Starting a 5-6 month Golf Sim / Home Theater Build

[Keith]

I've been enjoying lurking and learning on this forum. Now I'm getting ready to actually design and build a cinema/golf-sim room over my garage. Here's the current draft based on info from this forum and other home cinema forums:

• 25x15 room with 10 ft ceiling.
• 16x9 movie screen on back wall
• Retractable impact screen 6-12 inches in front of the movie screen (is that enough? I do NOT want to damage the movie screen)
• Touch screen for golf computer control
• Ceiling-mounted heavy curtains to protect the side and rear walls (see attachment):
  • For movies, they will stay on the side walls to minimize acoustic bounce interference.
  • For golf, they will cover the side walls completely and curve either behind the screen or in front of the screen: Curving in front of the screen is simpler, but curving behind the screen would provide additional protection to the movie screen. Comments/suggestions would be very much appreciated.
• The golf mat centerline will be ~ 8ft from the the impact screen and ~6 ft in front of the closest theater seats.
• I haven't figured out how to best protect the ceiling (suggestions?)

[GarnetGolf]

I've been enjoying lurking and learning on this forum. Now I'm getting ready to actually design and build a cinema/golf-sim room over my garage. Here's the current draft based on info from this forum and other home cinema forums:

• 25x15 room with 10 ft ceiling.
• 16x9 movie screen on back wall
• Retractable impact screen 6-12 inches in front of the movie screen (is that enough? I do NOT want to damage the movie screen)
• Touch screen for golf computer control
• Ceiling-mounted heavy curtains to protect the side and rear walls (see attachment):
  • For movies, they will stay on the side walls to minimize acoustic bounce interference.
  • For golf, they will cover the side walls completely and curve either behind the screen or in front of the screen: Curving in front of the screen is simpler, but curving behind the screen would provide additional protection to the movie screen. Comments/suggestions would be very much appreciated.
• The golf mat centerline will be ~ 8ft from the the impact screen and ~6 ft in front of the closest theater seats.
• I haven't figured out how to best protect the ceiling (suggestions?)

If you stay with 8 ft from the screen, it will be quite challenging to hit the 10 ft ceiling (launch angle of 51* to hit the screen/ceiling joint). You could do a few feet of acoustic foam in front of the screen if you're still worried.

[3on3putt]

I agree with GarnetGolf that direct shots into the ceiling shouldn't be an issue hitting from 8 feet. One thing that does happen though is spinny wedge shots will hit the upper portion of the screen and then sort of ride the screen upwards with the spin. That's why most people have an enclosure with a roof netting that extends out at least a couple feet. If you forgo an enclosure/roof, may want to install some padding on the ceiling to catch the ones that spin up the screen.

[jerry3]

If you stay with 8 ft from the screen, it will be quite challenging to hit the 10 ft ceiling (launch angle of 51* to hit the screen/ceiling joint). You could do a few feet of acoustic foam in front of the screen if you're still worried.

I hit 7ft away from the screen and it's quite easy to hit a lob shot above the screen, not to mention some people sky drivers. so imo you need ceiling protection and if you want to go high end look I'd recommend something like vant panels for ceiling protection, or a very long heavy duty curtains to span the width of your room.

There are a lot of good options for ceiling protection though, all depends on how you want it to look and what the budget is.

Pictures below show vant panels and are from @devildog1205 , @JKCapeCod and @jeeve5

[Dax]

Will you be going in wall speakers for the front? I suspect so as you would need much more than a foot. In terms of if it is enough, I would reach out to someone who owns one as the distance is likely different from a screen that is attached from the sides as well. One thing you could consider is adding some curtains in front of your theatre screen that could pull to the sides when watching oboes for some added protection.

[Keith]

Sorry for asking questions and then going quiet......life interfered.

To respond to some of your comments/questions:

• Curtain: I'm currently planning on having the heavy velvet curtains wrap around the retractable impact screen to provide more protection for the movie screen and speakers. I'm assuming this will not increase the bounce-back significantly. When watching movies, the curtains will cover the front portion of the side walls, hopefully acting as an acoustic panel.
• Speakers: In-wall speakers for everything except for two subwoofers. I will probably need to put a foam pad on the subwoofers when using the sim since they will be really close to the impact screen.
• Ceiling protection: I plan to test whether the same curtain material can protect the ceiling.
• Projector selection: I was hoping to use the Epson 6050 for both screens but there's no way to prevent shadowing of the golfer on the impact screen. So I am investigating using the Epson 4050 for movies and a separate Epson short throw (G7400U) for the golf sim.
• Movie Screen location: back row sightlines will require the bottom of the screen to be at least 2-1/2 ft from the floor.

Many thanks for all the comments/suggestions.

[tonerniall]

I think if you position the epson 6050 at 10 feet ceiling mounted and hit 9 ft from the screen you should be fine to use it for the cinema and sim without shadows. If you show some shadows you could hit from 10ft maybe? I am looking into the same thing with my GCquad build as I want it to double as a theater but I am worried more about aspect ratio of the sim software vs movies and different screens needing to be used and which won I will retract. I was thinking same as you as to put the screen in the back and the sim screen in the front with a way to retract both. The movie screen will be up when golfing and vice versa.

[Keith]

I originally selected the Epson 6050 due to its 2 lens memories. I thought that would be useful since I will be regularly switching from golf to movies. However, I tried positioning the 6050 in lots of locations, but there's no way to keep it from severely shadowing a 6' golfer that's 8' from the screen. Due to the size of my room, I can't move the golfer back any further without infringing on the nearest cinema seat when using a driver. Also, the zoom capability of the 6500 lens would severely limit the vertical size of the golf image.

