How I’d Build a Dream Golf Simulator from Scratch

How I’d Build a Dream Golf Simulator from Scratch

If I started over building my home golf simulator, what would I have done differently? What regrets do I have? What changes would I make? Where would I have spent a little bit more money? And where would I have opted to save a little bit of coin? We’re going to explore all of these things here today and have some fun as we talk about the decisions I would make if I was starting my golf simulator over from scratch. Now, the great thing about home golf simulators is it’s a constant evolution. And where you start is not necessarily where you’re going to end. A big part of the fun is designing, spacing out, and building your golf simulator room. And over time, it’s going to improve and get better. You’re going to add more things. You’re going to take some things away. Just know that there is no right or wrong. And I would say this, make sure to have gratitude for what you do have because we are lucky. We are blessed to be able to play this game and to be able to even have the options we’ve got now on the market that are so affordable to allow us to build these incredible things in our homes or in our offices. And so with that said, let’s have some fun here today. Now, the essentials that any good golf simulator space is going to need are going to be the launch monitor itself, the unit that’s going to be measuring shots for you, whether that is a Doppler device or an optical device. You’re going to need an enclosure or a net, some way to trap the golf ball so that you don’t break the walls and ceilings in your house. And thirdly, you’re going to want to have a good mat that you can hit off a good surface. Those are the three things that every golf simulator has to have. And we’ll also talk about some things that are nice to have and some additions that you can make as your golf simulator project evolves. Things like flooring, computers, monitors, all those peripherals. Let’s start off here with the launch monitor. Now, the first time I built a golf simulator in my own home, I literally built this in my living room, and I used a Garmin R10. It’s what I could afford at the time. This was a really lowcost unit. That’s around $500. But the drawback is that it’s a Doppler device that has to sit behind you 8 ft, and you also have to have 8 ft in front of you, which was really cramped in my space. So, this is something that when you’re putting together a golf simulator, you’ve really got to do the research and of course, you got to know the measurements of your room so you can buy the proper device for your space. In general, optical devices are going to require much less space. These devices are going to sit either to the side of you or overhead. These optical units can sometimes have cameras pointing down and it literally takes the space that it takes to swing the golf club and of course to get a little bit of ball flight so that the ball is not bouncing back at you from your screen or from your net. But literally you could probably get away with about 10 ft or less. The Doppler devices are going to require generally at least 16 ft to be able to pull that off. As I mentioned, 8 ft in front, 8 ft behind. If I was starting over from scratch here today, the good news is we’ve got some new products that have come over the last 5 years when I first started this that I would absolutely recommend. The first one being the square launch monitor. This is an optical device that’s only $100 more than that Garmin R10, but it’s an optical device that sits beside you. I found it to be extremely accurate. The caveat is it’s an indoor only unit. This is not something like the R10 that you could take to the range. You’ve got to just use it indoors. But since we’re talking about home golf simulators, I really think this is a compelling option on the market for the price point if you’re on a budget. Another really compelling budget friendly device for me came out this year. It’s called the Flight Scope Meo Gen 2. Just like the MEVO Plus, it’s going to be a fusionbased piece of technology, but it does require that it sits at least 7 ft behind you being a Doppler device. But the fusion is the fact that it’s got a camera on board. So, this is a very accurate device as well. Both of those would be my two top picks if I was on the budget that I was when I first started this project. Now, if budget was less of a consideration, I had a little bit more money in my budget. Two launch monitors that I’d really be looking at closely if I were starting over here again would be the i Mini Light from Uniore. Again, this is an indoor only unit, but extremely accurate, priced really well, great suite of software, and the subscription costs are pretty minimal in comparison to the other things on the market. The other one I’d be looking at would be the Garmin R50. Another truly groundbreaking device, but it’s going to be over the $5,000 mark in terms of a price point. The nice thing about that R50 is you don’t necessarily need a gaming computer, which we’ll talk about later here in this video. You can plug an HDMI cable directly in and literally project from the R50 onto your screen. So, those are two amazing options for optical devices. Again, if you’ve got a little bit more budget and if I had even more budget, I would then even start to think about overhead units because overhead units can be really nice, especially if you have righties and lefties coming to join you in your sim room. There’s usually a little bit wider space or a more clearly defined space to place the ball so you don’t miss shots as often with these devices. And they’re going to be very accurate with the cameras pointing down at you. A couple of options I’d be considering would be the EXR around the $6,000 launch monitor. You’ve also got things like the Apogee around $11,000 that are optical units. Those would be my dream scenario units for me if I was starting over. Now, let’s move on to the second main piece of equipment that you’re going to need for your golf simulator at home. That’s going to be the net or enclosure. I started off with a net, actually, a really cheap option from Amazon. It was like a tent. Now, of course, I didn’t get any projection onto that tent. It was also kind of a little awkward looking in my living room. So, as soon as I moved to my new house, the first thing I built was my own enclosure. Again, I wanted to save a little bit of money and I was not afraid of attempting a DIY project. So, what I did is I actually built my first enclosure. I used some metal piping. I purchased at Lowe’s. I used some fasteners. I was literally cutting pipe. And I built a frame which I then attached a screen with some bunggees, too. Now, if I had it to do all over again, I’ve got to admit, I don’t think I saved a ton of money with this DIY option. The piping and all the materials I bought over at Lowe’s was $31659. The screen I bought was a nice impact screen and the size I bought about 8 ft by 13 ft. It was $874.99. I then also had to think about protecting my side walls. I opted at the time to install some curtains and some rails to go along with those curtains. That ran $861. So, all in all, I had about $2,000 into this project, and I still didn’t even have top protection. So, if I had to do it all over again, I would go with what I have now, which is a Carl’s Place enclosure. You can purchase this over at playbetter.com, our show partners. And for just a few more dollars, not going to be super significant in the grand scheme of things, I would have a much more professional looking setup, something that protects my space and just looks a lot better. There’s a wide range of sizes available for that enclosure system. It’s super easy to set up, doesn’t take any tools. I didn’t have to cut any pipes like I did with my DIY project. All in all, that would be what I would do if I was starting over. I’d save up a few more dollars and go that route. The third thing on our list here that we again have to have is a mat. Now, the first mat that I used was a cheapy off of Amazon. It cost me I think about $80 at the time and it was not worth the price because I very soon found out that putting that thin little cheap mat on a hard concrete floor or in my house at the time I actually had stone floors, travertine floors. I found out very quickly that my elbow started to hurt. I had joint pain. It was not worth it. If there is one thing that to me is a non-negotiable. You could skimp a little bit with the launch monitor and upgrade later. You could skimp a little bit by creating a DIY enclosure and again maybe upgrading later. But I would