in 16:9 and so I am not really sure how many options taller than 8 feet are even available

[Marshbank7]

who cares what Uneekor needs, you'll be using TGC. With that being said, I went with the exact same screen you are talking about because I wanted to maximize width and 16:9 is just a more compatible ratio for anything else you may want to use the screen for. However, you will want to make sure you have something up high that can catch flop shots when you hit them (or accidentally sky a 3 wood).

[Jodymac77]

A simple solution for side protection could be to get the 10ft enclosure instead of the 5ft. Then you could floor mount the projector with a TerraShield or a DIY version like I've seen a few guys make on here. I'm considering going this route myself.

[kmallery]

I can tell you've been reading this forum a ton, as well. I'm literally in the process of building the exact same setup. Two car garage, 20x20. Wifey wants to be able to park on one side during the winter months. Originally I was completely sold on Skytrak, but after spending hours on here, I've decided on Uneekor. I'm also going to do the fiberbuilt 9x4 mat. I haven't decided on the projector yet, but I'm leaning towards a BenQ. My ceilings are also 11' tall and my garage door is only at 8'. I pulled the trigger on raising my garage door. Unfortunately, I needed to buy a new door since mine was 20 years old. The garage door, Liftmaster 8500, new tracks, and install cost me $3000. They are able to raise the door to 10' and there will be no garage door opener in the middle. It is what it is.

I'm going to go with a Carls place premium screen, which is 9'x16' in 16:9. They don't sell these in an enclosure, but I figured I could just make my own. They also sell the fittings you need to make an enclosure for like $100. I'm going to also put some black curtains on a track that will cover my garage door and workbench while playing. I found those here: http://peaksonline.net/black_industrial_curtains.html. Shouldn't really need them, but once all the guys have a few beers in them, I don't want golf balls flying through this brand new garage door.

Keep us posted on your build, I'm curious to see how it goes.

[Millertyme]

So far everything is ordered and either in my house in boxes or en route, going to be a few weeks before I can get it all put together as I am waiting on some space to open up in my garage.
I ended up going with the Optoma EH515TST for the projector, it was the only one that checked all the boxes for me (10' throw distance, appropriate brightness)
For the side protection I am going with some angled netting I found here https://www.allsportsystems.com/golf...s-superbay.php hopefully combined with the 5ft enclosure should be good enough.
Flooring I ended up going with the foam exercise tiles with turf factor direct putting elite on top of it and then the fiberbuilt mat at the end of that which should be w/in a 1/4 of an inch match in terms of height.
I will update in the future with some pictures when I get everything set up.

[blockfade]

In the same boat here. I have been using the ST range on my phone with a hitting net for the past year, but finally finished clearing space in the garage for a full sim set up. I have the enclosure pipes cut and everything is ordered, but for the past week it's just been trickling in piece by piece. Getting a little antsy.

[Millertyme]

Got it up and running, figured I would share some thoughts that could help other people in the future.
1. Initially set up my enclosure from Carls and the screen was very loose and saggy, I found out the pipes were only supposed to go 4" into the connection pieces, not all the way in. Needless to say this would have been much easier having done it originally vs having to try to adjust it after it was all set up
2. I initially had the cables from the uneekor and the projector running in a "wire track" on my ceiling and down to my computer, I ended up getting my TV guy to run the wires insides the walls which looks much better but then I had to rip off the wire tracks and spackle/paint over the areas where those were, should have gone with the in-wall from the start.

Otherwise went pretty smooth, got everything all set up and running within 5-6 hours, the biggest pain in the ass was actually trying to get my projector mounted (the mount came with these big
bolts which did not work for the side that was not in a stud)

One note - this is not an official endorsement - my uneekor ended up being ~10' 7" in the air - which is technically 1" above their "max" guideline and so far through ~2 weeks I have had no issues

If anyone has any questions I am happy to answer

[shafqat]

Looks great. Two questions:

1) Are you happy with the Carls screen and enclosure? I'm also getting the 5' enclosure, but reason you didn't get the netting they provide? Good tip to not put the pipes in all the way to ensure the screen is tight.

2) Can you link to the flooring you got - specifically the bigger green mat around the whole area?

[Dax]

Looks great!