New home construction

[OhioGolf]

Hey all,

I am currently in the early stages of building a house and was contemplating putting a golf simulator in the basement. The room that I wanted to put the simulator in will be 16' long x 14' wide x 10' high. I was checking out the GSA F4 (minus the enclosure) and it seemed like a reasonably priced system with everything I would need.

Does anyone have experience with this system and have any recommendations or pros/cons? I am thinking about doing the installation myself and just having the builder prewire everything. I would love to hear people's thoughts and if there is a different system you think I should check out, also love to hear that. Looking to spend less than $20k but would like to keep it as "reasonable" as possible. The $14k for the F4 seemed pretty reasonable.

I'm happy to post pictures as the build comes along. Like I said, we are in very early stages, still haven't finalized house drawings.

Thanks all!

[A.West]

I'd make sure you had the full 10 ft from the floor to ceiling, and possibly add 6 more inches since you're going through all this trouble.. A mat will elevate you a bit more off the floor. Depending on how tall you and other players are, you could hit the ceiling. I play in a room about 9.5 feet high, and my Trustrike mat elevates about 2 inches more, and once in a while if my driver release goes a bit high, I'll bump the ceiling. I'm 6 ft tall. As for the simulator, I'd suggest thinking about using a portable optical system that can be utilized with The Golf Club or JNPG, rather than designed into the floor/room. (like GC2 or SkyTrak both of which have a large number of users in this forum). Then as technology improves, you can more easily change with it and have more flexibility, rather than be locked in to one system. Also, the f4 appears not to measure ball spin, something I think is pretty important. But I'm not an expert at comparing simulator systems.

[goatbarn]

I would say that every single piece of that turn-key solution can be bought cheaper, separately.

I'm not a fan of GSA or floor sensor systems, having owned 2 of them previously.

That said, some users do like their GSA systems, although I believe you have to have a certain expectation when getting involved. Maybe it's less user-tweaking intensive...but they used to be a bear tweaking camera settings, installing overhead lights, setting up behind-the-scenes settings and timings...etc.

If I had $20k to spend, I'd build my sim area out for $3.5k (and it would be NICE), and still have money to buy a GC2-HMT/very nice computer. That's what I would do. Hell, you might be able to get GCQ on that budget.

I guess it depends on what you value your time/effort at...for me, retail is an absolute waste of money. I'd personally be sick to my stomach buying a turn-key solution, having been through numerous DIY builds over the last 6-7 years, and knowing what it can actually cost to have a top-notch in-home sim.

[penrose]

20 thousand is a nice amount. 16ft is not long enough for a trackman, but if had 20K I would go GC2 or skytrak (despite the bad press today) and ask show my builder some pics on the web of some of the nice golf studios and have him build the enclosure. The trackman web sites has some nice pics.

[Wyzyguy]

I have my sim set up in the basement and am not a fan of the turn key solutions either. I have set mine up & tore it down a few times getting it to work for me. What works for me, may not work for you and vice versa. Lots of ways to skin this cat. Indoors in a smallish space ball monitors are the way to go IMO. I have owned both SkyTrak and GC2. Both systems work well indoors without out a bunch of cameras, spec lighting, etc... Most sim software works with ball monitors as well. Plus in the good weather months you can take the LM outdoors and use it with full flight.

[OhioGolf]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. One piece of information that I left out is that I am left handed and all of my buddies are right handed. I would rather have a fully installed system that is capable of working for both left handed and right handed people vs. portable equipment that has to be moved for each golfer.

[Wigalo]

Please search all of my posts on this and the other forum before buying anything GSA. If I were in the market for a similar system, I would purchase protee over GSA 1million times out of 1 million.

Please do your research on Martin before making your purchase. PM me and I'll give you my number if you'd like.

[Wigalo]

OhioGolf ...I just went to Martin's site to see what he's calling his f4 system. It's the all camera system...trust me when I say that it DOES NOT work. Please don't not waste money that you CAN NOT recoup.

The PX mat that Keither has works, but I would never buy it over protee. Martin's camera based club stuff is pure trash...12th grade science project type junk.

[OhioGolf]

Thanks guys! Protee was definitely on my list! There seem to be so many options when it comes to golf simulators, difficult to determine the best options.

[keither5150]

If you don't need to be left/right hand friendly, GC2 is the best choice. If you need left/right friendly. GSA is comparable to ProTee. ProTee has impeccable service but GSA is less money. GSA...... no need for a putting sensor. I can't imagine a better putting system than GSAs. I putt on a completely flat surface all the way to the screen. Putting on GSA is accurate within 1/10 of a degree for direction. Speed....also 1/10 of a mph The PX5 has been a solid system for many years and GSA has recently updated their sensor boards to match today's faster computers. I can't recommend the Club cameras until I have tested them personally.

[Cordoba]

[keither5150]

Looks pretty sweet Cordoba. What system are you running? Such a fantastic space..... almost makes me want to build a new house again.