A Beginners Guide to Building a DIY Home Golf Simulator
building a home golf simulator can feel overwhelming Screens launch monitors software Where do you even start but in this video I’m about to break down all of the essential components that you need to know about Whether you’re on a budget or you’re going all out so that you can build your dream setup with confidence Go on then be good for me Not bad Okay so to build a working golf simulator you only actually need three things And the first one of those is a launch monitor Now your launch monitor is effectively the brains of your golf simulator And there’s three different types You’ve got photometric camera launch monitors that sit to the side of your ball like this one I’ve got here We have Doppler radar launch monitors that sit behind you as you’re hitting the ball out of the way And you’ve also got overhead ceiling mounted launch monitors that of course sit on the ceiling Now which one you choose mainly is going to depend on the size of the room that you’re putting your golf simulator into Okay if you’ve got a small room you’re going to be better going for a phototric camerabased launch monitor If you’ve got a bigger room then the options are open to go for whichever one you want Now in terms of price they vary quite a lot from like £500 for your more budget- end launch monitors all the way up to your premium elite launch monitors that are like £20,000 and a little bit more Now the main difference is really just reliability and accuracy in terms of the price Your more budget end launch monitors might not be as reliable or you might have some shots that don’t read Whereas your more expensive launch monitors they’re going to be more trustworthy more reliable all of the time The next thing you’re going to need is something to hit off Now this is a hitting mat and you’re probably going to be familiar with these from the driving range However those hitting mats at the driving range are designed for durability They’re going to be quite tough firm pretty thin usually and that’s going to be an issue If you get a cheap hitting mat like that in your home golf simulator there is a chance that you’re going to start developing some joint injuries whether it’s in your wrist elbows or even your shoulders because it’s just a repetitive movement of smashing your golf ball and your golf club into that mat And over time it will start to cause you problems So these golf simulator hitting mats are designed to be a little bit more forgiving on the joints and they’re also designed to be more true to real life and realistic of real golf turf So that’s important because when it comes to getting your data on your golf simulator it’s going to be more realistic For example if you have an old driving range mat that’s really thin and firm and you hit a fat shot which means you hit the ball uh you hit the ground before the ball the chances are on that old driving range mat the club’s going to bounce off it and it’s still going to give you quite a clean contact with the ball However if you did that in real life on real grass you’re going to chunk that ball and it’s not going to go very far So these specialist golf simulator mats are designed to mimic the feel of real turf So if you do hit a fat shot then you are going to notice on your golf simulator that your ball did not travel as far However there is a little bit of a premium to these specialist golf simulator mats They will set you back a little bit more money than what you actually think compared to the driving range mats anyway So check out my online course which teaches you how to save a little bit of money rather than buying a full hitting mat like this There’s ways around it Now the third and final essential thing that you’re going to need to create a golf simulator is a screen or a net that you’re going to hit your golf balls into Now this behind me is called an impact screen and it is designed to be extremely durable because we’re smashing golf balls into it but it’s also designed to project a really nice high quality image Now when it comes to impact screens you often have three choices You have a budget a mid-range and a high-end impact screen The one that I’ve got is more of a high-end impact screen Very expensive for what it is because it is the size that it is It’s quite a big one one You can get them smaller than the one that I’ve got to match your space but ultimately your lower quality impact screen your budget impact screen won’t project as high quality an image whereas your high-end impact screen will be able to project a 4K image quite nicely And then of course your mid-range screen is going to be somewhere in between that When it comes to screens you’ve also got to consider the sound or the noise that the ball makes when it hits it your more cheaper impact screens they might actually create quite a loud pop or a bang sound as you strike the golf ball into it and that’s going to be no good if you have got neighbors close by or you’ve got kids upstairs in bed or a Mrs upstairs that’s trying to sleep or watch TV in the next room Now an extremely budget option is to sack off the screen and the projector altogether and just get yourself a golf net You can get a golf net from Amazon or one of these specialist golf retailers and rather than seeing the image projected on the screen as you hit it You get a slightly less immersive experience you just have to have a look at your tablet or your phone to see where the ball’s gone and how far it’s carried and all that sort of stuff Now we’ve got the basics out of the way It’s time to start designing your golf simulator to make it that little bit more immersive And you’ve got three options when it comes to your enclosure we like to call it Your enclosure is basically what houses your screen or your net Now this one behind me is a professionally built freestanding enclosure And I got it from a place called Carl’s Place over in the USA Now essentially it comes prepacked with everything you need All you need to do is just pop it up and install it yourself It’s actually really easy to do and it’s very very timeefficient because it will only take you two or three hours to get this set up and you’re away hitting golf balls Now the other option is to build a wallto-wall enclosure which is just over there in my golf simulator studio and that is more of a permanent structure that isn’t going to be taken down and moved from place to place if you ever need to move house or something like that Now in my opinion the wallto-wall enclosures look much more professional much neater and just better in general But whether you want to go for a freestanding enclosure or a wall-to-all enclosure that’s completely up to you and your needs Now if you want to save a load of money you can actually build one of these all by yourself because these are quite expensive really but you’re paying for the convenience But like I say you can build one DIY and it’s probably the cheapest way to do it And you can do that by getting some metal poles and then you can line it with some curtains or some netting over the top and you can affix your impact screen in there as well Now there’s a variety of different softwares that you can use as part of your golf simulator Now the most common ones will come preloaded native with the launch monitor that you purchase So for example