Starting Garage build, would love some guidance

[dwise2613]

Gents,

I have been following peoples builds for a few weeks now and I'm ready to start mine. While I loved watching the 2 builds where the guy ripped up his foundation and went down a few feet to fit it in his basement (that was absolutely badass), and the other who ripped out the trestles and installed a steel beam to get clearance for his swing, I don't think by budget or wife would go for either as my basement ceilings are only 8'3 so I'm going for the garage build.

I went over to a neighbors house who went the easy route and just ordered the Skytrak Sig-10 set up from Shop Indoor, but I can't bring myself to spending $3,500 on just the enclosure so I'm going the build my own route.

Budget is $15k

My garage is 21W X 22L X 9H. Few things to get me started:

1: Plan on doing a ceiling mount. How far back from the screen does it need to be mounted?

2: I already have an nice Epson projector (Epson PowerLite Home Cimena 5030UB) that I paid about $2,500 for a few years back in my theater room that I wanted to re-purpose for this. Thoughts? Or just get a new one? If the answer is get a new one, what is the best projector for my set-up that is cost-friendly?

3: Going with the Par2Pro stealth retractable as I need to still be able to use my garage. Do you think my room big enough for the 16' screen or should I get the 10'? 16' seems massive, and really only leaves me 2.5' on either side of it. Are side rails really necessary? I'm not too concerned about what happens in my garage to errant shots, it would more just be for the look.

4: For anyone who has this screen, How does the screen mount to the wall? Or does it mount to the ceiling?

5: Going to just get a 16 X 16 piece of putting green turf from Site One Landscape Supply in Charlotte that can easily roll up when not in use, they go for $3.50 a sqft. Is that a good price?

6: Best place to get a hitting mat? Cost?

7: Laptop vs PC? I will have to break it down when not using so I'm thinking laptop unless there is some setbacks to only using a laptop. Can someone send me a link to a good gaming PC/laptop? I have an iPad pro, but from what I read I think I want the gaming PC. It's sole purpose will be for the simulator, I'm not a gamer.

8: Most important piece-launch monitor. Skytrak v Foresight v Uneekor. Is it really worth the money to get the Foresight over the Skytrak. I'm a former 1 handicap but haven't played in 6 years since kids.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Excited to get this thing started.

[Dax]

Good luck with the build and welcome to the forum:

a couple of thoughts:

1.ceiling mount would be best I think for your room. Go to projector central screen calculator once you know your dimensions on screen and it will calculate your throw distances etc for what ever projector you end up going with.

2. My fear would be twofold on your current projector. First I would fear it might not be bright enough even though it does produce a great picture. I would set it up in your garage to test out the image. You have a few windows in there, which will likely give you a bit more ambient light than what you hope. At least you can test what you have and go from there by just projecting into a blank wall or your garage door.

3. I believe Mr Short Game on YouTube uses that screen. Check out his videos if you want to see more. It attaches to the ceiling. As noted in another post yesterday, I would go for as big of a screen as you can. While some may say don’t go with protection, I would put up some curtains or something. See another thread on here from a week or so ago where someone got a ball back at them.

6. Hitting mat, I think you need to decide what you will go with. There has been a lot of discussion on Mats these past couple of weeks and would start there.

7. PC is a better bang for your buck, but if you need to take it out of the garage, then maybe you are forced to go laptop route.

8. With your budget, I would try and see if you can get everything in your budget that includes the GC2 or Uneekor. Not bashing Skytrack, but given you have some room in your budget I think you would be a bit happier going this route. Others who have made the switch seem to not have regretted spending a bit more.

[dwise2613]

Thank you for all of this, stay tuned...

[xfactor989]

If your going more of DIY route you can buy the sportscreen and add your own impact screen. It is the same as the stealth screen. Just add velcro to sportscreen and impact screen. I went this route. Manual sportscreen and added a rod with a hook where the hand crank goes. Then connected an old drill to the rod. It's now motorized for a few bucks.

