Outdoor Terrace in City - Simulator Build (Mevo+)?

[Avidhacker]

Hi Guys - moving into a new place pretty soon that's (unfortunately) in a dense, big city. We have a private terrace that's connected to the apartment and 22x15ft so a pretty good size. I'm very tempted to get a net return pro, mat and Mevo+ to get my golf practice in throughout the non-winter seasons. I think it's fairly risky to setup since we are going to be on the 9th floor of a condo building (fortunately corner unit so no neighbors next to the terrace). I'm not so much worried about noise as the city is loud and there's a train nearby. However I am worried about two things (i) any net misses hitting our unit and (ii) more importantly missing the net and having it go off our terrace. Obviously the latter is the more important one as I don't want to injure anyone. I've thought about two options: (i) foam or almost golf balls which I've read just aren't quite as accurate but maybe I can deal with it or (ii) have something in addition to the net return that's maybe a retractable netting that can catch any errant shots. Wondering if anyone has any suggestions or something they've seen for a setup like this? I really can't have any balls going off the terrace as that would be very dangerous.

I'm also thinking of not getting the mevo+ and springing for something like a GC2 so I can stand as close as possible to the net (plan on having the shank side netting). I've heard the Skytrak doesn't do very well outside. I'm not sure if this is going overboard and if folks think this isn't worth it? I have seen examples of some on the forum with a similar setup but curious to get others' thoughts. I'd love nothing more than to have a sim I can hit outside but don't want any mishaps! please help!

[Avidhacker]

should also add it can't be anything permanent - would like the flexibility to put things away when not in use. Thanks!

[Noob20]

This is interesting. You don’t have height restrictions? Following....

[Dax]

while this is not something I would do, if you do choose to go this route I think you need a back up for what ever you are planning and likely build something that includes you hitting within. Your back-up should be something that is archery netting. You likely should ensure your set up is portable.

[sirish19]

Hi Guys - moving into a new place pretty soon that's (unfortunately) in a dense, big city. We have a private terrace that's connected to the apartment and 22x15ft so a pretty good size. I'm very tempted to get a net return pro, mat and Mevo+ to get my golf practice in throughout the non-winter seasons. I think it's fairly risky to setup since we are going to be on the 9th floor of a condo building (fortunately corner unit so no neighbors next to the terrace). I'm not so much worried about noise as the city is loud and there's a train nearby. However I am worried about two things (i) any net misses hitting our unit and (ii) more importantly missing the net and having it go off our terrace. Obviously the latter is the more important one as I don't want to injure anyone. I've thought about two options: (i) foam or almost golf balls which I've read just aren't quite as accurate but maybe I can deal with it or (ii) have something in addition to the net return that's maybe a retractable netting that can catch any errant shots. Wondering if anyone has any suggestions or something they've seen for a setup like this? I really can't have any balls going off the terrace as that would be very dangerous.

I'm also thinking of not getting the mevo+ and springing for something like a GC2 so I can stand as close as possible to the net (plan on having the shank side netting). I've heard the Skytrak doesn't do very well outside. I'm not sure if this is going overboard and if folks think this isn't worth it? I have seen examples of some on the forum with a similar setup but curious to get others' thoughts. I'd love nothing more than to have a sim I can hit outside but don't want any mishaps! please help!

Hi, this is actually a similar size to the setup I have on my balcony. Mine is actually 12x20 ft so you have a little more room than I do. While I am not necessarily in a big city, I do actually have an office building right behind my house and enough people on the street below so that I have to be extremely careful about ensuring no stray balls go flying. My setup is:

1) the NetReturns Pro series with side barriers.
2) I have a stance mat and then 2 strips of YGT-3D hitting mat right next to it that I hit off of.
3) SkyTrak & TGC2019
4) 32 inch 4k computer monitor with Amazon Basic wall mount installed on the side wall of my balcony. I use an Amazon Basic desk mount with my computer in my study which is adjacent to the balcony so I just have pick it up and move about 10 feet to get it installed.
5) Dell G5 gaming laptop
6) I also have two rolls of 1 meter x 2 meter astroturf that I lay out between the net and hitting/stance mats.

