New GC Hawk build

[Jwm]

Hi all. Previous frustrated Flightscope Xi+ user moving to a new house in September. After years of trying to fit a sim into awkward places we are moving to a house with a perfect space. It oddly enough has an indoor basketball court with 17 foot ceilings. The bottom of the windows on 2 walls are at 10 feet. I was thinking Trackman however when Bouxy's GCHawk went on the classifieds I jumped at it. I thought it would be great for the kids and I wouldn't have to worry about having to hide the Trackman every time I'm done with it, the soccer integration, etc. However, the tricky part will be the extra high ceilings and the weight of the Hawk. Carl's Pro enclosure can handle the weight (maybe not the impact vibrations) but I'm thinking about just building a canopy right at 10 feet.

The entire room is 50Lx20Wx17H. I would like to keep plenty of space for the basketball hoop as well. I think carving out 16Lx20W on the opposite end of the hoop would be perfect. Any thoughts on a canopy design, with a support post or maybe suspension cables? Another thought I had was to just do a regular enclosure and suspend the Hawk from the ceiling with threaded pipe to the mount. I've been worrying so much about getting high ceilings that I've never thought about shortening them. Here is my amateur sketchup first draft.

[Stetson]

That is a Fantastic space!

my goal is to have a 50x20 space myself but 17’ has never entered my mind.

That is a tricky situation as the basketball could destroy the Hawk or Projector if soccer/basketball balls start flying. I may try to create an enclosure for both the hawk and projector and hang that from the ceiling above. Some sort of perforated steel structure

others will likely come up with something better

[Jwm]

I'm on the same page, I was thinking I could finish off the wall on the left of the hitting area with plywood and it would cut down on the sound of a driver in a room that size too. I just thought a suspended canopy would look really cool but it is probably not practical. I was looking at the GSA site where he had some canopy designs https://www.golf-simulators.com/Floo...closures2.html

[Jwm]

OK I'm a week away from moving into the house and really trying to nail down some details. I think I am going to hit into the opposite wall of the basketball now instead of a side wall. This leaves a 20 foot wide wall with 17 foot ceilings. Here is where I need some help, maybe Bouxy can chime in. I was looking at the Optoma 1090HDR which at 8 feet could project a 16x9 image. I would install a cross beam at 12 feet above the floor which should allow for mounting the projector to get the full image. The Hawk has to be mounted in front of and lower (10.5 feet?), how does one mount a short throw with a Hawk or EyeXO without creating a shadow?

[Jwm]

another option since the room is huge that my friend just brought up is mount the beam so that the projector can sit right on top of the Hawk so that the mid point of the projector is at the 10.35 feet off the floor mark and the Hawk directly below it by adding some spacers between the beam and the Hawk mount. That would make the hitting area 4 feet back of that at 12 feet which is probably the right distance anyway.

[Jwm]

Finally moving in tomorrow so I need to make some decisions. I've attached a photo of the 20 foot wall (17 height, the bottom of the windows is 10 feet). If you had the choice would you make the screen 18x10 vs 16x9 or does the extra foot of distance for the Optoma 1090HDR less bright? Or is bigger always better?

[Jwm]

At the risk of continuing to talk to myself, I've ordered a bunch of stuff so the build is starting. I ordered the Optoma 1090HDR from B&H Photo and their shipping is insanely fast. 1 day, no upcharge. I ordered 12x20 5mm foam backed gym turf from Turf Direct. I ordered the 18x10 Carl's screen. I put down some foam tiles to build up the floor to hopefully meet the CCE hitting mat with the turf. I need to add acoustic tile in there as well because even just dribbling a basketball will give you a headache. Not excited to sling a Ping driver in there at the moment. I'm hoping the turf and the thick netting above the hitting area will knock some sound down but it won't be quiet by any means.

I will post pictures as things trickle in. I think once I have the projector I can work on mounting the LVL in there.

[Shiggidy112]

I was going to ask about the acoustics. I'd think swinging a driver in that space could cause some potential hearing loss. I'm not sure of the solutions for that large of a space.

It looks like an awesome setup.

[Jwm]

I have boxes of these things that will at least trap some of the echo. I will concentrate a few around the sim

[Stetson]

There is a YouTube video where a guy builds sound dampening panels for less than &10 each that work way better than actual sound panels costing much more. It is essentially 4 bath towels and a cheap canvas. Creative and he uses sound measuring devices to show it works.

[Jwm]

Progress. I mounted it 6 inches and getting bounce back from the wall in chippy test shots. Add something behind or just remount it at 8-12? Or make the screen tighter? I really don’t want to remount.

[Jwm]

Picture attached this time

[Jwm]

Moved it out to a full 12” and added my old raw HQ screen loosely behind and a full 5 iron with just an acceptable bounce back. A little nervous to hit driver but will have to try it at some point. Hopefully it doesn’t throw the projector calculation off too much.

[Jwm]

Pretty much finished and it looks great. Have some wires to tuck and hide. However...I have the indoor swing yips all of a sudden. I'm an 8 handicap outside, 160 ballspeed on driver and I can't put one on the map indoors. I think I'm flinching on the sound of the impact screen. I've hit it fine into the net at the PGA Superstore. Hopefully it goes away with time and I can enjoy all the hard work.

[chrisrbr]

Sounds great. What model of the Turf Direct did you settle on? do you like it for putting? Did you glue it down?