Sim room 2020 - Time to get serious

[abirdie4me]

I started building out my Sim room about 4 years ago, but work/family/money got in the way of me ever finishing it. It was functional, but not attractive. My kids are now getting old enough to show interest in golf, so I decided to tear it down and start from scratch. Here is the original room:



A couple of notes:

• The studs on the left and right walls don't line up, so I nailed up some 2x4's so I could hang the screen flat. I thought I would be building a box around them to cover the tarp clips, but eventually realized this approach wasn't going to work. So I left it looking like this for 4 years (LOL).
• The CCE mat has taken a beating and I've never really had elbow or wrist issues that some mention. Still dumping it and upgrading to something else.
• We built the house 6 years ago and had this space above the garage intentionally designed for a golf room. We had them put in the cheapest carpet they had because I thought I would be ripping it up as soon as we moved in...whoops.
• The mat slides all over the place, hence the 2x4's on the ground.
• Note the black marks in the middle of the screen. Rookie mistake, I hung a black backing directly behind the screen and it stained the screen over time. Sigh.
• The GC2 has been awesome, too bad Foresight software is so horrible. I only use FSX range, TGC1 and TGC 2019 for SIM play

[abirdie4me]

So close to being done....and then I broke my hand last night. Seeing a surgeon Monday, ill probably have to have pins put in. Probably 3 months before I can hit balls again, so disappointed.

[dudley286]

Damn just saw this and so sorry about that happening and I hope you are close to hitting again....just wanted to share that you might want to edit this post with your TX DL info on there... not saying any of the fine people on here would steal it BUT there are a ton of scum out there looking to steal peoples information for unscrupulous deeds.

[abirdie4me]

Thanks Dudley, I didn't even notice! I'll see if I can fix it.

[Dax]

Really sorry to hear this!

[abirdie4me]

My hand is finally healed (mostly) and I've completed phase 1 of my golf room.

[Treyc321]

Looks amazing! The raised floor adds a nice finished look too!!

[Will]

abirdie4me

Please give an update on your experience. It all turned out great.

1. What do you enjoy the most?
2. What do other people find interesting or notable?
3. What surprised you after completing the install?
4. What changes to the space are you thinking about and why?
5. How's the projector recommendation? Could you have gone with less, or do you appreciate the adjustability, or has it just filled a purpose?

[abirdie4me]

Hi Will,

1) What I like most is no more hitting mat sliding all over the place! Ok, actually I just think the whole area looks much nicer and I'm happy our family spends much more time up here now, and not just for golf.
2) With the quarantine, very few people have been able to see it so far. The comments we have gotten are all good, mostly around how much better it looks. The difference probably doesn't translate that well in pictures, in person it looks drastically better.
3) Most surprised at how much work it was and how bad I am at planning and construction! I enjoy the putting more than I though I would, and sometimes will hop up here just to putt for a few minutes between work calls.
4) Last few touches are trim work, sound dampening tiles, and some golf art so it doesn't look so bland. Otherwise, I'm finished until my wallet heals enough for a ceiling mounted launch monitor.
5) Thanks to you for the projector recommendation, I pretty much just bought your setup from the same distributor! Pretty happy with it overall, but not really taking advantage of the extra lumens available since I keep it in eco mode to minimize the noise. I think the image looks great, no regrets and should get many years out of the laser light source as opposed to bulbs.

[Foreman33]

Very impressive. I also have a few questions.

1. What are the dimensions of your screen?
2. How far is the hitting spot from the screen?
3. What aspect ratio are you using for the projector?
4. How far is your projector from the screen (I thought I saw 10')?

[abirdie4me]

Hi Foreman,

1) Screen is roughly 14'4" wide, 8'10" high. Had to use 'fill' mode on my projector along with zoom and lens shift to get it to fill the screen, but it worked out pretty well.
2) Hitting mat is 8' 8" to 11' 6" from the screen. I usually hit from the middle of that, so around 10' (but towards the front for my kids)
3) Started with 16:9 aspect, but had about a foot of blank space at bottom. Used 'fill' setting to get it mostly filling the screen.
4) Projector is around 10', I don't remember exactly. When we mounted it, we used a shelf across 2 ladders to adjust it front to back until the image fit the screen. It was a pain, but came out good in the end.

[abirdie4me]

Sorry all for the long delay in replies and updates to this thread, life has been quite unusual since the pandemic hit. I've just started playing golf again and so far I'm really loving the upgraded room. I still have to put up the trim work, add some sound dampening, and do some decorating, but it is fully playable and the kids have been loving it so far. We got our furniture in last week and the kids enjoy building legos and puzzles up here now, but have started hitting a few balls as well. We got bean bags for the kids to use up here, which was a mistake since they now want to watch movies here instead of playing golf!

I did change out the hitting strip, as I don't care for the Fiberbuilt. I took my old 5 X 5 CCE mat and cut out a strip, it actually matches the color of the turf much better and I just prefer the feel of it. I can make another 3 or 4 strips out of it when this one wears out, so that's a bonus. Cutting it is a nightmare though, and it doesn't look the cleanest. Good enough for now, I'm not complaining about the small stuff anymore.

Here are a couple of updated photos, other than furniture the biggest change is that I moved all the computer equipment into the bedroom on the left side of the golf room so it is out of site and the putting green is less cluttered.

[jasonreg]

Really nice finishing! Great job - love the bartop set up - where did you source that?

[abirdie4me]

I got all the furniture from Nebraska Furniture Mart.

[dudley286]

That turned out fabulous!!!!! Great build sir!!!

[John6577]

Great build. The whole setup flows well together.

[pauleywauley]

Looks awesome, man!

These sound panels were an absolute game changer for my Sim/Theater. They come in great fabric & color options.

https://www.acoustimac.com/acoustic-panels/executive-collection/executive-decor-collection-acoustic-panels

As well as this calculator to determine appropriate # of panels.

https://www.acoustimac.com/room-calculator/

[abirdie4me]

Thanks, I'll check them out!

[Foreman33]

abirdie4me Thanks for the responses.

How do you like your putting surface. On their website it appears they only sell in 15' widths. Did you have to cut yours?

You mentioned you wouldn't do the same subfloor again. How would you do it if you had to do it again?

Thanks!

[abirdie4me]

The subfloor has grown on me, I spend more time putting than I thought I would so I'm glad I did it now. Not super happy with the putting green, it rolls too slow. My depth in the room is a little over 14 feet, I got a 17 foot piece and laid it sideways, having to cut the sides (and butchered a couple of small areas).

[TheDon07]

abirdie4me what did you end up using for your putting cups?

[Ph15]

abirdie4me Thanks for the responses.
How do you like your putting surface. On their website it appears they only sell in 15' widths. Did you have to cut yours?
You mentioned you wouldn't do the same subfloor again. How would you do it if you had to do it again?
Thanks!

Thanks for posting ... very interesting. I went through your posts twice -- but didn't see the description of your putting surface. Can you post? You say it is a little slow -- would you buy it again?

Thanks.

[abirdie4me]

abirdie4me what did you end up using for your putting cups?

I just bought some 4" ones off of Amazon, can't remember which brand.

[abirdie4me]

Thanks for posting ... very interesting. I went through your posts twice -- but didn't see the description of your putting surface. Can you post? You say it is a little slow -- would you buy it again?

Thanks.

Turf Factory Direct, product is TFD Putting Elite. I wouldn't buy it again, I would spend a bit more and get something faster and smoother.