most launch monitors these days they come with either an app for the tablet or the desktop PC and you can load that up and you can usually get a driving range which gives all of your data and your carry distances and your numbers and stuff Some of them might even have some little skills challenges like closest to the pin or some even might have some preloaded golf courses virtual golf courses included in there Now your other option is to invest in a thirdparty software Now these third-party softwares are often better when it comes to virtual golf courses and the graphics and the quality of these courses Now the one that I’ve got loaded up behind me is called GS Pro And this in my opinion is probably the best third-party golf simulator software out there It’s absolutely fantastic The graphics are amazing The realism and the whole experience is just so true to real life It’s fantastic Like I say you’ve also got other options like E6 Connect the Golf Club 2019 and Awesome Golf But all of these third party softwares are going to cost you extra So there’s going to be a subscription fee or a lifetime purchase involved with any of these third party softwares that you’re looking into buying Now when it comes to actually running some software on your golf simulator you have got some options and it’s kind of dependent on your budget Now most launch monitor softwares will usually come with an app that you can download on your phone or your tablet and then you can literally plug in your iPad or your phone to a projector and away you go which is exactly what I’ve got here I have got the awesome golf simulator software running through my iPad However if you are looking to play some of the more graphically demanding realistic virtual golf courses on your golf simulator then the chances are you are going to need to get a gaming PC or a gaming laptop in order to run those softwares Now this is because these are much more graphically demanding and they need powerful computers in order to process everything and keep everything running nice and smoothly So they will of course set you back quite a bit of money in terms of a gaming PC or a gaming laptop Whereas with some softwares usually the the native softwares that come with your launch monitor you’ll be able to run those on an iPad or even a standard PC or a laptop Now to get an immersive golf simulator experience you’re going to want to project an image onto your impact screen And obviously to do that you’re going to need a projector Now when it comes to projectors they are a bit of a minefield There’s lots and lots of options out there and all of the specs and the features are actually quite confusing So I’m going to try to break it down for you to its most basic form What you’re going to need to look for is a short throw projector right that will make sure that you will not cast any shadows onto your impact screen whilst you are hitting the ball If you went for a standard throw projector they are going to have to be mounted further away from your screen and that’s then going to increase the likelihood of there being a shadow on there You could also get an ultrash short throw projector that sit far too close to your impact screen uh although they are cool there is a likelihood that you are going to smash a sand wedge straight into it and damage it which of course we don’t want to do The next thing you need to consider about projectors is their brightness right so brightness in projectors is measured in ants lumens And when it comes to buying a projector look for one that’s got at least 3,000 anti- lumens That will usually give you a bright enough image for your golf simulator room But this does depend on how much ambient light you have got coming into your room through windows doors or any other form of lighting The general rule of thumb is the more ambient light that you’ve got coming into your room then the higher the amount of ants lumens you are going to get going to need to get for your projector But on the whole your golf simulator room is going to need to be relatively dark you are going to need to see where you are hitting the ball from obviously So anything around about 3,000 anti lumens is going to give you a decent projected image Now one part of your golf simulator room that really finishes off its final look and aesthetic is the side and ceiling protection that you have Now if you’re going to get an enclosure like a pre-made golf simulator enclosure then you don’t need to have the side and ceiling protection because it’s an enclosure It’s already there for you However if you’re building uh a more permanent structure like the one that I’ve got here then you are going to need to consider what you’re going to put on the walls and the ceiling to stop the golf ball from pinging about if you have any stray shanks Now there’s all sorts of options You can go from something extremely budget like just some curtains on the side and maybe some netting on the top to catch any loose balls I’ve gone for some foam tiles that are kind of a mid-range option but I think they look fantastic You can also go extremely high-end You could get some leatherbacked cushions that just look sensational You can get them bespoke made different shapes sizes all of that sort of stuff But again that completely depends on your budget I wanted to save a little bit of money and I still think these foam tiles look pretty cool But I als but after saying that I also think just having curtains down the side look awesome But if you’re going to go for curtains then you’re going to need to consider what you get on the ceiling as well So yeah it’s a bit of a minefield All I would suggest is do your research see what you like And again it kind of all depends on your personal budget Now this video has just scratched the surface of golf simulators There’s so much more detail that you can go into about every aspect and every component So to find out exactly how to build your perfect bespoke home golf simulator then join my online course which teaches you absolutely everything that you need to know about every single component whether it’s the full setup or just projectors or just hitting mats the course will teach you everything So you can find the link to that in the description below where you’ll also find a link to my downloadable ebook which again gives you links to all sorts of different products depending on your specific budget So if this video’s helped you out at all then please subscribe to Handicap Golf for more helpful golf simulator tips and advice Hit the like button and then you can watch this video that’s on the screen right now to find out some more information
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Want to build your own home golf simulator but don’t know where to start? This COMPLETE beginner’s guide walks you through everything—from launch monitors to hitting mats, nets, enclosures, software, and projectors. Whether you’re on a tight budget or going all-in, you’ll learn what actually matters and what you can skip. Build your dream DIY golf sim setup with confidence!
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Chapters:
00:19 Launch Monitors
02:00 Hitting Mat
04:11 Impact Screen
06:02 Enclosure
07:47 Software
09:19 Hardware
10:36 Projector
12:36 Wall & Ceiling Protection
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