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I completed my garage simulator a few months ago and I fully intended to do the whole "introducing my new build" thing. But I've been so consumed by actually using it that I never got around to it until now.
I am fortunate to be blessed with the 3 things that are required for doing this sort of thing:
1. High ceilings
2. A cool wife
3. This website
I could not have done it without all of the above.
The first order of business was clearing out the garage. We live in North Carolina, so there's no real need to park in the garage. So instead we've just been using our garage as extra storage since storage space is a bit limited in the rest of the house. I wish I had some "before" pictures to show you, but just imagine a war zone following an earthquake and a tornado. It wasn't organized storage. It was just chaos.
So I spent the winter of 2018-2019 going through all this crap and getting rid of a lot of stuff. I built some shelves for the walls and bought some plastic bins and was able to get a lot of stuff hung up on the walls that cleared away a ton of floor space.
I then built a frame out of PVC pipe and a tarp and bought a used Optishot2 and hit foam balls into a blanket. I quickly realized 2 things:
1. Playing golf in the garage was awesome.
2. My setup totally sucked.
I knew right away that Optishot wasn't going to cut it but I didn't have the golf funds saved up to buy anything else just yet. So I instead focused on building the setup while I slowly socked away money for a Skytrak.
I had to leave some garage space for a workbench and stuff that takes up a lot of room like the lawnmower, wheelbarrow, kids bikes, etc. But I wanted to make sure that my simulator space was its own dedicated space and I didn't want the rest of the garage "bleeding" into my sim space. So I decided I needed walls.
I bought lumber and drywall at Home Depot and built 2 walls in an L shape that butt up against 2 existing garage walls to create a room that is about 12.5 feet wide and 16 feet deep. (Total garage size is maybe around 20 feet wide and 22 deep, so the sim "room" takes up a pretty sizeable chunk but still leaves enough left over to have some actual "garage.") I just left a space of about 3 feet wide for a doorway. Not only does this really separate my sim room from the rest of the garage, but I was able to use the outside of these walls to hang tools and other stuff so it helped create some extra garage storage.
Also, we had kid #2 in April, which meant that I got kicked out of my upstairs man cave. So I figured this space could double as a sim room + sports watching room. I'm also using the space to store all of my golf clothes and equipment as it was taking up a lot of space in our closet.
I was initially planning on waiting until I had all the money saved up to buy the Skytrak, but when Covid began to hit, my Spidey senses told me that things were likely going to shut down and that I should just get it now and throw it on a credit card. Glad I did because literally the week after I got my unit is when the backlog of orders and waiting lists began.
Items and approximate costs:
The above adds up to around $5,200 but then there were miscellaneous other things like the tarp clips and ball bungees to hang the screen, the lumber, drywall and hardware needed to build the walls, the game improvement subscription for the Skytrak and other random costs like a longer HDMI cable and an extension cord and some memory foam for behind the screen and some other random items not included on the list above. I also wasted $200 on a subscription to WGT golf that lasted me a month until I was over it. I would say $6,000 is a pretty reasonable ballpark estimate for the whole project.
Things I still want to do (because I feel like it's never truly a "finished" product):
I think that about covers it. Big thanks to everyone who answered all my questions along the way. The sim room has been a life changer. With a full-time job and 2 young kids at home and not living super close to any decent public courses, playing outside golf is tough to come by these days so the ability to play practically every night after the kids are in bed has been awesome.
Keep it in the short stuff everyone.
I am fortunate to be blessed with the 3 things that are required for doing this sort of thing:
1. High ceilings
2. A cool wife
3. This website
I could not have done it without all of the above.
The first order of business was clearing out the garage. We live in North Carolina, so there's no real need to park in the garage. So instead we've just been using our garage as extra storage since storage space is a bit limited in the rest of the house. I wish I had some "before" pictures to show you, but just imagine a war zone following an earthquake and a tornado. It wasn't organized storage. It was just chaos.
So I spent the winter of 2018-2019 going through all this crap and getting rid of a lot of stuff. I built some shelves for the walls and bought some plastic bins and was able to get a lot of stuff hung up on the walls that cleared away a ton of floor space.
