Dangerous ricochets from bottom of sportscreen

[dirojx1113]

I'm sure I can't be the only one dealing with this. I have an impact screen attached to the sportscreen roller that has a pocket at the bottom for the weighted bar just like the sportscreen.

I've hit a couple worm burners and when they hit that bottom bar they go WILD, if I don't do something someone is going to get hurt. One bounced off the bar and flew up into the ceiling putting a huge dent in the drywall.

I thought that covering it up with pool noodles would have helped but they don't do much, so in the interim I'm just putting an old moving blanket at the bottom.

Anyone think of a better solution?

[Dmoe]

Are you saying your impact screen, as opposed to the SportScreen which is behind the impact screen, has the fiberglass bar? I have the Par2Pro screen and am trying to avoid this as well. I don't think I got a ricochet but I did get an awfully scary noise I'd like to avoid. I purchased some foam pipe insulation from Home Depot and am placing it around the bar in my SportsScreen. It sounds like you had poor results with this so I'll try it out and if that doesn't work will look into the gutter foam approach. I'm surprised foam pipe insulation wouldn't work. I haven't tested it enough but conceptually it seems like it would work well.

I have the sportscreen and played with a bunch of options to weigh down the screen. I put the metal pipe in the bottom of the impact screen, but had ricochets. Then put pipe foam around the pipe, and still had dangerous ricochets. The best thing I have found for me now it the gutter foam. Cheap and works as a great buffer.

[platodw]

Why did you put the bar in the impact screen as opposed to the SportsScreen? The SportsScreen has a sleeve for the bar and I would think having the impact screen in front of the bar would help limit some of the action you are getting (but maybe not!).

[Par2ProShane]

The Fiberglass bar is there to keep the Backstop rigid for proper roll up/down functionality. When playing golf the back stop bottoms should be disconnected from the SQ screen and moved back and away from it. as per instructions on Pg.13 of the Stealth Manual.

[Dmoe]

Why did you put the bar in the impact screen as opposed to the SportsScreen? The SportsScreen has a sleeve for the bar and I would think having the impact screen in front of the bar would help limit some of the action you are getting (but maybe not!).

Because my impact screen is not attached the the sportscreen. It's attached to the drum at the top by velcro but not the the black sportscreen

[dirojx1113]

I just wanted to update this with my current situation. As I may or may not have mentioned I tried pool noodles at the bottom of the screen over the bar - didn't seem to help a lot. What I ended up doing was taking those bars out, and putting the middle fiberglass bars of the sportscreen in the bottom of my impact screen. Just for a little bit of weight in the middle. I have fairly large safety pins (diaper pins) holding the bars in place, otherwise they kept sliding out the ends.

Glued two flush mount D rings to my garage floor with PL premium, that way I can take them off with a chisel and no damage. Got some tarp clips and bungee the bottom corners of the screen to the d rings, impact screen works great now with very little bounce back. The weight seems to keep the bottom of the screen tight to the floor so very few, if any shots sneak under the screen.

[casper100]

Can I ask why the need for the weight at the bottom? An impact screen is about 20 lbs or so, depending on the size. Is it just to smooth wrinkles? I'm building something similar right now and hadn't considered the need for a weight at the bottom. When I hit into it, the ball drops and the screen barely moves at all. I was considering d -rings on the floor as you have done though.

[omay2golf]

I am still waiting for my powered sports screen to be delivered next week and I am planning to cover and secure the bottom of the using this sanded long flood barrier full of sand. I am thinking I'll put it at the back or in front of the screen as long its covers the bottom bar. Did anyone try this sandbag?

https://www.amazon.com/CEE-6-30inchx-Thickened-Absorbent-Hurricanes/dp/B09G9CG94N/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=sandbag+long&qid=1647102610&sr=8-6

[MTgolfer]

I have a retractable impact screen from gung Ho. It definitely needs a weight in the bottom or a hangs really funny. I have three-quarter inch EMT in the bottom. I dead topped a driver into it the other day and it didn’t bounce back very bad. It actually bent the bar which is funny. I really don’t see a need to protect it for me personally.

[RCW828]

How easy/hard was the assembly of the retractable screen? I'm due to receive my motorized rollers this week from GungHo & trying to get prepared for this mounting project. How do you like the Retractable screens?

[MTgolfer]

Hardest part was getting the brackets in the ceiling in the right place. After that, hanging it is pretty easy. I did the whole thing by myself.

I LOVE having the retractable screen. The eagle impact screen is very quiet and has a great projected image. When I'm done, I just hit the button and away it goes. Kids bikes, or mower or whatever can come in and out of the garage without issue.

