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I was posting this up on golfwrx and realized I had never posted pictures of my final sim build on here, where I had done a ton of my research leading up to both builds I have done. I built my first simulator in the garage of my old house in 2016 in a temporary setup (my GT-R occupied that bay in the summer) and when I bought my new house in 2017, a big selling point was the house having a 450 square foot partially finished room above the garage- with 11.5 foot ceilings.
I ended up having the room finished in pine, HVAC handled by a 12k BTU heat pump and a propane Rinnai heater. I bought blackout shades for the windows and double doors out to the small back deck (doesn't get used, it's the third deck on the house).
For the sim build itself:
I upgraded to a GC Quad with club data (I didn't have an HMT for my GC2.)
I bought a premium enclosure from Carl's, with the 4k premium screen. The aluminum poles were one of the most expensive aspects of this enclosure as they have to ship them on a pallet, but luckily I have a friend who is an aluminum dock manufacturer and he uses aluminum poles of a different diameter for his installs, he ordered me the correct schedule piping at wholesale and cut it to spec for me.
For the mat I went with a Fiberbuilt 4x9 studio mat- at the time I was a lefty (as is my wife, still) and my friends are all righty.
For the turf in between the mat and the screen I was able to leverage another friendship to get a scrap leftover from an indoor soccer build, and a friend who is a flooring installer cut it to fit for me.
The projector is a BenQ LK 953 ST, laser 4k projector rated at 5000 lumens (independent tests show over 6000 lumens actual output) with an appropriate commercial ceiling mount. It sounds like expensive overkill, but the light output makes such a huge difference in having the screen look vibrant without having to worry about ambient light in the room that I'd do it again every time (massive difference over the Optoma projector I used in my garage build in 2016.) The HDMI I originally had run through the wall didn't have the bandwidth to support 4k/60hz at the length I had, so I ended up needing to upgrade the cable and run it externally.
The PC is a stout build with an i9 10900k and an RTX 3900. I am using an LG CX 48" Oled as a monitor. For software, I am running FSX Play for rounds of golf and FSX 2020 for the driving range when I practice- 2020 has camera integration and I am running a 1080p webcam in caddy view to replay my swing in slow motion after every impact. I also have TGC 2019 but since the upgrade to Play I don't ever use it as I prefer the FSX physics.
For lighting I have Phillips Hue recessed lights to get the perfect color tone and zones.
Other little details- I have 450 CFM of ventilation in the room plus a Rabbit Air purifier so that I can smoke cigars in there, and a mini fridge for beverages. I have a couple racks set up for bags and a Perfect Putting mat. I also have just about every training aid worth owning. In the near future the room will be getting another TV which will be mounted where the Masters flag is currently so that I can have the golf channel playing.
Also- the Ipad stand is for displaying information from my Hackmotion Pro, as well as watching training videos on whatever I'm currently working on.
I ended up having the room finished in pine, HVAC handled by a 12k BTU heat pump and a propane Rinnai heater. I bought blackout shades for the windows and double doors out to the small back deck (doesn't get used, it's the third deck on the house).
For the sim build itself:
I upgraded to a GC Quad with club data (I didn't have an HMT for my GC2.)
I bought a premium enclosure from Carl's, with the 4k premium screen. The aluminum poles were one of the most expensive aspects of this enclosure as they have to ship them on a pallet, but luckily I have a friend who is an aluminum dock manufacturer and he uses aluminum poles of a different diameter for his installs, he ordered me the correct schedule piping at wholesale and cut it to spec for me.
For the mat I went with a Fiberbuilt 4x9 studio mat- at the time I was a lefty (as is my wife, still) and my friends are all righty.
For the turf in between the mat and the screen I was able to leverage another friendship to get a scrap leftover from an indoor soccer build, and a friend who is a flooring installer cut it to fit for me.
The projector is a BenQ LK 953 ST, laser 4k projector rated at 5000 lumens (independent tests show over 6000 lumens actual output) with an appropriate commercial ceiling mount. It sounds like expensive overkill, but the light output makes such a huge difference in having the screen look vibrant without having to worry about ambient light in the room that I'd do it again every time (massive difference over the Optoma projector I used in my garage build in 2016.) The HDMI I originally had run through the wall didn't have the bandwidth to support 4k/60hz at the length I had, so I ended up needing to upgrade the cable and run it externally.
The PC is a stout build with an i9 10900k and an RTX 3900. I am using an LG CX 48" Oled as a monitor. For software, I am running FSX Play for rounds of golf and FSX 2020 for the driving range when I practice- 2020 has camera integration and I am running a 1080p webcam in caddy view to replay my swing in slow motion after every impact. I also have TGC 2019 but since the upgrade to Play I don't ever use it as I prefer the FSX physics.
For lighting I have Phillips Hue recessed lights to get the perfect color tone and zones.
Other little details- I have 450 CFM of ventilation in the room plus a Rabbit Air purifier so that I can smoke cigars in there, and a mini fridge for beverages. I have a couple racks set up for bags and a Perfect Putting mat. I also have just about every training aid worth owning. In the near future the room will be getting another TV which will be mounted where the Masters flag is currently so that I can have the golf channel playing.
Also- the Ipad stand is for displaying information from my Hackmotion Pro, as well as watching training videos on whatever I'm currently working on.
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