highly highly recommend you do not skimp on a mat. Spend the money. A good mat is going to be more like maybe $4 to $600. But for the longterm health benefits, at the very least, never mind, you’re going to have better turf interaction. You’re going to get more realism out of the golf simulator and practice experience. Highly, highly recommend you use a high quality mat. Again, Play Better offers some great options. And I’m also a fan of the Monster Mat. I’ll leave some links to those down below. Don’t skimp out on the mat. Do yourself a favor. So, where can you actually save a few dollars? I think the projector is one place that I would probably not make much of a difference in my choices from where I started to where I’d be at right now. So, when I started, I started out with a Ben Cube projector that was a 1080p projector, not a 4K, not a laser, nothing fancy, just about a $400 projector that I bought secondhand at, I think, B&H Photo at the time. There’s some good used deals over at B&H as well as Adorama. Those are two camera shops up in New York, actual physical locations, but they stock all sorts of AV stuff as well. But 1080p projectors, when it comes to a golf simulator impact screen, are going to be pretty much as clear as 4K projectors. Right now in my simulator room, I’ve got a beautiful BenQ 4K projector. But I’ll tell you what, it’s not a whole lot difference in terms of resolution because impact screens simply don’t really give you that ability because they’re made out of a fabric and there’s lines in those screens. There’s only so much resolution you can get out of them. It’s really hard to put into words, but if you see it, I think you would not be able to notice a huge difference between a 4K, very expensive $5,000 projector that’s in my space right now and a 1080p projector. I think a 1080p projector will serve you just as well, and you’ll be able to save a boatload of money. Now, before we move on to the next major thing I would change here in my golf simulator room if I was starting over again, I want to give a big shout out to our show sponsor, playb better.com, which is the home of the best prices on the internet for launch monitors, for golf simulator enclosures. You can get mats there, projectors, all sorts of things to fully kit out your dream golf simulator space. They are the best in the business. On top of that, they are really good to the Let’s Play through community. Use the code LPT at checkout and you’re going to save a significant amount of money on all the things we’re talking about here today. On top of it, you’re going to get 48 hour shipping across the continental United States and a money back guarantee. I’ll leave some links to the products that I mentioned here today, and I’m also going to leave a link to a survey that you can take so that you can choose the best launch monitor for your needs. And on top of that, you’re going to get an extra special discount from playb better.com just for filling out the survey. Link down below. The next thing I’ll talk about in terms of my simulator space, at least the second space that I built here in my office, was I installed a really nice sin turf that cost me about $800. I then laid some carpeting that covered about 2/3 of the space of my room. And in the other third, I used some flooring tiles that I bought over at Lowe’s or Home Depot. one of those big box stores. And if I were to do it all over again, I would have made one really big change. Instead of laying that carpet and laying those carpet tiles right onto my subfloor, the concrete floor here in my simulator room, I would have instead opted to raise the floor a couple of inches. And as long as you’ve got the ceiling height in your space to do that, it provides two really, really nice benefits. Number one, you’re going to be able to drop any mat into it so it lays flush with the floor. Right now, my mat sits above the floor and it sometimes can even slide. If you can drop it in, you’re not going to get any slide in the mat. You’re also even going to be able to use a hitting strip rather than a big expensive mat. It can save a lot of money that way. The second huge benefit to having a raised floor in your simulator room is the ability to have cups that are recessed. So you could literally take putts and they will drop into a cup. It would be really nice to have a cup right out in front of me straight ahead. So we’ve got a target to aim at when we’re playing simulator golf. So that is one big change that I would make if I had to do it all over again. Like I mentioned up front, the great news is there’s no saying I can’t eventually build that. It is on my short list of things to add here in my simulator space and once I have the budget, I’ll actually make that happen. One place where I think I probably wouldn’t change, but I’ve got some advice to offer to you here is in the computer. As I mentioned, many of the more expensive launch monitors, especially if you get into projection, are going to require a gaming computer in order to run everything pretty much except for that Garmin R50. I think I made a good decision. I bought my computer at Costco. It cost me $1,599 at the time. They were cheaper gaming computers on the market. But what I did at the time and what I would recommend you do is go for the best computer you can get for the money. Meaning get the best most modern graphics processor even if it’s oversp spec for the launch monitor that you’re going to use because eventually you’ll change that launch monitor whether it’s 5 10 years from now. But you may not have to change your computer if you get something that is speced a little bit higher. Get the best processor you can. get the most RAM you can and get the best graphics card that you can. That’s going to futureproof you a little bit better and it’s only going to cost you a couple hundred over a cheaper option in most cases. Let’s talk about the television that’s actually literally sitting behind me. Now, at the time, I used this existing HD TV that I owned in order to save money. I didn’t want to have to buy a new monitor. Well, when I upgraded to that 4K projector here that we’ve got in the room now, the resolution doesn’t match. So, my computer sometimes displays graphics in 4K on the screen, but sometimes it defaults to the monitor, which is 1080p. So, there’s literally a mismatch. And sometimes it gets it right, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s just something to consider that if I was doing this all over again, I would make sure that my projector matched the monitor. And if I knew I was going to go for a 4K projector, I would put a 4K monitor or HD TV in here. And if I was going to stick with a 1080p projector, I’d make sure I had a 1080p monitor in my room. Just something to consider. The last main element of the golf simulator room here that I probably would change if I was doing this all over again was when I first built out this project, I literally had to raise the roof because the ceiling sat at about 8 ft. That wasn’t enough to swing at. I raised this roof to 13 ft. And when I did that, I also installed pot lights up at the top. Those pot lights are great. provides a lot of lighting here, especially when I’m shooting videos. But when I’m simply playing simulator golf and I want it to be a little bit lower lit, I want to have a nice bright screen, then I wish I would have built some options in the beginning in order to lower the lighting or maybe really focus and direct the lighting in this room. I probably would have put these lights not all on one circuit, but maybe divided it up so I had a couple different switches. I also probably would have put it on a dimmer if I was to do this all over again to again decrease the light so that my projector was as bright as possible with the lights on. Again, it’s something that I could potentially do here in the future. It’s not the end of the world, but it’ll cost me more money after the fact in order to install it. I wish I had a little bit more forethought when I was putting the project together. So, there you have it. Those are the main things that I would change with my golf simulator setup if I were to do it all over again. Now, I would love to know down in the comments if you’ve ever built a golf simulator. What is some advice that you would give folks to consider when they’re building theirs as well? Leave me a comment down below. I hope you enjoyed this video and I wish you all the best in building the golf simulator of your dreams, whether you’re just starting out or whether you’re improving what you got. I’ll catch you back here next time on another edition of Let’s Play Through.

