Building a Home Golf Simulator

Golf simulators used to be something which people only dreamed of having before. On rainy days, or evenings where you are sitting at home doing nothing and you wished you could practice your golf game. Nowadays, with good quality affordable simulators on the market they are much more achievable, provided you have the space for one. Our passion for golf and for a way to see our statistics got our interest in one, and we set about building a home golf simulator in our compound. 

Here, I go through the build process and what to know when building, installing, and setting up your golf simulator.

 

The Simulator Package

The first step naturally was to decide what simulator to go for. After looking at a few online, we found that the ProTee golf simulator (ProTee Base Pack 2) looked like the best option. It also comes with an impact screen, vertical and horizontal cameras, and basically everything you need for a good simulator. It gives all the stats you could want as an amateur and looked like a really good system.

On arrival we found everything as it should be and included in the package was the hitting mat, the putting mat, the impact screen, two overhead spotlights, vertical camera, horizontal camera, and various cables and connectors.  

Click here for the link to the ProTee Basepack 2 from the company we got it based in the UK. 

Building the Simulator Room

It was a challenge to find a room that was suitable on our compound and we were given a pretty small space. We went up to the area given to us and tried a few practice swings and our driver was clear so we went ahead with planning the room. We followed the dimensions given by ProTee, apart from the ceiling height which was unachievable due to existing limitations.

After setting out the room and it being built, we had a plywood subfloor installed which meant all cables could run underneath and the hitting mats would sit down into it. The walls and ceiling were painted black to make sure that there was as little reflection as possible as this can throw off the sensors. On the subfloor we also put down carpet grass to make it look a little more realistic.    

 

Installing the Impact Screen

Our next step was getting the frame for the impact screen installed. This we made from scratch with some metal tubes and bolted back to the wall and down to the concrete floor underneath the subfloor.

After installing the frame the hitting mat was draped around it and tied on with heavy duty cable ties. Any excess was left at the bottom tucked in under the screen.    

 

The Hitting Mats

Again for the mats we followed ProTee’s dimensions and cut out a portion of the subfloor to sit the main hitting mat into. We ran the cables underneath the subfloor to the outlets on the wall and then took our first shot off the hitting mat!

As the hitting mat was still sitting a little above the subfloor we didn’t need to recess the putting mat as we had a plan to install range mats to bring the subfloor up to the hitting mat level. The offcut of the carpet grass we removed was used to make the top cover of the putting mat.    

 

The Lights and Cameras

Now for what we found the most tedious as neither of us are electrical guys! Time to install the lights and cameras! (Thankfully we had the help of one of our mates who is electrical to help us out!)

Setting up the lights directly over the hitting mats we marked the locations and fixed them to the ceiling. The small HCam camera was fixed as well at the same time. We needed to get transformers for the lights as these were not included in the ProTee package so make sure you have these already.

After connecting everything we ran the cables in some overhead trunking back down to the wall outlets again. Once connected we turned them on just to make any small adjustments to the location to make sure they were directly over the hitting mats.

The VCam

The VCam was easily installed off to the side of the hitting mat, again following ProTee’s recommendations. (When you go into the settings in the VCam menu you need to make sure that when the ball is on the hitting spot it is inside the red rectangle on the screen).

All we had left was to install the software and run the system. For this we needed a high spec PC and the below is the details of what we ordered. (We ended up changing Item 5 to a GTX 1080 graphics card).

The software was pretty straight forward to install but we did have to get authorization keys and it was a bit finicky but we got there in the end.

The Projector

Our last main item was the projector. Again this had to be suitable for our room and needed to be a short throw projector. We needed a projector that could cast an image of approximately 4m on the diagonal at a 4:3 aspect 2m away from the screen. After some research and doing some calculations we found that the Optoma EH200ST was perfect for our purpose.

When it came it was a good sturdy assembly and bolted nicely to the ceiling. Starting it up showed we made the right choice and the quality of the image and frame rate is perfect with the system.    

Click here for Optoma’s website.

Click here for the Optoma EH200ST projector details. 

 

Tidying up a Few Last Bits

With our system basically ready to play golf, we just had some small tidying up to do. The first was to install some range mats to bring up the floor level around the hitting mat. This made it more comfortable to hit and also they would not wear as easily as the carpet grass. The cable for the putting mat was able to be run underneath these as well so it hid this out of the way.

We made a desk to take the PC and monitor, again with metal and wood and painted it black.   

A curtain was needed to protect the frame from any stray or high shots. This is because the ball can bounce back and injure someone or damage the equipment. 

 

Using the Simulator

The ProTee golf simulator itself is really nice to use. It has two types of software, one is ProTee’s own and the other is one called “The Golf Club”. The Golf Club has much better graphics but needs an internet connection to use it. The ProTee system has a driving range available and also some nice little competitions like Closest the Pin and Longest Drive competitions.

After every shot a stat screen shows up so you can see what you are doing wrong and what you need to do to correct any mis-hits. It’s pretty accurate and picks up the shot quite well. There have been occasions where it has done something crazy like having the ball go almost a mile high and backwards but if you select mulligans you can just replay this shot. You also need to be careful not to move your club too much over the sensors when a shot is ready as it may read your clubhead and move the ball a metre, then you need to replay the shot again.

We’re also not too keen on the whole chipping part or the putting mat as these are a little gimmicky and can take up a lot of time on your simulator game. For practicing these it’s better to do it in the real world.

All in all, we love the simulator and it is definitely something we would love to have anywhere we go. You can practice your game from the comfort of your own home and have over 100,000 courses to play on the system.

Problems we Encountered

Installing the system went pretty well but there were a few things that we would have maybe changed in hindsight.

Putting Mat

The first is probably not going with the putting mat. We rarely use it and mostly turn on automatic putts as it takes up to much time in the game. We like to use the simulator for long game and approach shot practice. Spending too much time messing about with a strange putting system takes the fun away a little.

HCam

The second thing is the use of what is called the HCam; this is the overhead camera that is supposed to pick up your ball line from above. Unfortunately we had major issues with this when using any type of a fairway wood or driver. It kept sending the ball way out left and we realized it was picking up the clubhead instead of the ball. We weren’t able to resolve this and have the camera deactivated.    

Room Size

The size of the room is just about within our limits. But for some people they manage to hit the ceiling on their follow through or a badly placed column on their backswing if they have a really flat swing. While there was nothing we could do about the location, more space would be a great thing to have. You can never have too much space and height to feel comfortable about your swing. It is always on your mind about the restraints around you.

Tee Spot

The tee spot in the hitting mat can fall to the bottom if pushed too hard. Don’t push your tee in too strongly and you will have no problem. If it does fall to the bottom you need to take out the hitting mat and push it up again which is annoying. We recommend putting something underneath it to stop it being pushed down. Also take care of breaking any tees and where the pieces go. If they go into the sensors make sure and remove them.

Random Occurrences During Gameplay

During gameplay itself there are a few instances I mentioned before where the ball does something crazy. If you have mulligans turned on then its fine, you can go back and replay the shot. But if you don’t then you are stuck with an unfortunate score which is the fault of the system and not you. We recommend leaving mulligans on purely for this purpose. Again it’s hard to see why this happens but that’s technology for you!

Again we feel that the positives of the system far outweigh the small issues we have had and we are glad we have it. Spending an hour in the simulator room is far better than driving an hour each way to a range after a long days work! Plus I get to try out my new clubs a lot more!