New Indoor Simulator Build

[tntfox]

My daughters grew out of their play room so I took it over and turned it into the Simulator. I bought a screen and a hitting pad and built the rest. I added a Skytrak and the room is killer now. See the images and video below.




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[chicub15]

Nicely done on the screen framing/border! What did you use?

[tntfox]

I bought some heavy vinyl awning material from a second hand fabric outlet (very heavy stuff) and a 6" thick by 36" wide by 84" long piece of foam rubber. I cut the foam with a $14 electric knife from Walmart and then covered it with the awning material. Although my wife did break out the sewing machine for me to sew seams into the side and top panels, I wrapped my foam borders with the vinyl material and then used zip ties every 6" or so to anchor the material to the foam. Since my cage is wider and taller than 84", I just Gorilla Glued pieces of foam end to end before wrapping them.

To attach them to the cage, I pounded a grommet about every 2 feet and ball-bungeed the protectors to the cage. Works great!

The only problem is that my screen didn't come with velcro so a ball can still shoot past it (but they dont come back). To protect the walls behind the screen, I hung moving blankets that wrap around the corners. If a ball makes it past the foam, the blanket grabs it and drops it straight down.

[devildog1205]

What did you use for turf?

[tntfox]

I just posted some good pics of the room so you can see the materials better. In one pic, you can see that I have bamboo floors in the room so I needed turf (or something) for the balls to land on other than the wood. I went to a local turf outlet and bought an 13' x 15' remnant of "non directional turf." This turf does not require padding as its fibers are non-directional or matted so it is soft to the touch totally deadens a dropped ball. This cost was about $270.

I cut the turf to fit a 5' x 5' Five Star Hitting Matt which you can see in one of the pics. Although the turf and matt are different colors, they look good together and I left some of the wood floor exposed because I thought that made it look even cooler. Initially, I had the hitting matt on top of the turf, but it would move around ALOT. To ensure that the matt wouldn't walk out of its cutout when hitting, I put a Home Depot Super Grip Non-slip Rug pad under it and it hasn't moved yet. Since the matt is 5 x 5, I can turn it if it starts to wear in the hitting area.

You can also see I have a SkyTrak (which I got in 2019 as a ReFurb from Skytrak for $1495) which is awesome. I have used a Trackman alot in the past and the only thing I miss from that is the club data. With Launch Angle, Side Angle, and Side Spin, I have everything I need. I would highly recommend Skytrak but I know they are hard to come by in 2021 and ReFurbs are non-existent from the manufacturer.

[tntfox]

Below are some pictures of the finished Simulator Room and a video overview.

The golf swing - done right

[tntfox]

One more thing I wanted to add is regarding the components I used to connect the EMT for the enclosure. I started with the standard, thumb-screw, L and T shaped conduit connectors. I then switched over to a product from Maker Pipe (http://www.makerpipe.com) as they are connected using hex screws that are flush with the connector as opposed to the thumb screws on the standard connectors. I actually left some of the thumb screws out of the connectors as they were pressing into the impact screen. The Make Pipe connectors don't have this problem and since they are not closed-ended like the standard connectors, they allow for a little more flexibility.

[William Jenkins]

Below are some pictures of the finished Simulator Room and a video overview.

The golf swing - done right

If that's your wife's golf swing, DAMN! That's a great swing.

[Agolfman]

Nice work on this. Really clean, efficient setup. Enjoy it!

[tntfox]

Thanks Agolfman. We are enjoying the room as both a Simulator and a place to watch golf when the other TV's are occupied.

[tntfox]

My wife wishes that was her swing! That's my 16 year old daughter. She played for about 5 years, had a hole in one, and quit.playing...with that swing.

[DavidU]

Maybe this will be just what she needs to get back in. With a swing like that she will play again...

[tntfox]

I have my fingers crossed. We live in Texas and both my girls played but went into other sports mostly because they hate the heat. I'm holding out for them being my secret weapons in upcoming scrambles!

[sleepEZ]

Nice work! What are the dimensions of the room? And how far is the ball from the screen when you hit? Thanks!!

[tntfox]

Thanks sleepEZ. My room is 15' 10" x 11' 2". I usually put he Skytrak between 5 and 7 feet from the screen. I move it a little closer and farther to the right when I'm hitting a driver. Since I designed my enclosure with 5' side protectors, it does limit where I place the SkyTrak, but the room I'm using is next to one of my daughter's bedroom so I was very conscious of containing any bad shots (Shanks!). I can hit any club and even work on my driver club head speed so I'm not taking anything off my swings.

You can see in my daughter's swing video above, there is enough room for a little ball flight even though that doesn't matter with Skytrak

Having this setup now, I would say that 11 feet in room width is probably the minimum I would recommend. Depending on the flatness of your swing plane, you have to be careful in a room this size. The best thing about this room is that the ceiling slopes up away from the door so I have my projector hanging about 10' above the hitting area and the ceiling fan is above that.