What I’d change and what I did right building my dream home golf simulator.

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Links to My Favorite Golf Simulators:
Save with Code “LPT”

Square Launch Monitor: https://www.playbetter.com/products/square-golf-simulator-launch-monitor?ghref=7209%3A118076

Mevo Gen 2: https://www.playbetter.com/products/flightscope-mevo-gen2-golf-launch-monitor?ghref=7209%3A118076

Uneekor Eye XR: https://www.playbetter.com/products/uneekor-eye-xr-golf-launch-monitor-simulator?ghref=7209%3A118076

Garmin R50: https://www.playbetter.com/products/garmin-approach-r50-golf-launch-monitor-simulator?ghref=7209%3A118076

Uneekor Eye Mini Lite: https://www.playbetter.com/products/uneekor-eye-mini-lite-golf-launch-monitor?ghref=7209%3A118076

Apogee: Save $1,000 with this link – https://trugolf.com/pages/lets-play-thru

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Links to my Favorite Enclosures:

Carl’s Place DIY Enclosure: https://www.playbetter.com/products/playbetter-golf-studio-customizer?ghref=7209%3A118076

Carl’s Place Pro Enclosure: https://www.playbetter.com/products/carls-place-pro-golf-simulator-enclosure-kit-with-impact-screen?ghref=7209%3A118076

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Links to my Favorite Hitting Mats:

Fibrebuilt: https://www.playbetter.com/products/fiberbuilt-performance-turf-series-tee-box?ghref=7209%3A118076

Monster Mat: GET 5% OFF YOUR ORDER WITH CODE “LPT5OFF”
Driving Range Mats

Take the Golf Simulator Quiz: https://www.playbetter.com/blogs/golf-simulator-quiz/studio-finder-lpt

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👉 Check Out Volvik Golf Balls: https://volvik.com
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