I then built a frame out of PVC pipe and a tarp and bought a used Optishot2 and hit foam balls into a blanket. I quickly realized 2 things:
1. Playing golf in the garage was awesome.
2. My setup totally sucked.
I knew right away that Optishot wasn't going to cut it but I didn't have the golf funds saved up to buy anything else just yet. So I instead focused on building the setup while I slowly socked away money for a Skytrak.
I had to leave some garage space for a workbench and stuff that takes up a lot of room like the lawnmower, wheelbarrow, kids bikes, etc. But I wanted to make sure that my simulator space was its own dedicated space and I didn't want the rest of the garage "bleeding" into my sim space. So I decided I needed walls.
I bought lumber and drywall at Home Depot and built 2 walls in an L shape that butt up against 2 existing garage walls to create a room that is about 12.5 feet wide and 16 feet deep. (Total garage size is maybe around 20 feet wide and 22 deep, so the sim "room" takes up a pretty sizeable chunk but still leaves enough left over to have some actual "garage.") I just left a space of about 3 feet wide for a doorway. Not only does this really separate my sim room from the rest of the garage, but I was able to use the outside of these walls to hang tools and other stuff so it helped create some extra garage storage.
Also, we had kid #2 in April, which meant that I got kicked out of my upstairs man cave. So I figured this space could double as a sim room + sports watching room. I'm also using the space to store all of my golf clothes and equipment as it was taking up a lot of space in our closet.
I was initially planning on waiting until I had all the money saved up to buy the Skytrak, but when Covid began to hit, my Spidey senses told me that things were likely going to shut down and that I should just get it now and throw it on a credit card. Glad I did because literally the week after I got my unit is when the backlog of orders and waiting lists began.
Items and approximate costs:
- Turf from Home Depot to cover the entire floor of the room = $100? (can’t quite recall)
- “Rough”-like turf from ebay to go under the screen to deaden the bounce of balls = $60
- Hitting mat from Rawhide = $200
- Skytrak = $1,700 (took advantage of one of the periodic sales for new units)
- Ebay version of the full metal jacket = $75
- 9x9 Supertex impact screen from ebay = $133
- InFocus IN138HDSTK projector from Office Wonderland = $900 (on sale from $1,100)
- Lenovo desktop computer from Arsenal PC = $900
- TGC2019 = $900 (lifetime)
- EMT pipes from Home Depot for enclosure (enclosure is 10 feet high, 10 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep) = $60(?)
- Netting from ebay to put over top and sides of enclosure = $60
- Corner fittings for EMT pipes from Maker Pipe = $45
- Putting mat from Real Feel Golf Mats = $43
The above adds up to around $5,200 but then there were miscellaneous other things like the tarp clips and ball bungees to hang the screen, the lumber, drywall and hardware needed to build the walls, the game improvement subscription for the Skytrak and other random costs like a longer HDMI cable and an extension cord and some memory foam for behind the screen and some other random items not included on the list above. I also wasted $200 on a subscription to WGT golf that lasted me a month until I was over it. I would say $6,000 is a pretty reasonable ballpark estimate for the whole project.
Things I still want to do (because I feel like it's never truly a "finished" product):
- Buy a Fiberbuilt hitting station. I actually like the Rawhide mat but it slides around and I've struggled to secure it in place. Would like something a little more upgraded and stable.
- When this screen wears out, I might replace it with one that is 9 feet high and 12 feet wide so I can fill the screen in 4:3. I have the space to do it because there is 3 feet of unused space to the left of my screen where a water heater is. I would lose a little bit of depth to get the screen in front of the water heater and also have to rebuild the enclosure and possibly get a new projector (or at least mount the current one in a different spot). So that's kind of a large project itself.
- Right now I’m just leaning the clubs up against the wall. I tried using a pool cue holder attached to the wall but didn’t really care for it. I think I may actually buy a vintage staff bag to hold my clubs. Easy for clubs to come in and out of those things and it also just gives it a cool look.
- Right now I have a small iPad mounted on the wall so I can have the golf broadcast or the Golf Channel on while I play. Would like to upgrade this to a small TV.
- Tidy up some of the wires to give it a little cleaner look overall.
I think that about covers it. Big thanks to everyone who answered all my questions along the way. The sim room has been a life changer. With a full-time job and 2 young kids at home and not living super close to any decent public courses, playing outside golf is tough to come by these days so the ability to play practically every night after the kids are in bed has been awesome.
Keep it in the short stuff everyone.
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