How much room a golf simulator needs

Ceiling height: is there room for driver?

Ceiling height is the one measurement you cannot buy your way around. The Indoor Golf Shop sets 9 ft as its minimum and says that lets most golfers make a full driver swing. Under an 8 ft ceiling it warns of a shorter backswing, or of leaving the woods and driver out. MyGolfSpy calls 8 ft the absolute minimum.

Carl’s Place, PlayBetter and Trackman all point to 10 ft for unrestricted driver swings. Carl’s Place adds that taller players and upright swings may need that much.

Measure from the floor to the lowest thing above the hitting spot. That is often a light fitting, a duct or a garage-door track, and it can sit well below the ceiling itself. Then test it. The Indoor Golf Shop suggests a full backswing with your longest club while you stand on a hitting mat.

Ceiling-mounted launch monitors need the height as well. Uneekor’s EYE XO2 wants 9 to 10 ft between the floor and the sensor, and Uneekor lists 10 ft as optimal.

Width

Carl’s Place and PlayBetter treat 10 ft as the minimum. That figure assumes the tee sits off-center, so one side of the room belongs to the golfer. For a centered tee that suits right- and left-handed players, Carl’s Place and The Indoor Golf Shop both say 14 ft or more.

Enclosures set a floor of their own. The Indoor Golf Shop’s range runs from 8 ft 4 in to 10 ft 10 in wide, and it asks for at least 6 in of clearance on each side.

Swing clearance matters as well. Carl’s Place suggests about 7 ft of clear space around the golfer, and notes that Uneekor’s ceiling units call for a swing area 13 ft across.

Depth

Carl’s Place splits depth into three parts: about a foot between the wall and the screen, 10 ft from the screen to the ball, and at least 4 ft behind the ball. That makes 15 ft the minimum, and its recommendation is 18 to 20 ft. The Indoor Golf Shop goes as low as 13 ft and recommends 15.

What moves the number is where the launch monitor sits.

• Floor camera units sit beside the ball and add nothing to depth. PlayBetter says they can work in as little as 10 ft.
• Radar units sit behind the ball: 6 to 8 ft for the Garmin R10, 6.5 to 8.5 ft for the Rapsodo MLM2PRO and 8 to 10 ft for the Full Swing KIT. They also need at least 8 ft of ball flight in front, and PlayBetter recommends 13 ft so the radar can read spin. That is why its recommended room for an R10 is 21 ft deep while the minimum is about 14.
• Ceiling units sit above the tee and take no floor space. PlayBetter puts typical rooms for them at 14 to 18 ft deep.

Measure your room in five minutes

1. Measure the ceiling at the spot where you would stand, to the lowest thing above it.
2. Measure the width from wall to wall at that spot. Subtract anything that juts out, such as shelving or a water heater.
3. Measure the depth from the wall the screen would hang on to the back wall or garage door.
4. Note who will swing there: right-handed, left-handed or both.
5. Put the numbers into the fit tool.