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I’ve documented my DIY garage build. After a few iterations I’m ready to share.
The Space: 3 car garage with two actual functional garage bays. The third bay is already being utilized; it has stairs and a freezer and other storage/tool cabinets. Simulator build is in one of the functioning bays.
Criteria from the onset
I started with a PVC frame on casters, a net, and a target. While this briefly satisfied my fix to hit balls indoors, I came across this forum and I quickly realized that what I had would not suffice. I started to get obsessed with trying to pull it off as a DIY. I knew that if I had any chance of hijacking space in the garage it would have to be a build worthy of the costs and offer some interest to my kids as I knew the latter would in turn get the boss to buy in.
Here is a breakdown of my build and the cost.
This was a process which has taken 10 months to get to this point. There are few more things I would like to still accomplish like further environmental add ons but this is as far as I will probably go for now.
Things I learned.
Areas where things got expensive but were absolutely necessary :
Reasons I thought I could do this under 5K
Things I still need/want to do:
The Space: 3 car garage with two actual functional garage bays. The third bay is already being utilized; it has stairs and a freezer and other storage/tool cabinets. Simulator build is in one of the functioning bays.
Criteria from the onset
- Keep the cost of build under 5k. FAILED miserably
- Take up one only bay in the garage. SUCCESS…sort of
- Have the ability to park car in the sim bay if needed. Very possible
- Taper my obsession with the project so as to not annoy wifey (the boss). FAILED
- Build something that wouldn't be an embarrassment if we had a guest - JURY STILL DELIBERATING
I started with a PVC frame on casters, a net, and a target. While this briefly satisfied my fix to hit balls indoors, I came across this forum and I quickly realized that what I had would not suffice. I started to get obsessed with trying to pull it off as a DIY. I knew that if I had any chance of hijacking space in the garage it would have to be a build worthy of the costs and offer some interest to my kids as I knew the latter would in turn get the boss to buy in.
Here is a breakdown of my build and the cost.
| QTY | $$ | Subtotal $$ | Vendor | |
| SIM and COMPUTER Hardware | $3,463 | |||
| Skytrak | 1 | 1,695 | Shop Indoor Golf | |
| Game Improvement Pkg | 1 | 250 | Shop Indoor Golf | |
| IPad | 1 | 318 | Amazon | |
| Lenovo Legion Y540 - i7 9750H; 16gb; GTX 1660 Ti | 1 | 1,200 | Lenovo | |
| SOFTWARE | $500 | |||
| Creative Golf 3D | 1 | 500 | Skytrak | |
| PROJECTION | $1,010 | |||
| Optoma EH200ST | 1 | 900 | Shop Indoor Golf | |
| DYNAVISTA Universal Projector Mount w/Adj Height and Ext Arms | 1 | 35 | Amazon | |
| HDMI Joiners & Cables | 1 | 50 | HD | |
| Extension cords | 1 | 25 | HD | |
| SCREEN and ENCLOSURE 8.5' x 10' | $862 | |||
| IMPERFECT SQ-RAW Impact Projection Screen | 1 | 150 | Par2Pro | |
| Mesh Tarp 8x10 | 1 | 23 | Harbor Frieght | |
| Mesh Tarp 12x10 | 2 | 56 | Harbor Frieght | |
| Mesh Tarp 6X8 | 0 | 0 | Amazon | |
| Gym Floor Foam Tiles | 8 | 160 | HD | |
| EMT conduit | 8 | 72 | HD | |
| EMT fittings - Carl's Place | 1 | 87 | Carl's Place | |
| Foam Pipe Insulation | 6 | 14 | HD | |
| Room dividertrack 90 degree | 1 | 80 | Amazon | |
| Room dividertrack 12 ft | 1 | 85 | Amazon | |
| trap bungees | 4 | 28 | HD | |
| tarp clips | 25 | 25 | HD | |
| VELCRO 4 ft. x 2 in. Industrial Strength Tape | 3 | 28 | HD | |
| Misc hardware | 1 | 10 | HD | |
| Polypropylene Marine Carpet Material (Valance) | 1 | 15 | Walmart | |
| Fairway Green 6 ft. x 8 ft. Indoor/Outdoor Area Rug | 1 | 19 | HD | |
| 1x3x8 board | 2 | 10 | HD | |
| HITTING MAT and ALIGNMENT PAD | $412 | |||
| Fiberbuilt Hitting Strip | 1 | 250 | Fiberbuilt | |
| 1x2x6 | 10 | 32 | HD | |
| 1x3x6 | 1 | 4 | HD | |
| 1/2 inch sanded plywood | 1 | 35 | HD | |
| Fairway Green 6 ft. x 8 ft. Indoor/Outdoor Area Rug | 1 | 19 | HD | |
| yoga mats | 2 | 40 | HD | |
| casters | 2 | 8 | HD | |
| handles | 3 | 9 | HD | |
| wood glue | 1 | 4 | HD | |
| MDF 2x2 | 1 | 12 | HD | |
| ENVIRONMENT | $3,697 | |||
| Black out roller shades for garage windows | 2 | 102 | Blinds.com | |
| Light fixtures | 3 | 120 | Home Depot | |
| Hi lift garage openers 2 bays | 2 | 3,300 | Overhead Bridgewater Doors | |
| Paint for garge walls | 4 | 175 | Sherwin Williams | |
| SUPPLIES | $121 | |||
| Almost Golf Balls | 2 | 38 | Almost Golf Balls | |
| Birtee | 2 | 33 | Amazon | |
| MISC | 1 | 50 | MISC | |
| GRAND TOTAL | $10,066 |
Things I learned.
- Using a real screen makes such a difference. The quality of the projection matters. Par2Pro imperfect screen was a real deal with a virtually unnoticeable defect.
- Protect your elbows and wrists from hard concrete garage floor surface at all costs.
- Having a portable hitting surface/platform allows me to breakdown are in minutes so I can park a car. I have separate post for this : https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum...berbuilt-panel
- Create an alignment pad for Skytrak so you are not wasting time aligning every time you play and/ for switching for various length clubs.
- Having some ambient lighting is helpful to find the Birtees.
- Protect your ceiling. Even at 12’ft it needs to be protected.
- Creative Golf 3D is really good software especially for the kids and has great practice options. That being said, its not E6….or TGC 2019 is it?
Areas where things got expensive but were absolutely necessary :
- Hi-lift garage openers. With 12’ ft ceilings and being 6’4” there was no getting around this if I wanted to swing driver.
- Gaming laptop – I thought I could be content with WGT and an iPad….I was terribly mistaken.
Reasons I thought I could do this under 5K
- I had a HD presentation projector but it wasn’t a short throw. Installing it so I wasn’t in the way of the projected image was going to be a problem – impact $900.
- I thought I could get away with PVC frame, a net and a bedsheet – impact $370
- I did not anticipate that I would need to buy a Fiberbuilt hitting strip but my elbows demanded it after using a $40 CCE hitting strip– impact $249
- I thought I could get away with an iPad but I had to get a gaming laptop as WGT became intolerable. Sim software doesn’t run on Macs and doesn't run well on Macs with bootcamp (I tried). Regrettably we are household full of Macs – impact $1,200.
- Did not factor in the environmental add-ons. Impact to date is in excess of $3,600.
Things I still need/want to do:
- E6 Connect or TGC 2019 - $900
- Mini Split AC/Heat for garage – estimated $2100
- Enhanced Wifi AP in garage- estimated $300
- Easier solution to access clubs without having to jam them in and out of stand bag.
- UNEEKOR
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