Multi-Sport - Golf/Baseball/Softball Sim Setup (New Build Garage)

[mattvandyk]

I’ve been trolling around here for awhile trying to pick up some tips, and I realized it was time to create an account and officially ask for some guidance.


Basic Planned Garage Dimensions:

Attached is the proposed floor plan and elevations of a new garage we are having built. Basic dimensions (excluding cabinets) are 16’ wide, 24’ long, and 10’ tall walls (although ceiling will be vaulted, so taller than that towards the middle). For orientation purposes LEFT is NORTH. The segregated 8x16 room on the West side can be ignored (it’s basically just a yard shed I’m slapping on the back). Likewise, the large rectangle outlined in the middle of the garage is a representation of my wife’s car (for scale and spacing purposes) and can also be ignored. Same with the smaller rectangle “inside” the car which represents our Thule rooftop box which will lift up out of the way and into the vaulted ceiling as shown on the East Elevation. We are not committed to either the window locations or the cabinets on the north and south walls.

With respect to basic layout, is there anything you would recommend changing or tweaking? Wider? Taller? Longer? Fewer cabinets? More cabinets? Etc. I’m conscious of the fact that I need to decide where my computer kiosk is going to go and build in cable runs between there and the projector, and be mindful on electrical outlets to minimize exposed wiring, but is there anything else I’m forgetting about?

Simulator Setup Plan:

1. Impact Screen: The impact screen will be on the West wall of the garage (the one with the sliding barn doors in it providing garage access to the shed). This wall is 16’ wide by 10’ tall (plus some vaulting). I would like to maximize this real estate and use a 16:9 widescreen screen which takes up basically the whole wall. The screen needs to be able to take impact from both golf balls and baseballs and softballs. It also needs to retract (preferably automatically) into the ceiling in order to get out of the way to provide access to the barn doors behind it.
2. Hitting Location: For golf, I am planning on the hitting location being directly in (South) of the access door or perhaps just slightly West of that. Assuming the Impact Screen is off the West wall by 18” or so, that should put the hitting location roughly 8-9’ from the screen. For baseball and softball, hitting location will be much deeper (Easterly; basically backed up to the garage door) to provide space for front toss.
3. Netting: For netting, I plan to basically create a tunnel as you would an indoor hitting cage (draping down to cover both walls and the ceiling) using golf netting suspended from 2 parallel rails that runs the length of the garage. This railing will be slightly up into the vaulted ceiling so that the top netting does not sag down below 10’. The railing will run from the East wall (containing the garage door) and then parallel to the North and South walls with the garage door on the inside and the cabinets on the outside; it will end when it reaches the West end of the cabinets along the South wall (which is also the West side of the access door on the North wall). From that point, “forward” (towards the screen), the walls will be padded/soundproofed so that the netting does not “cut off” the screen real estate on the west wall. The idea with having this on rails is that I would like to be able to suspend the netting from the rails so that it can be pushed completely out of the way (against the East wall) when not in use.
4. Turf/Hitting Mat: I am torn on this. I am debating flooring the entire garage in a heavy duty turf (such that I can park a car on it) with an insert at golf hitting location with a nice hitting mat there (preferably one of those I can put my own tee into); OR minimizing the turf to the area located Westerly of the entry door and cabinets and having it so it can be rolled away against the Southern wall when not in use. If I do the latter, I will need a separate mat for baseball/softball that will also need to be removable.
5. Trackers: I will be using a Hittrax Home for baseball and softball (set up where we set up the baseball/softball hitting location) which will feed into the computer kiosk which in turn will feed the projector. For golf, I am open to suggestions. It will feed the same computer as the one running the Hittrax (if we’re hitting baseball/softball, we’ll run the Hittrax software; if golfing, then whatever software we need for that). I am thinking a TrackMan, but frankly, this is an area I need quite a bit of help in. Want it to include putting. Obviously, what I go with here will influence some of this other stuff as the how/where the golf tracker is set up is a key factor.
6. Computer/Kiosk: I don’t know exactly what I need computer-wise, but I’m assuming something fairly powerful given what I’m asking it to do, and I’d like it to be touchscreen. If there’s an industry standard here, please let me know. As far as location goes, I plan to use the portion of the cabinetry on the South wall that is directly opposite the access door for the computer kiosk. This will be immediately adjacent to the golf hitting location. It will be slightly ahead of the baseball/softball hitting location, but will allow me to sit there, outside the net and “hiding” behind the end of the cabinet running the Hittrax while my kids hit.
7. Projector: I don’t know what the answer here is, either. Based on layout, I think the best location for it directly above the golfer hitting location, but the ceiling netting will be in the way. My preference would be to get it as close to the Western wall (that will have the impact screen on it) as possible. Any suggestions here would be appreciated.

Questions:

1. Is there anything about the structure itself that you would recommend changing from the get go? This is probably the biggest threshold question since I need to get the contractor going.
2. General thoughts on this above plan? Any major deal-breakers or things that simply won’t work that I need to re-think? Anything jumping out at you as “yeah, that seems great on paper, but it’s going to be a PITA in real life?
3. Component Recommendations:
   1. Impact Screen: Is there a go-to brand here? Any recommendations given my setup? 16’x10’, retractable (automatically, preferably), needs to handle softball/baseball as well, needs to be able to display a high-res (preferably 4K) image.
   2. Netting: Is there anyone that proves an all-in-one rail/curtain solution like the one I describe above? If not, suggestions for netting to use and curtain setups I can piece together?
   3. Turf: The easier solution here is to turf the entire garage with heavy duty turf and leave it there. There will occasionally be cars parked in there, though. Do they make a turf that can stand up to that?
   4. Hitting Mat: What are the best suggestions for hitting mats? Would like multi-surface (fairway, rough, green, sand), and I saw one you could tee up in, and I thought that was pretty cool.
   5. Tracker: This is where I’m getting lost. I want a good, accurate tracker that will track ball data and club head data, will facilitate a highly-realistic sim experience, will track putting, etc. The Hittrax is going to run me about $10K and I’m good with spending that (or a bit more if necessary) on the golf tracker as well. I just need help figuring out what is right for me. TrackMan?
   6. Computer: We run all Macs here, but if Mac isn’t really an option, PC is fine. Touchscreen preferred. Suggestions on this? Again, needs to be pretty powerful to run both Hittrax and the Golf Sim software and run a massive 4K projector.
   7. Projector: I don’t know what the go-tos are, but any suggestions on this? Again, projection area is 16x10, would like 4K, and would like to position it as close to the impact screen as possible.

Thanks in advance!!!




—Matt

[mattvandyk]

Better picture and file.