I live in Japan and we get a fair amount of rain so my setup also has to be easily broken down and stored away. I have a small plastic bench that the net, sand bags (they came with the Pro series net) and astroturf mats (rolled up) all fit into perfectly and I fashioned a little storage pouch from a blue tarp to slide the stance mats and hitting mats into and then store them behind the bench.

I have had two occasions where I had stray balls. The first time, I was getting adjusted to using rubber tees sitting on top of the hitting mat and I hit a sky ball with the driver when the tee was too tall and it went flying over the net. I didn't hear it hit anything so assume that it just landed somewhere in the yard of the office building behind my house. That was on a Sunday (fortunately) so no one noticed. I am sure that someone found the ball one day and they knew it was mine since the office is 23 stories tall and they surely are looking down and watching me play golf, haha. No one ever said anything so I just pretended it didn't happen.

The second time was a little more nerve-racking. I had a bad case of the shanks and I shanked a 7 iron off of the left leg of the net returns and it went flying past my head and sailed over the side barrier and just cleared my balcony. It bounced onto the driveway for the office building, it was again on the weekend so that all went unnoticed as well. Concerned about any stray balls, I attached a 2-meter pole to my balcony and then pull the side barrier and hang it on the pole. I also use a velcro strap to connect the other side barrier to the monitor arm and a bar used to hang laundry to give some extra protection from stray balls. I didn't buy the frame pads for the ProSeries net but I really wish I had. It would cost me about $200 for the pads and shipping to ship to Japan so I ended up just fashioning some foam pad and velcro to protect the legs of the frame. I have hit a few shanks off of the foam pads and that seems to stop any ricochet.

My net is about 6-8 feet from where I hit the ball and I can hit full 60-degree lob wedges without risk of flying over the net. I could also pull the net a little closer as I still have plenty of clearance to hit my driver. One caveat though is that I can't hit any ball that has a really high trajectory so end up using ProV1's exclusively. I was doing a ball comparison one time and hit a few balls that were coming dangerously close to clearing the net where the ProV1's were only going about 1/2 to 3/4 up. I don't try to hit super high flop shots though.

My setup is really ideal as I am a lefty and I am hitting towards the office building (the other direction would be towards the busy street and residences). Also, I am facing the computer and monitor so it is really perfect. Since my balcony is a little narrow, it works as the side of the balcony is low enough that it doesn't interfere with my backswing with my drivers. I am not able to hit right in the center of the net so have the SkyTrak aiming a little towards the center and not straight ahead. This makes things a little difficult with aiming but I have pretty much gotten used to it. I have had the NetReturns for about 2 years, have hit at least 20,000 balls so far and have no signs of wear on the net. They do also sell an additional Net Guardian (just another piece of net that velcros over the original net to give extra protection and life. I will probably order one of those if I ever have a chance to fly back to the US.

As for SkyTrak and daylight, with my setup, the sun rises directly at my back in the morning. During the fall, winter and spring months (it is too hot in the summer), I can usually get up and from around 7 am to about 9 am before the ST gets in direct sunlight. I have had a few times where I continued playing until around noon or so without too much issue with misreads. That was when I was using an iPad and WGT or just the ST app and could put it somewhere out of direct sunlight. Now that I am using the laptop and monitor, I find that they don't do too well in direct sunlight. Given the way my roof is shaped, I generally start playing once everything (including my face) is in the shade which is from around 4:30 pm. I normally try to finish by around 8:30 pm at the latest so that I don't disturb the neighbors. That timing all seems to work out perfectly for me as I can generally get in about 36 holes on TGC2019 each night when the weather is clear.

Below are a few pics of my setup and you can see a video of me playing a round on one of my Country Club courses here in Japan that I designed on TGC2019.

