This project build should be fun......Newby North Bama

[Double00Kevin]

Howdy folks!!

First, a little about me. Kevin here, brand spanking new to the SIM game.......not so new to the golf game. My love for the game blossomed after I sustained an injury as a sophomore in high school during a friday night football game. Unable to play contact sports anymore, I felt like I was put out to the pasture to live out my days as a coaches' assistant/waterboy/go-getter. That's when he (my coach) introduced me to this "plagued invention by the Calvinistic Scots as a punishment for man's sins". From that point on......my love grew.....and grew......and grew. I actually got halfway descent at this crazy game and ended up playing a little college golf, which helped supplement my college tuition.

Fast forward 7+ years after college. Marriage came, along with children......and a dog. My love for golf was obviously put on the back burner. Other than my wife and kids......and my dog to keep my life's light shining, however my golf game was dark. After a few "Tim the Tool Man Taylor accidents" (falling thru attics, impaling my foot with a wayward drill-bit from a cordless drill, etc.), and few other injuries.......ACL surgery from playing basketball, cervical spine fusion from a conglomerate of things, I find myself desperately wanting to play golf again.

Needless to say, I'm slightly accident prone.....but as I hear it stated "The Show Must Go On!!!". It's long overdue to get back into the game I love and what better way to get back into it than with a golf simulator so I can get some swings in whenever I want to.

What do I want out of this whole setup?? For starters, I just want to hit golf balls and work on my game. Price is a factor.......5k+ for a simulator just seems a little out of reach for me at this stage but With that being said, accuracy is important......I would love the ability to see my swing path and everything that goes along with that. I'm not against something that measures the ball but from what I've researched so far......that's more money?? If I could throw a couch down there and be able to catch a movie of maybe play some PS4 every now and then......I could spin this project off as a family endeavor and justify spending a little more on this project.

I consider myself fairly technical and don't mind a challenge with setup, etc. In all honesty, I've even considered writing some code against a few cameras and some Raspberry Pis to help with the club/ball tracking......but I don't have the time to try and re-create the wheel here.

To get my little golf simulator project started, I currently have the following:

• An empty room, which measures 20ft by 20ft and 10ft high ceilings.
• Optoma UHD50 projector.....4k and all that good stuff (maybe this will suffice for what I want)
• Computer which can run more than anything I would ever need (I'm in the I.T. business so this is my bread and butter)
• Netting.......which was donated to me by the kids trampoline (side safety net), which was basically new when the storms decided to use it as a tumbleweed. I'm thinking I could utilize this more for the kids and their wayward shots that end up somewhere out in left field.

Things I still obviously need:

• Golf impact projector screen.
• The much needed simulator itself........which was one of the main reasons for finding this site to begin with.
• A hitting mat......which is another head scratcher for me......should I DIY my own or go with something "tried and true"??
• What else am I missing???

My first question to yall......is more for reassurance. Will what I have so far suffice for this project?
Second......where would YOU go from here?
Third......more of a spec/logistics question......mounting specs, size of screen, you know.....stuff like that
Fourth......probably on of the most important questions......pitfalls, gotchas, Do's and Donts, etc.

So anyway, if you've made it this far, I want to say thanks for sticking with me and my summed up bio. Most importantly, thanks to the admins for adding me to the forum and thank you guys for having me as well. Looking forward to this venture and learning from ya'll. Constructive criticism is always welcome and any info, support, direction is greatly appreciated!!!

Stay tuned as my plan is to document my endeavor with plenty of pics and a full narrative of my encounters during this project...........

God Bless - Kevin

[Tonysmjc]

Your well on your way

matts are very subjective
lots of great info already posted on this site but trial and error will rule the day

ill say thus a good stance Matt with a cut out section that will accept different hitting surfaces will make your search for a great hitting Matt cheaper and easier in the long run

and the sim unit itself is based mostly on space and budget but there are lots of excellent choices on the market And lots of great info on the site to guide you as far as each units parameters

Best of luck with your build

[wbond]

Go with the direct from mill screen on here. Can’t beat the price and quality. Then you need to decide what truly is your budget, best lower cost options are skytrak and probably the newly released mevo+ but the jury is still out on that one. These are about 2k. Another option around these price points is the protee system but it takes some setup to get started where the others are plug and play. After that then you get into a used used gc2 for around 4K and then a new Gc2 or uneekor which start around 6k. Most of the other stuff you can easily diy, mat inserts, cage or frame and ceiling/wall protection.

[Will]

Double00Kevin

"An empty room, which measures 20ft by 20ft and 10ft high ceilings"

Great space to work with. Have you thought of offsetting the hitting space 20' deep x 16' wide toward one side of your room? That will give you a 4' wide area off to the side for side seating/bar stools, also entry/egress. You will want all 20' length to be comfortable. (7'-9' rear wall to ball, 10'-12' ball to screen)

Also, consider 14' wide impact screen vs 16' to increase image brightness and possibly help with projector placement. You may lose a little visible screen height on a 16'x9' because of hanging ceiling treatments, such as baffles.
Currently, you have a UHD50, 1.3x zoom, and the lens will have to be about 17' from the screen to even get a 14' wide image.(I checked with projector central.) With 2400 lumens, the 10ftL brightness won't be very bright, but maybe you can make it work.

"Computer which can run more than anything I would ever need (I'm in the I.T. business so this is my bread and butter)"

If you run TGC2019 at 2160p, it will put a 2080 TI in its place. I don't suggest getting a blower style GPU to keep the noise down. My 2080 TI fan runs between 65% and 70% to maintain 77c-80c temps and that's with an additional Noctua 120mm intake fan blowing toward the card's intake.

[Double00Kevin]

@Everyone that commented, thanks for all the feedback, definitely helps to see something from another perspective. I've still got a few things for myself to answer but its all more of a preference thing at this point.

I did go ahead and grab the SkyTrak, with that improve and play package thing......or whatever the hell it is. I'm sure I will end up buying something like TGC2019 or maybe that E6 software in the future.......but that's another thread obviously.

I did get with dbgolf a few days back and ordered a 15x9.5 ft screen (I went with the longer length so I could move for wear and tear, etc.), it should be here in a few days, as he's basically right up the road from me. I think I'm going to project a 12 ft wide image maybe......and sort of offset the room for sitting, etc as Will mentioned.

I peaked at Projector Central and also Optomas' site: https://www.optoma.com/us/product/uhd50/ It may have been way too early in the morning but it seems I found some conflicting numbers, not night and day though. Either way, no biggie.....as I figured nothing is set in stone, until its set in stone. Worse case scenario, I sell this one and grab a short throw......its still brand new, (I have a friend who owns one of those weird amazon return stores and it came in one day, and it passed thru one day......brand new......go figure. Now I'm thinking I need to open one of those stores lolol!!!)

Will On the computer side of things.......I didn't look at any specs concerning different simulator software, "TGC2019 at 2160p putting a 2080 in its place"......thats wild, I never would've thunk it!! I think my rig should be fine though. I've always liked the Noctua fans as well, they perform very well and I love the color, ugly but VERY functional!!!

So thats the update for now.......stay tuned.