By switching from the 6050 ($4000) to the 4050-black ($2400), I save ~$1600 with only a couple spec differences:

• Max Contrast Ratio is 200,000:1 vs 1,200,000:1 for the 6050.
• Brightness is 2400 vs 2600 lumens.

Given the cost savings, I'm ok with those spec differences. That will lessen the pain of buying a short-throw G7400UG for the golfsim. It provides the same resolution as the 6050/4050 projectors but the short-throw lens will produce a 4x3 image that's ~8' high and reach all the way down to the floor without shadowing. That should provide a very immersive experience. And with 5500 lumens, it provides a bright enough image to allow me to increase the ambient light when golfing.

Regarding which screen to retract: picture quality of movies is more important to me than a pure golf image so that's why I'm putting the movie screen on the backwall and retracting the golf screen.

As a sidenote, I should point out that I feel VERY guilty for selecting Epson projectors. I worked in Texas Instruments' DLP group for 15 years.

[m9976z]

I am on the same boat except I'm adding golf sim on my existing home theater. I am half way through and started ordering things I need. It would be nice to share notes. Have you decided on the retractable impact screen? I assume you are also looking for retractable acoustic transparent screen for the movie?

I was able to reuse my existing JVC projector to double as movie and golf sim use with no shadowing issue by moving the projector to the left utilizing its lens shift feature. If I am not mistaken the 6050 has the lens shift capability as well. You might want to check that if that is still the route you want.

[Keith]

I'm leaning toward the retractable impact screen from Par2Pro.....mainly because that's the only non-DIY system that I've found (link is attached).

No, I'm going to mount a fixed 133" acoustic-transparent screen to the wall. Since it's an exterior wall, I'm extended the wall in the screen area so I can mount the in-wall speakers behind it

I plan to have the retractable golf screen 12-16" in front of the movie screen. I'm also planning on having heavy black curtains on the side walls and will extend them to curl around the back of the impact screen if it looks like the movie screen is at risk. If that's not necessary, I'll just have them curl a few inches on the front side of the impact screen. Either way should protect the two subwoofers on the sides of the movie screen.

I really liked the Epson 6050 with two lens memories. However, I couldn't figure out how to avoid shadowing the golfer with such a long throw. Consequently, I decided to move down to the cheaper 4050 (nearly the same specs....see previous post) and add a short-throw projector for about the same money. I was looking at the VERY expensive G7400UG with a specific replacement lens but luckily they've discontinued it. Instead I found BenQ's new TK700STi (just launched so limited supplies right now). It looks like this will be a much more affordable replacement. Plus, it's 4K with plenty of power. The Projector Central Throw Calculator shows that I can probably get a 7-8' vertical 4x3 image with minimal shadowing of the golfer.

Regarding using the horizontal lens shift capability, I did consider that and found that:
- the amount of available vertical shift changes depending on the horizontal shift (and vice-versa). That might not be a problem but was new info that I hadn't expected.
- the variable zoom of the 6050 wouldn't give me a 7-8' vertical image
- horizontal shift doesn't work for avoiding shadowing if you are planning on having both right-hand and left-hand golfers. I'm trying to allow for an immersive experience for both without shadowing (perhaps foolishly since I don't know any left-hand golf friends right now.

That's where I am right now. After I finish updating my 3D model with the new projectors, I'll post an image of the planned setup along with any new changes in my plan.

https://www.par2pro.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=23_35&products_id=490

[BJMDO]

I have an Epson 5040. These projectors have a ton of vertical and horizontal shift. I have it on a table in the garage behind me and to my right (I am RH) and have had no issues with shadowing. I guess if you have RH and LH players, it could be an issue. We will be building a new home in about a year as well. My best thoughts are to come up with some sort of hinge system to lift the movie screen to the ceiling with padding on the back to catch stray going up. The impact screen would be behind it and closer to the wall. Still trying to figure this out too.

[Keith]

For my golf simulator projector, I've been planning on using the 4K BenQ700sti. However, it looks like I'll have to tilt the image down to get the screen size I want while minimizing shadowing of the golfer. That will force me to use keystone adjustment at the expense of picture quality. My current alternative is to step up to a 1920x1200 BenQ LU935ST. It's more expensive and less resolution but the form factor (1.6:1 vs 1.77:1) is a better match for my golf screen (~4:3) and the higher brightness will let me keep more lights on in the simulator. More importantly, it has vertical and horizontal lens shift, completely removing the need for keystone corrections. That, together with the reduced throw ratio, will also allow me to completely eliminate any shadowing.

Comments/suggestions? Anybody already using the 935 for a golf simulator?

[Keith]

Current Layout.....construction to start by the end of August (I hope)

[Treyc321]

Curious why the QED vs Eye XO?

[Keith]

I considered both. I don't mind that I need to use marked balls with the QED.  And the other features of the Eye XO are nice but, for me, not worth the extra ~$3K.  If I increase my budget on anything, it'll probably be the movie projector.

[Keith]

One other comment, the QED has a larger hitting zone than the Eye XO. That'll make it easier to primarily use the TrueStrike's Gel strip but also use regular tees on the adjoining range mat when using my driver.

[Keith]

And so it begins (FINALLY!).....

[Brettster]

Really cool build and looking forward to pics as the build progresses!