[mwnold]

Is a weight on the bottom of the screen necessary? Does a screen that is weighted at the bottom have less bounce back, less sound, fewer lower balls getting under the net? I just hung my screen on a retractable and trying to determine if a weight at the bottom is needed.

[dirojx1113]

Is a weight on the bottom of the screen necessary? Does a screen that is weighted at the bottom have less bounce back, less sound, fewer lower balls getting under the net? I just hung my screen on a retractable and trying to determine if a weight at the bottom is needed.

I don't know if weight is necessary. Like I said earlier I have the two fiberglass bars that came with the sportscreen and it keeps the bottom on the ground in the middle, I'm not sure it would do the same without weights so I see no need to remove the bars.

[rdeyer]

The pipe insulation is good to use but the golf ball compresses right through that stuff and bad ricochets will still happen off the metal. I second using a foam gutter guard in front of it as well. As soon as I added that the problem went away. I've tested hitting into it and I can't reproduce any bad ricochets now.

I don't have a close-up pic of it but you can see the foam gutter guards at the bottom and they just blend in with the setup. I used 3 pieces and glued/taped them together so they look like 1 piece.

[RCW828]

Beautiful Set-up... what did you use for ceiling padding? How far back is your Hitting mat from screen? what are the dimensions of your screen?

I'm Waiting on a Motorized retractable Simulator from GungHo & I'm envisioning it looking similar to yours (hopefully), MY Screens are 10'4'' wide x 9 height, with two 4'7" x 9' side screens all remote controlled

[Brettster]

Good job rdeyer on the foam gutter guards. I have some of that here, and that's a great idea. So you do have a pipe/weight on the bottom? I'm hanging my screen now, and it seems to be good being loose - not sure I see a need to put a weight at bottom which would make it tight like a drum and likely cause more bounceback? Do you see much bounceback on your screen - as it appears it is weighted?

What are you using for bumpers on the sides? And what is that at the top? The bumpers has me stumped, here's what I have with my recent screen hang and there's a good 3"-4" on each side that needs to be 'foamed' with something as there are 5-6 heavy eyebolts on each side....

[rdeyer]

I'm using a retractable SportScreen, so there is nothing on the sides since it's free hanging. I do have a pipe sewn into the bottom of the impact screen, the tension helps keep it from being too wavy. I didn't notice a difference in bounce back from before the pipe or after.

[CCH]

I'm in the process of building my room. I have 7/8' unistrut to hang the screen on all 4 sides.
I bought the gutter foam wedges from Home Depot. It would look better to have just the single wedges with the thin part close to the screen, but it would be pretty useless for ricochet protection, because the skinny side of the wedge is closer to the strut if a shot goes sideways. I'm going to double up each 4' section into a rectangle, rather than a triangle. Glue them together, and wrap them in some kind of fabric. Might not be the most cost effective way, but I think the density of the two wedges together is a safe way to go.

[dinospumoni]

You can roll up that moving blanket and use zip ties on it. A triangular piece of foam would deflect it up into the screen too.

This is the best resolution in my opinion - not worth spending a ton of money on. Just wrap the bar in a blanket in front of the hitting zone, secure it with zip ties, and then put pipe insulation over the entire bottom bar to make it look nice.

[AgileMike]

I build a ramp out of wood and put my turf on top of it. Low hit balls roll up the ramp and hit the impact screen.

I think most people just use this wire shelving from Home Depot under their turf. Credit to Ron at GungHoGolf.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ClosetMaid-Close-Mesh-20-in-D-x-72-in-W-Ventilated-Pantry-Shelf-1396/100114022

PS I tried pipe foam from Home Depot, then upgraded to pool noodles, then upgraded to super size pool noodles. Most everything just gets crushed over time from 120+ MPH golf balls, except for the super size pool noodles, which caused high speed bounce backs. The key is a ramp the directs the ball to the impact screen. The only question is how to build the ramp....

[Will]

I have a fiberbuilt mat and putting surface that extends and stops short of the screen. It seems to work in our setup.

The impact screen is bungeed to the bottom of the sportscreen's metal pipe for a fairly clean and tensioned screen. Split pipe foam was placed around the bottom of the sportscreen. (See attached pictures. Two images show the screen halfway down for demonstration.)

The metal pipe adds mass and the impact screen moves little with this setup. The bungee mount removes any need for attachment to the floor. Drives drop to the floor.

It's not perfect for high angled shots (near the corner of ceiling and screen) though. They can bounce off the ceiling protection then to the screen, then soft bounce toward the player if it hits the putting surface right. Maybe that's the drawback of the high tension.

I think the gutter guard foam idea was excellent though. Home improvement stores have so many objects to repurpose.