Another new basement simulator build… please help!a

[sethuvs]

All - this is a great community and appreciate all the discussion so far.

I have a space in basement (125”W, 105”H and 21 ft L) but limited by vent on the top (starting at 89”H). I was planning to Mount the screen near the wall (carls place). However I cannot place ball at center. So I’ll have to offset this to right by 3ft (To give 7ft clearance on left).! Alternatively I can hit opposite side which is bit open to kids play area. Family prefers I hit towards the wall…

so my question:
1. If I hit to wall… It looks odd to me 7 ft of screen will not have any role and I’ll be hitting in the last 3 ft since I’m offset by 3ft. I understand we can offset in software to make sure ball starts from offset. I don’t expect left handed players..Is this good design?

2. if I hit opposite side, I can swing easily and hit from center (no offset). but it hits towards kids play area and I don’t feel very comfortable. Is this the best option given we have primarily right handed players. One issue is when I swing, there a drop in the ceiling about (17”H that can come close when I take ba k swing…

see picture

[ULEWZ]

Less than 9' is not optimum for a ceiling height. I would say a driver will be sketchy and recommend irons only. Shorter players can easily get away with 9' height though. I am 6' and I need about 9.5' height to use my driver. Your width should be fine. I would not worry too much about that vent as the screen will be mounted 1' from the wall.

[jasonreg]

So very similar space as I have. I would say you do not need to offset as much as you are thinking if at all frankly. Take a look at my design (like you - Righties only) and let me know if you have any questions.

[sethuvs]

I love your set up, Jasonreg. Can you share room dimensions and screen / projector you bought?

[mjgolf123]

How tall are you and your hitting buddies? 105" is ok if you are shorter, like ULEWZ said, but I have had 5'-10" guys with hit my 105" ceiling on their 3 wood follow through.

If you go with option 2, that drop ceiling is going to be an issue on your follow through. You will likely need to offset your hitting area (probably just as much as your offset would be with option 1).

If I was doing this, I would go with option 1 and offset with some side netting.

[sethuvs]

Interesting perspective, mjgolf. Most friends are 5-10 and if taller I’d avoid driver. I’ve tried my driver few times with offset and I’m able to swing comfortably..

[Will]

Please make or choose a room that allows you to freely swing.

[mjgolf123]

One guy I play with is 6' and he can swing his driver under 96". The other guy I play with is 5-10, but he can easily hit my 105" ceiling. The 6' guy has a much better swing, but it just shows that one person with a messed up swing can cause some damage.

[jasonreg]

I love your set up, Jasonreg. Can you share room dimensions and screen / projector you bought?

Overall very satisfied with the choices we made. Ceilings are only 102" so definitely on the shorter side but you have to work with what you have. I am 6'2" and can swing Hybrid no issues and 3 wood assuming I do not get steep. Irons are just fine. My wife can swing any club in her bag. Lost 2" from the mat, though if I wanted to I could gain this back by cutting into carpet and subfloor. We did not. Would I like more height? - of course but my wife just refuses to park in the driveway!

Overall the room is 15 feet wide x 19 feet long. This is fine width-wise for center hitting but more would be better. Some feel too close to the back wall even though there is no potential to hit the back wall at all. We hit from 9'ish feet back off the Fiberbuilt 10x12 combo mat. We have the grass-series and it is meeting its primary goal - injury prevention. If it were available when I built the sim, I may have gone player preferred series but will not swap this out anytime soon. Enclosure was purpose built (2x4s and screws) to accommodate the lower section - HVAC returns which could not be moved - lose we 11" here hence no lefties but this is not a major concern for us. Our netting and acoustic tiles come out 6 feet from the screen and we have yet to sky a ball further forward than this. YMMV.

Projector is Optoma ZU606TST-W WUXGA Laser Projector 6,000 Lumens. The higher lumens allow more ambient lighting - important to us as we use the swing cameras. If you can control the lighting you can get away with lower lumens. Laser is your friend - would not go any other direction these days. I likely would buy 4K projector if I were doing this today - that option was not avail when we pulled the trigger. Love the 16x10 resolution though. Screen is 12x9 Par2Pro SQ-T6 which includes the netting we use around the screen. We ran the screen under the bulkhead to gain maximum width and center the screen. As a result we only use 88" vertical x about 141" across on our 16x10 projector. We find it a very immersive picture. 3rd video panel on the side wall is showing swing catalyst which we use with our Imaging Source cameras (DFK 33UX273 withA3Z2812CS-MPWIR lenses). This is a whole other subject - we can sidebar if you want the details though if you search I am sure I posted them on this site at one point or another. The extra lighting we have is there to support the cameras - we get 240fps capture with this setup.

