A bit overwhelmed. Help me decide on a system.

[bpfergu]

Hello all,

I am in the market for a golf simulator and have tried to digest all the information on this forum but still have many questions. I know this is common but I am hoping that some of you can provide viable opinions on the best system for me and my budget/needs.

Budget: 4k (note - this would NOT include the projector or the PC. I will be getting these separately).
Wants: obviously as accurate as possible. It seems like ball flight is a highly desired feature. Can I get this feature within my budget or am I going to have to realistically settle with just club analysis? Also, I would prefer an application that has multiple golf courses to choose from and also online play. Finally, I would like a setup that at least somewhat accurately depicts putting.

Beyond that I am pretty open. I don't mind having to tape the bottom of my clubs, having to manually select what club I'm using, etc.

Thanks in advance!

[bubba22]

I suggest you look at a ProTee system. Read up on the ProTee thread.

[wbealsd]

+1 for what bubba said.

[pingB]

Protee is a great system with the added benefit of a social aspect. Online play is real fun. It still needs some work with built in tools to run tournaments and find games and such, but we have a decent sized community here that can put together games.

The only problem is that it's a tad north of your budget. If you email them direct they might work out a deal with you, but I can't guarantee that.


If you don't care about the online play there are others to choose from, but I believe the GC2 is the way people go if they don't go protee. I'm not sure the price on that, but it may still be a bit above your budget.


If you go protee though we do tournaments and casual play on these forums.

[bpfergu]

Thanks for the help, guys. I read through the Protee thread and it definitely looks like something I would be interested in, although it is a little north of what I was hoping to spend. However, once set up it appears to be a great simulator for the money.

[pingB]

I would email them and see what sort of deal they could work out. The price on their website is not set in stone.

[ZMax]

Do a search on Youtube for Protee online. I uploaded a bunch of videos from last Winter's online matches. Loads of fun!!!

I agree with bubba22 and pingB. Spend a little more and get a very accurate simulator(ball flight) that has both a swing analysis and great online play.

[bpfergu]

Hey guys,

After consideration, I am currently planning on picking up a ProTee at the end of this year once we move. However, I have a couple questions. We were planning on building a house but it looks like that will have to stay on hold for now due to work reasons so we are going to live in an apartment for the next year or two. Obviously being in an apartment presents additional challenges (not including trying to get my other half to buy into having a spare bedroom turned into a golf room haha) but I wanted to ask a few questions to verify that this is realistic:

1. The room I would be putting my simulator in is 11' x 16' x 10'. Is this going to be large enough to put the net and screen into without causing issues?

2. While an encompassed net is obviously planned, I would still like to have some additional insurance for people who might come over and accidentally shank the ball really bad. Is there some sort of padding that I can place on the ceiling that would help absorb the ball if it happened to go that direction, and that is also not permanent? The apartment gives us free reign to do whatever we please as long as we change it back to how it started upon leaving.

3. Currently the walls are a light brown color. From what I have read, dark colors are obviously preferable. Is draping black sheets down on the side of the walls an easy solution? And is this really necessary if I can block out most of the natural light from the window and artificial light from the rest of the apartment?

4. I have read about some golf balls that are lighter than the real thing but perform very similarly in regards to feel and gameplay. This seems like a good bit of extra insurance in protecting the walls/ceiling in the case of a bad shank, but are these balls any "quieter"? While my irons are fine my driver is quite LOUD when it makes good impact with the ball. I am somewhat worried that the loud "PING" noise might upset the neighbors.

Thanks for the help!

[ZMax]

11w X 16L is doable but you would not be able accomondate both right or left handed golfers.

The wall opposite of the LA camera should be dark or have dark curtains/drapes. Windows should blocked out.

You can use white Almost golf balls. Soft and very quiet. Won't damage walls but will need to increase ball speed in the software.

Lights that might reach the Sim room should be dimmed.

[bpfergu]

Thanks for the reply. I'm right handed and everyone I play with is right handed so I guess if someone who happens to play who is left handed they would be SOL. Is 16' going to be deep enough? Judging from the diagram I saw, it looks like you need to place the back sensor a little over 10' from the screen? Is the extra space behind that just to make sure you have enough room for your backswing? or can that 10' distance be moved up any?

[ZMax]

16' is fine. Both sensors can be moved up closer to the screen. Just need blinders on the putting/ball light so it doesn't wash out the screen. The closer you place the putting sensor to the screen, the greater the chance your shadow will block the screen when putting. Use a short throw projector and play with the putting sensor location. Might be able to move it 2-3 feet closer depending on the height of the golfer when putting.

[CPA]

A few issues here

1. convincing other half that room should be set up thus. Key is to ensure the 3D home theatre aspect is available. Can I suggest this type of setup only using 3 pass blackout curtain as the surround netting to make it more theatre like; http://www.par2pro.com/shop/product_...products_id=56

2 Noise. Ever hit a driver in an apartment? The noise is loud in an enclosed space and the neighbors and wife will go spare. There are products that take noise and turn it into heat rather than rebounding it. Also memory foam behind the screen deadens noise. Probably expensive but something you should consider before the neighbors get a restraining order.

If you want accuracy $4K is not going to do it, beg- borrow.........

[golferinmd]

On average how much does a Protee cost with screen, and projector?

[Msuzippy]

On average how much does a Protee cost with screen, and projector?

You can buy a Protee with a putting sensor and a screen for $6700 and a projector for under $1000.

[golferinmd]

any good places to shop for that? Is the Protee pretty accurate? I want to use it to work on my swing and of course play some courses.. Thanks and sorry for the dumb question!

[golferinmd]

Graphics pretty good?

[Libbing]

also need to buy a computer with some good video capability (not a $400 special - needs a dedicated graphics card). Graphics are very good. The better the graphics, the faster the computer you need. Getting graphics better than Protee would start to send you into $2500 - 3000 land for a computer.

Protee is a very accurate system. To be accurate, the system (like many others) need to be setup correctly and tweaked for your swing. Out of the box it won't get the distances exactly correct, but it is highly customizable. Once you get it configured correctly, it pick up flight patterns very well. None of these systems are perfect. You have to go into it expecting some quirky shots regardless of the system you get.

Tons of info in the numerous Protee threads on this site and also on proteeonline.com. The Protee United website also has plenty of info about the system itself.

There is a pretty cheap Protee system being sold on ebay right (new) - sounds like that seller is actually Protee
Cory at Par2Pro.com is a long time distributor of the system that a ton of people on these forums have purchased from.

[wbealsd]

I've purchased sim gear from Cory and highly recommend him. I was fortunate enough to get my GC2 used, but mat, screen, putting turf, etc. all came from Cory.