Building a home golf simulator, but not sure how much space you need? Our guide to golf simulator room dimensions covers everything you need to know including:
- Minimum ceiling height required
- Distance from your projector to impact screen
- Distance you need to set your launch monitor from your impact screen (and the room you need behind it)
- The dimensions of different enclosures
Talking generically, you’re going to want around 8.5 ft ceiling height, 8 ft width and 10-20 ft depth as a minimum. But you can jump to any section of the guide to uncover the specifics.
Ceiling height
The minimum ceiling height required for golf simulators will depend on two things:
- The room you need to comfortably swing your clubs
- The size of your simulator enclosure.
Ceiling height for golf enclosures
You’ll need to account for the size of your golf enclosure when determining the ceiling height you need for your golf sim.
If we take a peek at the Carl’s Place golf enclosure here, we can see it’s available in the following sizes (height x width):
- 7.7′ x 10′
- 7.7′ x 13′
- 8′ x 8′
- 8′ x 10.5′
- 8.5′ x 11.5′
- 9′ x 12′
As you can see, using this enclosure you’ll need a simulator room ceiling height of 7.7’ and up to 9’ for the larger enclosures (including a few inches to spare so you can actually build and fit it into place comfortably).
Remember…you’ll need to check both the impact screen height as well as the full enclosure height. An example being the SIG8 enclosure here from Shop Indoor Golf.
Whilst the height of the screen is just 7 ft 7 inches, the total height (including enclosure) is actually 8 ft 4 inches.
Not sure which enclosure to buy? Read Golfer Logic’s golf simulator enclosure guide here.
Ceiling height to swing your club
This isn’t a one size fits all approach. You’ll need someone to help measure the average swing height for you, multiple times. Typically 8 ft high ceilings would be required for a smaller player.
However, we find the typical ceiling height required for most golf simulators is more likely to be in the 9ft-10ft range to accommodate club swing.
Simulator enclosure space needed
Whilst we’ve specifically mentioned ceiling height for golf enclosures above, you’ll need to take into account not just height, but width too.
Decided on a golf enclosure?
Make sure you read the specs referring to height and width for the total enclosure size, not just the screen size. You’ll generally find that the total golf enclosure size is nearing 1ft wider and taller than what the impact screen is. That’s accommodating for curtains, the frame of the enclosure and so on.
Not decided on an enclosure yet? Our guide to golf simulator enclosures here covers the likes of Carl’s Place, SIG and Perfect Bay.
Trying to make a DIY setup for small spaces? Read our complete guide to DIY golf simulators here, or see our recent guide to golf simulator screens here.
Distance from projector to simulator screen
Next up we’ve got the distance your projector needs to be from your simulator screen; this is also based on the throw rate of your projector.
If you have a throw rate of 0.5, you’ll need to mount the projector 0.5 ft away from your impact screen, for every 1 ft image you need to project.
So, if you have a 7 ft projector, you’d need to mount it 3.5ft away from the simulator screen to be able to project the image correctly.
Launch monitor
Placement of your monitor is going to be launch monitor dependent, and you’ll need to check the following for each monitor:
- Distance from impact screen
- How far beyond the tee off point the launch monitor needs to be.
As a typical guide, you’ll want around 10ft tee to screen distance. Even if a launch monitor manufacturer suggests a shorter distance can be used, you’re going to be putting a huge load on your screen and have bounce back problems.
Something like the FlightScope Mevo Plus is going to need a bigger golf simulator room than, say, a SkyTrak. That’s because the Mevo Plus monitor uses a doppler radar, and would need to be set around 8-9 ft behind the golfer, whereas the SkyTrak does not.
In this case, you’re going to find the SkyTrak is better for smaller spaces.
In summary: Golf simulator room space needed
How much space you need in your golf simulator room is going to vary by quite a lot depending on various factors, but here are some of the key takeaways from above as a quick reference point.
Ceiling height: 8.5 ft minimum to accommodate swing and your golf enclosure, 9-10 ft is preferred.
Width: Based on your enclosure width (use total enclosure size, not screen size). Typically 7 ft 7 inches to 13ft, and a further 1ft to allow for installation.
Projector distance from screen: Determined by the simulator projector’s throw rate, typically within 7 ft of your impact screen.
Launch monitor distance from screen: Launch monitor specific but generally requires a minimum distance of 10 ft from screen to tee area, and up to 9ft behind the golfer for a launch monitor like the Mevo Plus.
Simulator enclosure: The minimum golf room dimensions are going to be dictated by your enclosure (typically 7ft 7 inches high and 7 ft 7 inches wide as a minimum).
For smaller spaces, try using an impact screen with side barrier netting, as an enclosure frame kit will use nearing 1 ft x 1 ft of additional space.