I put ceiling track from roomdividers.com and added grommets to commando cloth for the side protection. It also blocks all light, makes my projector usable when sun is shining through garage windows.

I would check the brightness of existing projector and the throw ratio. Might have shadows of golfer if it is too far back.

[dwise2613]

Def gonna do the ceiling track and grommets, thx

[DavidU]

I have the retractable 16' from Par2Pro and I love it. Looks great and disappears when not in use. I think if you can go with 16, do it. You won't be disappointed with the extra 6'. It will fit right between your 16' door rails. I went with side protection. Glad I have the right side but could have gone with 5' instead of 10' on left. Price wasn't that much different. You definitely want some sort of side protection on the right side for right handed hitting. I purchased the rail system to attach it to my ceiling. The screen itself has brackets to mount to anything you want. The bracket system from Par2Pro is slick but not cheap. the screen is great and very quiet as far as screens go.

[dwise2613]

Can you send me a pic of yours fully deployed? I planned on putting my screen against one of the other walls, not underneath the garage doors. Garage is kind of weird, 2 single doors separated by house instead of one big one...

[Sixmudd]

Agree with dax on item #8. With your budget, you should go foresight or uneekor. I started with skytrak back in November and quickly decided I wanted to upgrade. The skytrak resale market right now is pretty good, so I was able to sell it pretty quickly on here. You can go on the cheaper side with everything else since you’re going to DIY. For computer, I recently ordered a gamer from Costco.

[dwise2613]

Can you send me link to the gamer you got?

[p3eps]

Here’s my effort using the Par2Pro Stealth setup.

https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/build-your-own/enclosures/192450-fold-up-garage-sim-v3-uk-par2pro-stealth-sportscreen

[DavidU]

[Opedog16]

Hi Dwise, I am new to this forum myself and glad to see so many DIYers out there with the sim builds. I poured through many, many youtube videos over the last few months while prepping my build. If only I had seen this forum? (Which is funny because I used a forum on this same platform for my pizza oven build! LOL!!!) Anyway, my room is a "fluid" design in such that I'm tweaking things constantly. I started the build after Xmas, 2020. I had ordered my skytrak before Thanksgiving, 2020..knowing it would be February before it arrived. Here's what I went with in regards to some of your questions:

• My projector is a short throw BenQ. Many people spent a LOT of money on projectors. This one is a mid-range.. $750.00 jobber off Amazon. I tried two different projects prior.. but had issues with the placement, throw distance, etc. My room is also doubling as a theater room, so that made my options different from other rooms. I really wanted the projected to sit high on the back wall (like a movie theater) however when you golf, you stand right in the way of your light. So, I had to go with the ceiling mount, and basically placed it right above my hitting mat. (I build a wooden platform on top of my tripod to get an idea of throw distance. There's no easy way to do this.. it's best to have help! lol) It pays to take time on this so you don't have a lot of holes in your ceiling. Your being in a garage it may be different than mine, which was in a finished basement.
• My screen is 10'w x 7.5' tall. I got the premium, raw screen from Carl's Place. It was cheaper than Pro2Pro, and since I wanted a retractable screen this gave me options. I ordered a roller and motor from a company (can't remember the name.. will have to look it up..) and this way it goes up and down at the push of a button. Quite a nice feature, even if it was $350 for the roller and motor! As my screen sits in front of sliding doors, I had to have the retractable feature for access.
• I opted for a Asus gaming laptop from costco. I wanted the flexibility of a laptop vs. a PC. I was really trying to keep ALL cables to a minimum and the laptop afforded me this as well. After a few months it seems to be running TGC2019 with no issues.
• Went with Skytrak mostly for cost reasons. My instructor has a trakman which I think is great.. but.. for the cost of a car I couldn't justify it. The skytrak is a bit more cumbersome.. I move it each time I play so it's not sitting in the middle of the room when I don't play. But not too many mishits or misreads. It only takes a minute or two to set up. I do notice a distance difference between the skytrak driving range software vs. the TGC2019 driving range software. But whatever... Another thing I like about the skytrak / laptop combo is it now is quite portable should I take the setup to a friend's house, etc.
• Speaking of distance.... the hitting mats DO matter. and well, I have no feedback yet on what a good mat is. I ordered mine off Amazon for $75. It seems to hold up well and it's 3x5. Again, as my room needs to double as a media room (and guest room from time to time..) I needed to have my system easy to set up and break down. The mat sits on the carpet and it does seem to rob me of 10-15 yards typically. As I don't consistently make contact with the ball first, this is a bit annoying. I have read many threads that mats will rob you of distance. A premium mat would certainly be nice to have I suspect, however I decided to put my funds elsewhere in the build.
• As Dax mentioned above, if you have the room in your budget, you may wish to pass on the Skytrak. There are better systems for sure
• Behind my screen and on the sides I hung heavy black-out curtains. (I call them my shank curtains.) They work ok, but I have put a few errant shots into them and dented the drywall behind. (Only about 3 inches between curtains and walls..) It's not the curtain's fault.. it's a proximity issue. I plan to put acoustic tiles behind them and this should take care of the dents in the wall. :-) I've started placing tiles on the ceiling already. I didn't have anything across the top at first and, well.. the drywall divots started accumulating. lol

