Help! Need advice on building a SHANK PROOF enclosure.

[PirateToast]

Hello GolfSimularForum! I need help!

I'm building my first ever simulator in my 48x32x11 pole barn. I want this to be absolutely shank proof, no errant balls into the siding or ceiling or anywhere. I saw the attached picture of a simulator with drapes and am thinking that'd work well for my space. My thought is to make the bay about 13 ft wide and hit from about 12 ft out. I could mount a wooden plank to the trusses (in red in my other image below) and set rails on those for the drapes. The drapes would come out the full length, so 12 ft out or so. I think if I do that, the sides and top would be pretty well protected.

I am thinking about getting an impact screen from Carl's Place. I'm just not sure how I mount it so that it's within the enclosure but balls won't go flying. So, here are my questions...

1. Does my enclosure size (13 ft wide and hitting from 12 ft deep) make sense?
2. Do you agree that heavy drapes would do a good job of protecting the sides/top?
3. How do I mount the screen? Do I need a mini enclosure frame or something?
4. How do I protect all the gaps? i.e. the space under the drapes on the sides and where the drapes meet the screen?
5. Does this sound like a reasonable approach or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

[3on3putt]

12 feet is a little far back. Most people tend to stay around 10. A good rule of thumb is to go no further back than the height of your enclosure. So if your enclosure is 10 feet high, then 10 feet back is about as far as you would want to be.

The further you go back, the more flight time the ball has and the greater the angle it has to hit a side wall or ceiling. The closer you get, the tighter those angles get.

[schwame]

If you are concerned about errant balls, then you may want to get a full enclosure (top, sides, and rear) to ensure no ball escapes. What I've found is that if there is a hole somewhere, the golf ball will find it.

[golfsimulatorsite]

you should be hitting around 10 ft from screen. for a 13 wide x 9/10 high enclosure, you need some type of enclosure. Curtains work well on the sides , but dont protect the ceiling from wedge shots.

you could do a 13 wide x 9/10 high x 8/10 deep enclosure. at 10 ft deep you would be hitting just inside the cage ( so no shot would escape. ). if you did something 8 ft deep, you would hit just outside the cage. Screen size would be close to 13 x 9 or 13 x 10. almost perfect for a 4:3 ratio

We have some enclosures that we can do 13 x 9/10 high x 8/10 deep

We have a proseries and a padded DIY. Both on sale

https://shop.virtual-golf-simulator.com/Golf-Cages-Screen-Frames_c6.htm

What are you doing for projector?

What system are you using?

thx

Chip

[cgdavis_2]

Just tagging that I bought an enclosure from Chip above. It’s worked out great.

[3on3putt]

Also to sort of echo what others are saying, you really need an enclosure or some sort of overhanging "roof." 5 feet or so is pretty standard. Mine is only 2.5 feet deep but I also hit from only about 7 feet away. Just be careful about going too deep because that can present issues for a projector.

The photo you attached with that curtain setup looks cool and all but the reality is that those images that are used to market golf sims are usually not practical for actual use. It's better to model your setup based on photos of actual sim setups and not the computer-generated images that look great in an advertisement but wouldn't actually stop a ball worth a damn.

[PirateToast]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll switch to 13x 9-10 based on everyone's feedback here. I'm definitely happy getting some space in the room back! Questions:

I'm having a hard time visualizing some of the items on the site you linked. Do you have maybe a gallery of a finished product or something that'd be in the same dimensions I'm looking for? I am looking for something that looks pretty nice/professional. I liked the drapes because I could pull those open/close but still look nice.

you should be hitting around 10 ft from screen. for a 13 wide x 9/10 high enclosure, you need some type of enclosure. Curtains work well on the sides , but dont protect the ceiling from wedge shots.

you could do a 13 wide x 9/10 high x 8/10 deep enclosure. at 10 ft deep you would be hitting just inside the cage ( so no shot would escape. ). if you did something 8 ft deep, you would hit just outside the cage. Screen size would be close to 13 x 9 or 13 x 10. almost perfect for a 4:3 ratio

We have some enclosures that we can do 13 x 9/10 high x 8/10 deep

We have a proseries and a padded DIY. Both on sale

https://shop.virtual-golf-simulator.com/Golf-Cages-Screen-Frames_c6.htm

What are you doing for projector?

What system are you using?

thx

Chip

[tlrcash]

Curtains should do great at stopping shanks. I have a painters cloth and it has stopped everything I’ve shanked into it. Something thicker like curtains should do at least as good of job but almost certainly better.

[PirateToast]

Curtains should do great at stopping shanks. I have a painters cloth and it has stopped everything I’ve shanked into it. Something thicker like curtains should do at least as good of job but almost certainly better.

Do you have a picture of your setup? I'm not going to lie, I'm getting more confused in this thread.

[tlrcash]

This isn’t my simulator, but my setup is the same. To the right of the screen (where shanks for a righty would go) I have a painters cloth hanging from the ceiling to the floor. It’s not nearly as clean looking as this picture. I have it on my wish list to put in some nice black curtains instead. My cloth extends all the way to the hitter as opposed to how it comes up short in the picture.

[PirateToast]

This isn’t my simulator, but my setup is the same. To the right of the screen (where shanks for a righty would go) I have a painters cloth hanging from the ceiling to the floor. It’s not nearly as clean looking as this picture. I have it on my wish list to put in some nice black curtains instead. My cloth extends all the way to the hitter as opposed to how it comes up short in the picture.

That's what I'd like to do. I'm getting confused on what you do where the curtains meet the screen. How is the screen mounted?

[tlrcash]

My screen is attached using bungie cords and angle iron affixed to the concrete wall. My side barrier hangs about 6 inches inside the seem between the screen and the wall. Before I installed the barrier, I was terrified of a shank coming back at me. I don’t even think about it anymore.

[golfsimulatorsite]

Typically you want an enclosure that is 3-5 ft deep to provide some side/top and a way to mount the screen. Then the curtains can extend the sides out another 5-10 ft. That way you can close the curtains , when not in use, to open the room up more. the fixed sides help darken the screen area and provide some top protection from wedge shots. hope this helps
chip
golfsimulatorsite

[PirateToast]

Thanks all for your feedback. What I'm gathering from this is that:

1. I should do something like 12-13 ft wide and hit from 10 ft out
2. I need to buy an enclosure of some sort, like this: https://shop.carlofet.com/golf-enclo...-impact-screen
3. Then, to use drapes, I would have the drapes extend out from the sides/tops of the enclosure I buy in #2.

Do I have this right? I can't do just drapes, I need an enclosure as well?

[caiany777]

You don't necessarily need an enclosure and drapes.

Option 1 - No pre-bought enclosure
If you don't want to buy the enclosure then you'll need to buy or make a frame for your screen to tie into and your drapes to tie into and also purchase something for ceiling protection. Lots of people on here use Par2Pro for screens, frames, foam pads all the needed items though there are other companies. Advantage to doing this is you get exactly what you want and probably save some $$$. Disadvantage is it is more work.

Option 2 - Enclosure + Drapes
You could buy a cheaper enclosure, like the one you send a link too, and then buy some drapes and tie them in somehow to give you more depth

Option 3- Buy a bigger enclosure
A few companies sell enclosures that run deeper, thus eliminating the need for drapes. The disadvantage is the lack of flexibility and higher cost but it is the easiest option
Par2Pro: https://www.par2pro.com/shop/index.p...b4he3hshqjfnk3
Carls Place: https://shop.carlofet.com/build-your...-impact-screen

Hope that helps.