Sorry, this has been quite long but I hope it will be helpful for you. I think it can definitely be done but you'll want to take a lot of caution and may want to put up some extra nets to ensure no stray balls go flying onto the street below. I really get a lot of enjoyment out of my setup. I am really envious of all of the great garage and basement builds on here but it is also nice to be able to play outside sometimes too.

https://youtu.be/KPVo0P88bu8

[sirish19]

Oh yeah, and I would also add that it takes me approximately 20 minutes to get everything set up and about the same amount of time to break everything down and put it away. When the weather is nice and I expect to play several days in a row, I will just lay the net down and leave everything as-is and just bring the clubs and electronics inside.

[Dax]

Over time the netting will wear down and I have seen someone put a ball through the net return and had a ball imbedded in their drywall. This is why I feel a back up is a necessity.

[frodaddy00]

I wore through my Net Return in about 11 months. I ended up buying these extra net guardians in the center where my balls were hitting the net. They worked great.

https://www.thenetreturn.com/products/net-guardian

[Avidhacker]

thanks for the feedback - would definitely look into getting a net guardian. Sirish - your setup looks amazing, pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. I might have to get crafty with some DIY netting for extra protection or I'm thinking I could just buy a second cheap net to put to my shank side (if I inevitably get those). something like below would be great.

https://www.hitrunsteal.com/products...12321055834148

Have you come up with any solutions for sky balls? i think that's my main fear that I still haven't come up with a solution for. Definitely do want to sky a driver over the net.

[sirish19]

Yeah, I will definitely get a net guardian, probably worth it to go ahead and order and ship over here.

As for Sky balls, I have actually only hit 1-2 since that first incident and neither cleared the net. I think I have it close enough and I don't tee it up high enough for my driver to go all the way under the ball easily. Also, for my 3 and 5w off the tee, I use really short tees that are similar for what I use for irons so no chance of a sky ball for those. If you were really concerned, I am sure that there would be some way to add extra support and netting to extend further out to the top. Actually, I just checked and they do sell an extension for the pro series called "No Fly Zone" https://www.thenetreturn.com/products/no-fly-zone. I may look into getting this and the guardian.

[sirish19]

Actually, I just have a look at the installation video for the "No Fly Zone" and it seems to be a bit of a hassle and may take more time to assemble and disassemble than it would really be worth. Probably good extra safety measure if you are indoors and keep this thing assembled all the time but probably not very convenient for me where I may put the net up, play for a few hours and then put it away again.

[richerod]

Incredible outdoor setup siresh19. How does wind factor in? Does it impact net setup or Skytrak readings?

[sirish19]

Incredible outdoor setup siresh19. How does wind factor in? Does it impact net setup or Skytrak readings?

Thanks, and very good question because I am about 20 miles from the ocean and we do get some wind. You can see the BBQ grill behind the net so I will drop the wheel just over the edge of net frame to make sure that it doesn't blow away. Also, when the wind is heavy, I have several bungee cords that I will connect to the net from the back and sides. I also have the side barriers hooked onto to poles from the front so I can keep it pretty well in place. When I leave it out with the expectation of playing on consecutive days, I always lay it flat. One time we didn't have much wind and I forgot to secure it down (even with the sandbags) and had a gust of wind that blew it over towards me (and towards my laptop), fortunately, I was able to catch it before it caused any damage.

The roof of my house also acts as a bit of a shelter as we get wind from that direction mostly. There are of course times where the wind is too heavy to play. But I have never seen any affect with the ST, I would normally forego playing if I was afraid that the net might blow over and the aluminum frame get damaged.

[sirish19]

I just ordered my Net Guardian. It will cost $100 shipped but if it can extend the life of a $350 replacement net, assuming I haven't been taken to jail for hitting someone in the head, I think it is a wise investment.

[sirish19]

as you an probably tell, my house is in a bit of a need of some refinishing as we are due for a paint job and to retile the balcony. These are concrete-like tiles made of squares that about 2 cm tall. My YGT hitting mat is exactly 4 cm tall so I had to break out the tiles in order to fit the hitting mats inside the area. THe stance mat is between 1.5-2cm tall so it actually is perfect.Unfortunately, with all of the hitting I have ended up breaking quite a few tiles underneath so now I need to figure out a better way to lay out the balcony that comes with some easily removable section for the hitting mat. The reform guys here in Japan are going to really love me...haha.