My Latest Project...

[Boone]

You may or may not know that Brother Om and I are serious golf fanatics. We get together every chance we can for marathon golf weekends and when we aren't playing it, we are talking about it. I turn 60 in a few months and I have always wanted to have a new house built (we are still living in the same starter home we first bought back in 1994). But my wife is very settled here and it's been a challenge to get her to be enthusiastic the idea. One of the reasons I have always wanted to build a house is to have the room for a man cave, specifically a golf simulator room.

About 10 years ago, we had a Champion sunroom added to our house. It's beautiful but the truth is, we rarely use it. One evening a month or so ago, I went in and thought - you know, I think the ceiling in here is high enough to swing a golf club in. One thing about my wife - she has always been super cool about letting me pursue my many hobbies and do whatever makes me happy. I pitched the idea of converting the sunroom into a golf simulator room and she sayd 'sure!'. Of course the win for her is that we aren't moving or building a new house anytime soon

So for the past 3 weeks I have been planning, obsessing, purchasing, and gathering everything you could possibly need for a golf simulator room. Let me tell you, building a golf sim in a smaller room with (oh btw) 3 sides composed of nearly all glass has been a challenge. But I think I have a great plan in place. The wife asked that I wait until after Christmas to begin in there, and Om will be joining me for an extended weekend to fully install (and hopefully play some simulator golf) in early January.

We'll post some pics when this bad boy is operational!

 

[SkinsOrlando]

I got into golf in 2011 because I had to, for work, it's part of the business, the clients like to golf. I played a lot from 2011-2015 but since then I might go out twice a year unless I have to, I just don't have the desire like I used to. Some of it probably because most of the people I used to play with moved/divorced etc. I will be heading out next week for the first time since June, if I shoot in the 90's I'll consider it a good day but thinking more likely a 110. Gone are the days of being in the mid to low 80's for me.

My former neighbor at my old house had a putting green in his backyard and a 30 yard approach put in, was cool to just go in his backyard and get some reps in. When he moved the new owners let it go to poo and now you wouldn't even know it was ever there. Good luck on your project and what will be even more interesting for me is how much it will improve you're overall game.

 

[Chris]

I can shoot mid to low 80s at any moment.

(For 9 holes. )

 

[Boone]

I’m a Hacker. First lesson I ever had, guy said ‘you have a unique swing’. I told him I knew what that meant. I tend to shoot mid to upper 90’s. When I played the same course all the time I was able to get into the 80’s but that’s as good as it ever got. I struggle with driver a lot but my short game and putting is pretty solid once I get within 100 yds of the green Mark is a good golfer. I feel like I’ve improved quite a bit the last couple of years. I hope being able to swing it on a daily basis helps but also looking forward to being able to play with friends when it’s too cold outside to have any fun

 

[Om]

It's important to choose your friends wisely.

Always dreamed about having a sim, but my house just won't accommodate it. And believe me, I've examined all options, up to and including telling my wife that clearly our master bedroom--with the only vaulted ceiling in the house--would be better utilized as a sim room. Hey, there are guest bedrooms we could move into.

As to "good golfer," as Boone so generously accuses me of being ... that's subjective. I start each and every season just breaking 90, and by the end of the season, settled into the mid-80's with the occasional threat to break into the 70's. Which, for the record, I've done once, at 79, three years ago. That was a good day. And spoiled me forever, because of course now I think I should do that every time out.

But no. Golf is hard.

Can't wait to get this project done. And already anticipating Brother Boone suddenly showing up to the course in the spring ready to kick my ass.

 

[Knightingale]

This sounds AWESOME!

I haven't played for a while. I'm from the Happy Gilmore school of golfing... but without the range. And my putting ability is sub-par. LOL

 

[SkinsOrlando]

One of things I dislike about golf is just the cost, I didn't mind paying $60 plus when I played all the time but these days if I head out I'm going to the course in my neighborhood, $33 bucks for 18 holes and $3 beers...... Knight a buddy of mine did some golfing across the pond a few years back, said it's almost a different game due to grass type and course layouts and he said tons of wind.