Anyway, I plan to start a thread shortly with my build. I've made plenty of mistakes.. (short screen being one of them.. plan to get a new one soon...) and its cost me. Hopefully someone can learn from my goofs and get a quality build out of it. I guess that's how you learn? Overall I was trying for a 6-7k budget.. all DIY. Hope this info helps and feel free to ask anything else!

[wjochetz]

Opedog16 I'd be interested in knowing the brand of your roller/motor and where you purchased it if you were able to track down that info. Thanks

[Opedog16]

hi wjochetz , apologies for the delayed response... I went to a site.. Metechs.com. I ended up going with the tube and motor kit 3017, as well as a 10' foot bar, BAR_HM38. Because I needed a bar 10' wide, it was shipping in 2 pieces with a smaller tube that fit in the middle. (Anything over 8' becomes "freight" shipping and is ungodly expensive, apparently..) Putting it together was a bit of a bear.. I laid both ends on the floor with a board against the wall of one end. Then banged on the other end with a hammer over and over till they snugged up on the inner tube. Those things are not going anywhere, for sure!

I know others in various builds have used 1 or 2" pipe with the screen wrapped to it, then used a photographer pulley system to raise and lower. Having had mine for a few months, I think that going with a robust, aluminum tube is a good way to go. There are still times I will take a whack with my hybrid and the force is enough to rattle the tube on the brackets. So while it may "seem" sturdy.. you have to remember there is going to be a projectile being hurled at this screen @ 100+mph from 12' feet away. All that force gets transferred from the screen up to whatever it's attached to.

For mounting the screen to the tube, I just used the clear, super-duty gorilla tape. Since my initial build, I upgraded to a longer screen which hangs to the floor and then some, allowing me to have extra on the floor and a full rotation of material on the upper roller. No issues to date.

Anxious to hear more about your build!

[wjochetz]

Opedog16 Thanks for the info! How far does it hang down from the ceiling when the screen is fully rolled up? Right now my screen is on the back wall where the garage door and rails don't come into play but if I went with a retractable setup like yours and had the clearance I might consider moving my screen to a different wall. I think I've only got like 7" between the ceiling and the garage door when it is open so definitely tight.

[dlow206]

I have the retractable 16' from Par2Pro and I love it. Looks great and disappears when not in use. I think if you can go with 16, do it. You won't be disappointed with the extra 6'. It will fit right between your 16' door rails. I went with side protection. Glad I have the right side but could have gone with 5' instead of 10' on left. Price wasn't that much different. You definitely want some sort of side protection on the right side for right handed hitting. I purchased the rail system to attach it to my ceiling. The screen itself has brackets to mount to anything you want. The bracket system from Par2Pro is slick but not cheap. the screen is great and very quiet as far as screens go.

Did you buy the full Stealth Elite enclosure kit? Or did you select from the components that Par2Pro offers?