$20k Budget | Golf Simulator Room Challenge Series
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Have you ever bought a lottery ticket at the gas station thinking there was no way you could win? Yeah, us too. But you can’t win if you don’t play, right?
After buying hundreds of tickets, you finally hit, and you win $20,000. What should you do with the money? Put it in your savings account? Maybe invest it so you can retire and play golf at a decent age? Nah.
How about using it to build your dream golf simulator for your home or business right now? You bet!
We challenged several of our Carl’s Place team members to build their favorite golf simulator setup while staying under a $20,000 budget. All three team members took advantage of the larger budget to upgrade to a Carl’s Place Pro Enclosure with a Premium golf impact screen, one of the Uneekor launch monitors and a high-quality projector.
Below are their choices and reasoning for each decision.
Tim, Carl’s Place Product Specialist
Carl’s Place Pro Golf Enclosure 10×15.5×15 feet with Premium golf screen and mounts for launch monitor and projector: If you have the room for it, this is the way to go for the ultimate immersive golf simulator experience. You can stand inside the enclosure while you hit and have plenty of room to do so. Pipe framing is included which is a convenient alternative to finding, transporting, and cutting the EMT yourself. The enclosure is wide enough to handle both left- and right-handed golfers so you can invite all of your friends over. The Pro Enclosure also includes memory foam cushions for the perimeter of your screen to help prevent balls from impacting the frame. I chose the Premium screen because it has the best image quality.
Uneekor QED Launch Monitor: It is ceiling mounted (or in this case, mounted directly to the enclosure), and designed so you don’t need to move it for right handed and left handed golfers. It gives accurate data so you can swing with confidence knowing that the shot on your golf impact screen is going to be very close to how it would have looked in real life. It really is the best launch monitor for the money.
TGC 2019 Software: 100,000 course options so you will never get bored, realistic ball flight and physics.
BenQ LU710 Projector: Laser projector great for golf simulators that isn’t going to break the bank. It provides a high quality image.
Bundle total: $14,243.90 before bundle discount
Fiberbuilt Grass Series Combo Mat System – Center Hitting 10×12 feet: This mat has everything you need for a golf simulator. Center hitting so it can be used by left and right handed golfers. There are built in holes for putting. It comes with Fiberbuilt’s 300,000 swing guarantee. Fiberbuilt mats are the most comfortable ones that I have hit off of. I have played for a few hours with no pain in the wrists like you can get with some lower quality mats. See Pricing
Accessories:
Club holder: It keeps everything organized and easily accessible so you don’t have to fumble through your bag looking for the right club. Around $100
Control Box: You don’t have to keep going back to your computer to take a mulligan, adjust the view, or do a flyover. Just have the box sitting by your mat and easily control everything with the touch of a button. $260
Uneekor EYE XO Launch Monitor: The EYE XO can be mounted on the front of the golf simulator enclosure, putting it in a really great spot for hitting. It also uses normal golf balls instead of marked ones, and it’s one of the most accurate launch monitors available, especially for the price.
TGC 2019 Software: Personal opinion, but I like it better than E6 Connect. TGC has thousands of courses, and more are always being added. Users can create their own local courses and share them on TGC’s database. The graphics are also very nice as it was originally optimized for a gaming console.
BenQ LU710 Projector: Extremely clear and colorful images, very easy to set up and adjust in your golf simulator setup.
TrueStrike Academy Hitting Mat: Since we have a larger golf simulator enclosure, I chose a larger version of TrueStrike’s hitting mats.
Bundle total: $17,431.90 before bundle discount
Accessories:
Control box: I would add a control box to make changes to my game without having to walk back and forth from my computer. You have basic access to your computer right at your feet. About $300
Turf: I would also add turf so golf balls don’t bounce or roll too much after hitting the screen.
Total cost: around $18,000
Zach, Carl’s Place Customer Service Representative
E6 Connect Software for Uneekor license: Toss up here between E6 Connect and TGC, but E6 Connect seems to be more realistic to me with its 4K graphics and customization.
BenQ LU710 Projector: Mounts easily to ceiling or enclosure and provides a great picture to go along with E6 Connect’s realistic graphics. Also has 16:10 aspect ratio, matching my screen size.
Bundle total: around $19,300 before bundle discount
2020 Ryder Cup Team USA Den Caddy: In honor of the Ryder Cup being in our home state of Wisconsin this year, I wanted this as a cool commemorative piece. $150
Total cost: just over $20,000
Maybe you want to use a chunk of your lottery winnings toward a golf simulator setup and save the rest. We also challenged our team to a $5,000 and $10,000 budget!
Check out some more helpful resources, or let the Carl’s Place team do the heavy thinking for you. We’re always willing to help you figure out the best options for your space, but our Carl’s Place custom golf simulator design service will do that and more by doing all the heavy lifting for you.
Note: Prices might have changed since the publication of this article in 2021.