 

[Canadian Hog]

Golf has never been my game for whatever reason. I am not exactly sure what the reason is, but I have always figured it had something to do with the pace of the game. Tennis, on the other hand, is a sport I have always played and still love playing probably more than any other. In fact, outside of the NFL, tennis is probably the sport I watch the most as well.

All that being said, you would love playing golf up here in Canada, Boone. Shots are guaranteed to never land in the water as it's always frozen over!

Best of luck with the simulator! It is great reading about your excitement/passion for golf.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Boone]

Finished the sunroom to sim room conversion this weekend with a buddy’s help. Some before and after pics:

Before

After

Pretty much went according to plan. Thank God for Brother Om who did a ton of work to help me this weekend - appreciate it my friend! Took more time to get the pads up over all the glass than I thought it would - some of them were custom cut shapes and we had to make some adjustments to make sure everything fit. We used velcro tape for everything and it worked great. I didn't pad the windows behind the hitting screen because I figured the enclosure was padded well (premium hitting screen and then memory foam and an archery net holding it all together) but after we got it set up, light was leaking in during the day.

We decided to hang black tarps over the windows behind the enclosure with more velcro tape and that worked well.

The DIY enclosure kit from Carl's was easy to set up but we couldn't figure out how to install the tubing padding that came with it so we just ditched it. We also didn't use the nets as due to the short length of the room (only 16') the nexts actually interfered with the swing space. Really not necessary as we are probably on 6' from the hitting surface to the screen but it deadens the ball enough not to be an issue.

Only real unforseen issue (other than the light leaking through the hitting screen was that we lost half our balls the first day, lol. Anytime you hit a high lofted wedge (or skyed a shot) the ball ended up going over the enclosure and falling behind it (we originally secured a black mesh net that was hung on a center ceiling beam via hooks in the front by securing it with bungees to the rear bar of the enclosure frame. This morning, we used velcro tape to secure it to the underside of the front top bar so the balls would funnel into the net. Working well.

What a fun project - but a lot of planning and work to get there.

I am super happy with the tech side - short throw projector is working great with a wireless connection, Skytrak and TGC 2019 working well (learning curve with getting it to consistently pick up driver shots though).

Really going to enjoy this thing!

 

[Boone]

So, little did I know that the initial setup of a golf sim system was just the start. I've learned a lot in the past few weeks. First thing I learned (or relearned, as I've hit indoors before) is that hitting off a mat indoors is not at all like hitting off grass outdoors. There's the difference in the hitting surface, lower lighting, and probably most importantly, you change your swing because either consciously or subconsciously you are worried about hitting the walls, ceiling, or your own face with the club/ball. It's just not natural feeling. Then there is the system itself which I've found does not give super realistic #'s, probably because of the learning curve of hitting indoors.

So my first couple weeks of using my sim room were pretty frustrating.

But the past few days it's starting to click and I'm really enjoying it. Won't bore you with the changes I've made to the room, how I'm using the system, or tweaks I've made, but I've got it where what happens in the golf software is pretty close to what I'd be hitting in real life.

Just being able to play 9 or 18 holes in my house - whenever I want - is pretty incredible. My wife has said several times that 'when you get tired of your golf room I was thinking we could....'

I've pretty much stopped her right there with 'You're talking about my death. Because that's when I am going to be tired of my golf room' Someday, she'll get that room back, but I will not be around to provide input on it.

 

[Chris]

I’m going to assume that your system calculates ball speed and trajectory. Does it pick up spin like draw and fade? Or in my case, duck hook and slice?

 

[Boone]

Yes. It does calculate all of that - club speed, ball speed, carry, rollout, and spin. You have to make sure you use white balls and face the logo towards the launch monitor for it to get spin accurately. Only thing it does not do is tell you where on the clubface you are hitting although you can tell just from the way the ball is coming off. One thing different from hitting outdoors, you know if you put it right down the middle because you see it strike the screen (and where it struck the screen) and definitely know if you miss the screen which, trust me, isn't that hard to do. Outdoors sometimes you never see your ball flight and have no idea what you did.

 

[Chris]

The comments are gold.