New garage build complete (w/ pics)

[rdeyer]

Launch monitor: Skytrak
Sim: TGC 2019
Impact screen: Carl's premium (124"w x 120"h)
Screen roller: Sportscreen
Projector: Optoma gt1080HRD short throw
Side curtains: Black out shades from Amazon and piping from Home Depot
Computer: i7 processor, 16gb ram, nvidia GTX 1070 graphics card
Landing turf: from eBay
Hitting mat: SwingTurf (from Rain or Shine)
Overhead spot lights: from Amazon
Garage door opener: Chamberlain RJ020

I'm finally finished and can play sim rounds in my garage! The setup needed to be retractrable in case I want to park cars when it snows (i'm in Michigan), hence the Sportscreen roller and the side curtains that can pull back. I also needed to leave some extra space outside of the side curtains so my family can have their bikes and other summer stuff out. My garage height is 9'4" and I'm able to comfortably swing driver (I'm 6' tall). Overall budget was a little over $6k.

The computer is located in my office which is adjacent to the garage, so I have a 20' HDMI running from the garage to that. The projector is covered in a wire basket I got from Target with the front cut out for the projector lens to shine.

The projected image is 124"w x 93"h (4:3 aspect ratio). The side curtains are angled out intentionally so its wider in the swinging area so you don't hit the curtains on your follow thru.

The ceiling protection is acoustic foam, attached to plywood (there are 2x4's attached to keep it rigid), and mounted with clips to the ceiling. I painted the entire ceiling black and also took down my traditional center track garage door opener and replaced it with a side mount unit to free up overhead space.

Fun bonus is this makes for a great movie theater for my kids. They can open up the garage door and invite the neighbor kids to join too.

[rdeyer]

I've played daily on the simulator every day since I finished. Totally worth the investment! I find myself using the driving range mode about 1/3 of the time to work on my swing and 2/3 of the time playing courses. Some of the TGC courses are absolutely stunning.

[robd]

looking to do the exact setup with a 10ft SportScreen with impact screen. what aspect ratio impact screen did you end up ordering from Carl's?

[rdeyer]

I did a custom size, 124"w x 120"l, and display a 4:3 image onto it. I went with 124"w because that is the exact width of the sportscreen. Even though my projected image height is only 93", I went with 120" length impact screen so it would reach my ceiling and loop at least once fully around the sportscreen roller for a good hold.

[Ttime65]

this is one awesome build. Great work. On the landing turf, how did you connect the tiles (did you glue them) and how did you connect the turf to the tiles? I'm assuming that you roll this up after using so that you are not parking your cars on it when you're not hitting balls? thanks!

[rdeyer]

The landing turf is just two pieces (you can see the seem in the middle) put together. They are laying directly on the concrete with no tiles beneath them. They don't move around, probably because of the weight. If I need to park cars I roll them up. The benefits of having two separate pieces instead of one, is that they are much easier to roll up separately and it ended up being much less expensive than a single piece that size.

[rdeyer]

It started getting warm playing in the garage mid day. I looked into a mini split but wasn't having luck getting the wife approval ($1400 or more) so close to just finishing the build.

I decided to go with a portable AC. I know there are mixed reviews on this forum about the effectiveness of portable ACs. For my application it ended up working great. It's in the corner and blows cold air right onto the hitting mat area. It probably only brings the garage down 5-7 degrees but that's all I needed.

The unit also does heating so it's an extra bonus in the winter to pair with my space heater.

I didn't have a window to vent to so I had to drill a vent opening through the external wall. Pro tip, drilling through brick absolutely sucks. I destroyed several masonry bits and a masonry hole saw. After several hours though I got through and attached a vent hood.

I got a used AC unit for $225 and then spent another $100 on misc (hood, bits, spray insulation). Not bad I didn't think and I love the extra cool air on me.

[rdeyer]

Someone else I know recently went through brick as well and said they had way better success when they rented a hammer drill from Home Depot rather than using a standard drill.

[Brettster]

Oh yeah, hammer drill to perf out your drilling area is the way to go! You've really put an effort into your sim room and it shows - congrats!

[Ttime65]

So how do you keep the 1", 2'x2' interlocking gym mat's which you bought on Amazon to adhere to the Home Depot grass carpet? Or do you have to lay down the gym mats each time you use the sim and then roll the carpet on top?

[rdeyer]

I don't have interlocking gym mats. Maybe you're thinking of someone else's post. I just have my turf directly on the concrete.