We chose the GCQuad and FSX2020 initially. Have since upgraded to FSX Play (search for threads accordingly). We really like the club data avail from the Quad and it was the best choice for us at the time. There are plenty to look at depending on budget but as a general rule, camera based systems tend to work out better indoors but there are plenty of folks using radar based systems assuming you have the space. Gaming PC was bought from Lenovo as a pre-built. We have an RTX2080Super. Key here is stay with Intel (if you can) for processor, and NVidia (absolutely) for graphics card. Ignore (generally) the first two digits and get the highest last two digit card you can find (RTX-xx80, RTX-xx80Ti, RTX-xx90) you get the idea. Stay with a desktop if you can as the equivalent graphics card in a laptop does not have the same performance. 16GB Min, 32GB or more is ideal for RAM.

Hope that helps - happy to answer any specific questions you may have.

[mtheurer]

Would you choose the Quad again if purchasing today or would you look at some Eye XO unit? Portability is not really an issue for me, and 95% will be rightys.

[jasonreg]

There is a lot more choice and availability now than when I built my sim. At first I was looking at a garage option so I was definitely looking at overhead options but the Eye XO was not out yet and the previous version required sticker on balls (or special balls) and I was not into that.

Love the Quad, but depending on your needs the GC3 fits 90% of what I need. And I have played on a buddies XO based sim and it is very good + offers the Lefty option which is largely impractical for Quad/GS3 setup without buying a second monitor.

So, to answer your question directly, the Quad is (IMO) the best of the best for an indoor only application and I am super happy with it, but at significant expense and you are tied to Foresight Sports Software (largely). If I had the room (ceiling height) I would definitely be considering the Eye XO and other options if I were looking today..

[mtheurer]

Thank you for this information jasonreg!

[TGrant14]

Jasonreg,

So I see you built your enclosure out of 2x4. I am planning on doing the same. How did you attach your screen and then hide/protect the 2x4s and the connection to the screen?

[jasonreg]

Was asked about the framing and connection. I just custom built a frame using 2x4s. Added eye-hooks to the sides and attached via bungees. I chose to directly attach the screen to the top given my height restrictions. Net and acoustic panels prevent any impact on that beam. Eyehooks and bungees are covered with a 1/4" plywood part way with acoustic panel foam squares glued onto them covering the remaining gap (used the PL for foam). Netting attaches to the velcro surrounding the screen. I later extended the foam panels out the entire 6 feet seen in the original pic. Here are some additional pics:

[sethuvs]

Jason, in my case the difference in ceiling height is 16” .. (see image)… so I didn’t consider this idea. I plan to order 96” height screen. So technically for 7”, I’m not considering your approach. I’m going to mark and swing with this in mind. Let me try - you have given some food for thought! This will allow me to center rather than offset but don’t know if I’m hit shorter ceiling with my swing. Really appreciate your detailed notes.

[sethuvs]

jasonreg I’m convinced your setup is the ideal and best set up given my environment. Almost similar to your basement. I’m just nervous building from scratch using 2x4s..not a good DIYer. I was initially thinking of Carls golf but don’t know alternatives to build this… any suggestions other than hiring a general contractor to build? How much information can you share about the build itself? Is it just 2x4 all around like a rectangle of 88” X 13 ft? Then tie the screen using bungee? My fear is the ricochet so we buy a foam board and glue to the 2x4? Any suggestions on how I can start planning this?

[jasonreg]

So, if you look closely at the pictures and read in post #9, what prevents the 2x4 framing from coming into play is the netting that attaches directly to the screen. There is a slight chance if you hit the ball directly into the top corner of the screen that you will connect with the upper frame, but in this case the ball then flows up into the upper netting so no bounce-back.

2x4s and screws. Easy-peasy. for the eye-hooks, highly recommend inserting an allen key into a drill - makes screwing in the eye hooks like butter! Here is a pic of the frame. You can see I removed a section of the baseboard to make the 2x4 flush with the wall.

[sethuvs]

Thank you so much!! Two follow up questions-

1. how did you connect bungees to sides and bottom? It looks too far from impact screen
2. did you consider Angle Iron vs 2x4s?