Designing New Basement Simulator Build

[khkyle86]

I could use input in planning/ designing a new simulator build in my basement. Our basement is unfinished and has 2 potential build sites.

1st location is a 15' x 14' room, with 10' ceilings. I will lose some space when I drywall and lay flooring. I'm looking at purchasing the new Mevo+, the portability is a major selling point along with the price point. My concerns is that this space could potentially be too small for the requirements of the Mevo+. From what I've read they recommend 15' total from the impact screen to the unit. If I do go with this space what would be the ideal screen size and projector for this size room?

2nd location is a 30' by 20' room, with 10' ceilings. This room currently acts as a living room, with a mounted TV, sofas, and pool table. This space also opens up to my bar, which is a plus. If I was to use this space I would like to create a simulator space that could double as a theater room. Has anyone created a similar build? I think this has really cool potential but I may need an example to really sell my wife on the idea (8 year old, and 11 month old sons were an easier sell).

Speaking of my wife. Does anyone have recommendations on using sound board during the construction of my walls and ceiling? She would prefer to not hear every impact we take down in the basement.

[Arnold Tarpley Jr]

I have a golf simulator/ home theater setup and I'm very happy with the results. I'll upload pics and it will help with selling this idea to your wife.

[SkeetShooter]

Location #1 will not work with the Mevo+ Or really its going to be really close... It would be fine for a Skytrak though or other Photometric based LM. Option 2 is much preferrable. What I would consider doing since you have quite the space there... Is putting your Pool table towards the back of that large room with adequate space to use full length pool cues, and then have your screen on the other side (go with perhaps a 16' wide setup).

Now if you absolutely must have the combined theater/sim room, I think you are going to have to get rid of the pool table. It might work in the 15x14 room, but honestly. that's way too small for a 9'f table (length-wise) There is a really nice build here and one on you-tube that I saw that looks great for the sim/home theater setup.

Realistically, you need to just think hard how multi-functional that space needs to be. If you are fine with losing your pool table, then go with the sim/HT option. What I would do if I had your space...

I'd use the 15x14 room as a cozy theater. and use the larger area as the rec area for golf and pool. You could still use couches in there for seating while players are on standby. The 15x14 room could really make for a nice dedicated home theater area. My theater (i wish was tall enough for the golf sim 8 ft ceilings) is only 12' wide but 18 feet long. I have a two level seating and a 120" screen and its more than adequate for a reasonable Home theater experience. I'd kill for 10ft ceilings though. Alas I'm relegated to my garage.

[khkyle86]

This is great advice! I agree that option 2 makes more sense for the Mevo+ (I pre-ordered a unit Sunday). The wall that I will hit into is currently 10'6" wide. The wall will be wider when I finish out my basement, but keeping my hitting width to 10' will still allow plenty of space and access to the french doors that open to my patio/ backyard. Distance behind the screen can be up to 28'. I like the comment below's point that I could play with having more flight distance for the ball to help improve accuracy.

What are your thoughts on a Carl's golf screen/ enclosure v. a custom built setup? I was thinking of picking up a 8' H x 10' W x 5' D. The price is about $1,100 for the DIY model and premium screen.

[SkeetShooter]

I don't dislike that idea of going with the enclosure vs doing it all DIY. It really depends on how much integration you are going to go with. You said you want to be able to access the French doors, so This would be a nice way of keeping the simulator contained. Just be careful how far you go back with your hitting area. If someone shanks it... I see those french doors being broken pretty easily, if they are where I think you are saying they are. Sounds really though like you have one heck of a good starting point for this simulator so your options are not limited that much. Another thought... If you wanted to you could get a motorized roll up impact screen from Par2Pro and go 16' wide. You can just roll it up when you are not using it so you can easily access those doors. Although that is considerably more expensive than the Carl's solution... In the realm of $1,900 Food for thought.

[Dax]

I would echo the above advice especially if you are set on going down the radar route for indoor golf. If you look back to many postings on indoor radar length is your friend as you want the radar to have as much opportunity as possibly to see the ball flight for as long as possible for best results. My thoughts are the same, have your pool table to the back of the room and then place the MeVO+ under your pool table (this will keep it out of the way from people knocking it and will allow you to hit farther from the screen). As also noted above, move your theatre set-up to the smaller space as you would likely get a pretty nice theatre room in there (projectors like dark rooms and the sound would likely be better in an enclosed space - lots of helpful hints and threads on this over on AVS forum). Good luck with the build. I should also note that there will be a used TM 3e (indoor) coming onto the market soon.

[khkyle86]

TM 3e sounds tempting but I already pulled the trigger on the Mevo+

I'm going to go with option 2 and play with the distance I place the unit and flight distance to maximize accuracy.

[Dax]

For what it is worth, this is how I tend to use my TM hitting area. This is on the TM3e, but will soon change. For ,y driver I tee off at 8 feet from my radar and this gives me 12 feet of flight. I Hit all my woods and hybrid at about 8 feet. For my irons I hit them 4 to 8 iron at 8 feet as well. For my 9 iron through my wedges 8 hit them at around 9 feet; however, I also start adjusting my hitting area a bit left (say 8 inches at least). I tend to find that by doing this the radar has a bit more opportunity to get the club data and using this set up does allow me to max getting club and ball, data for most of my hits.

For putting, I am going to do some testing with my new unit, but I am starting to think that I will putt at around 8 to 9 feet but with the ball more on the left side if my hitting area as well. Fingers and toes crossed (I will also play around with ball colour dot and no dot to see if that makes any difference - some have indicated that it may).

[khkyle86]

Thanks for the advice Dax and SkeetShooter

I attached a few images of some 3D modeling I've been building with my oldest son. My wife is on board with this design. I'm going to add a kids fort/ space under our staircase, and this was the major selling point for my wife.

Right now we're abandoning the theater room idea. Will use the first room as a TV/ lounge space. With the kids fort taking up the space behind that. My house already has a big bonus room for the kids on the 3rd floor and we have an awesome living room on our main level. So I think we'll have sufficient space to watch movies and sports without dedicating space for a theater.

The open concept game room looks like my best option. I already have all the furniture that is depicted in my model. I just need to purchase the nets, hitting mat, projector and screen. I already have the bar and I have a bigmoss putting green that I'll be moving behind it once we start this next project. This should give me plenty of space for the Mevo+.

Do you all have suggestions for projectors, hitting mats, and hitting nets?

Thinking my projector needs to be a 4:3 ratio since my screen size will likely be 8'x10'. I'm also leaning towards the Fiberbuilt 4'x5' hitting mat. And I've seen really nice net's that cost around $150, and cheap nets that are about $50. I'm not planning on hitting into these nets directly, so they shouldn't wear that quickly. But I still don't want to chance a rogue shot hitting my french doors.

Thanks already for your input. Definitely has helped guide me.

[Dax]

Sorry but I was not able to open your attachments. For the side protection, I wonder if a heavy type of black curtain fabric might be sufficient over netting? This would help reduce the lighting coming from your glass doors. As for the floor mat, there is a huge discussion going on in another thread between some different Matt’s and that might be a good place to start. You have 10 foot ceilings if I recall and so losing two or three inches due to mat height will not be a concern for you. I have a TrueStrike mat which is very good, for projector, I would check here first with some options that people have mentioned using here to see how they might fit with your room. You might want something with good lumens though given the other light in your room (3000 plus).

realy think this will be a great space for you!