[Treyc321]

I haven’t put the turf on mine yet, but it should be heavy enough to lay on top.

[Rocuronium]

Your build looks great. I’m about to start a similar project. I’m not understanding something, did you buy the sport screen roller and then Velcro your impact screen to the screen that came with the sports roller? Thanks in advance.

[rdeyer]

tl;dr both the sportscreen and the impact screen are velcro'd to the roller, but not to each other.

The sportscreen comes with velcro installed at the top and the roller has a row of velcro to attach it to. I had to add another row myself of velcro onto to the roller and then add velcro to the top of my impact screen. I made sure I had enough impact screen material that I could wrap it around the roller at least once. This gives it a great hold.

The sportscreen itself and impact screen are not velcro'd to each other. I thought about it briefly to keep the impact screen taught, but they roll up into the roller at different diameters so they would always be pulling away from each other. Occasionally the impact screen can have some waves in it because it's not being stretched, but honestly nothing that bothers me. The nice benefit of the impact screen being free is that it deadens the ball quite nicely.

[Frank Hsiao]

Thank you for sharing such a beautiful space and useful information of the set up. When you mentioned that you need to add an additional velcro on the roller and on the impact screen so that you could attach the screen directly on the roller. May I know if your SportScreen is the motor version or manual version? if it is the motor version, will two screens attached on the roller cause any problem to the motor? my second question is could SportScreen add such additional velcro for the customer before they ship out the screen? Thanks.

[rdeyer]

I have a manual roll sportscreen. I can't speak to if they will add extra Velcro for you but it's super easy to do yourself. I bought https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KP5R4X3/ and applied it within a minute.

[Mijobear]

rdeyer Great setup. I read you had Carls make it specific in size and velcro at the top to hang. It also looks like the sides are raw or unfinished (correct me if I’m wrong) which makes sense so that it rolls up flat and even. Are you seeing any issues with the raw unfinished side edges (ie fraying, splitting, etc.)?

Thanks in advance and again awesome setup.

[rdeyer]

No issues with the unfinished edges, they still look like they did the day I got it

[cmibobby]

Where did you get your baffle for the ceiling, this is what I need

[rdeyer]

It works well but honestly if I was doing it all over I'd probably just put in netting because it would have been simpler and accomplished the same thing. If you did it how I did it would probably be more for looks than anything.

[Brettster]

rdeyer - yes, I hear it can be done with bird netting really cheap! I'm into the look of it, if it has similar or same results as the bird netting... I really like how that looks, and with my sim being on the small side, I would prefer to have something nice up above the screen... when you say it works well, does it just drop the balls straight down, or do they bounce off that into the screen?

[rdeyer]

If I hit the baffle directly it tends to come straight down from what I recall because the backspin. It's somewhat loud because even though the acoustic foam is there you're still hitting into the wood. The other type of hit is when it hits the screen first and then rolls up and hits the baffle. Those come straight down too but are quieter because the impact screen took off most of the force first.

[mwnold]

Great setup! I am looking at doing something very similar. What size EMT did you use? For the impact screen, I was thinking of doing the brackets and EMT on the back wall hang the impact screen from that. But I like the rollup screen concept your using. Where did you find the Sportscreen? And I might just order an additional piece of the curtain and use it for the top of the enclosure - attached it to the existing EMT and then the entire enclosure will all slide back when not in use.

Thx!

[rdeyer]

The SportScreen was thru https://thesportscreen.com/. No EMT, just a 1/2"x10' copper grounding rod wrapped in foam pipe that goes in the bottom loop of the SportScreen to keep it taught.

[Brettster]

rdeyer - what's the 'landing turf' you picked up on eBay and how much that run you? Is it padded?

[rdeyer]

Its some cheap stuff off of eBay. Not padded. It looks nice and keeps the balls from rolling around so it gets the job done for me. Its also light so I can roll it up if I have to park cars in the garage. If this wasn't a retractable garage setup I would have bought something heavier that I could actually putt on.

[fortysixandtwo]

The garage setup looks great, I might steal the overhead lighting idea. It’s a struggle in a garage to have enough light without too much and not playing in the dark compared to a dedicated room.

[rdeyer]

Its funny you say that because I'm actually in the process of redoing the lighting. It works great currently but it's not nearly enough light for high speed cameras I want to put in. I'm going to put in track lighting with high lumen bulbs. It will probably be a challenge to find the right balance of enough light but not too much to affect the projector image. I'll post more when I make progress.