Starting a Garage Setup

[GoTime]

Just moved out of a condo and into a family home with an attached garage that has joists at 10 feet. Will be starting to piece together a practice space that will eventually turn in some form or simulator area.

 

Initial plans are to install 3/4" direct impact netting in the shape of an L in the back left of the garage if you were to be looking in.  Approximately 10' along back wall, 7' on the right side of that span and extending toward front of garage.  I am working an industrial track manufacturer and may install a track in the same L shape directly on the joists, that will then allow me to slide the netting back on the track and up against the left garage wall where I could secure it. I am also considering a vertical curain like setup, where I would use pulleys to raise it up to the ceiling before securing it. I'm not really sure how to go about the latter - any recommendations there appreciated. 

 

Another question - if my joists are at 10 feet, what height netting is required to have enough slack and prevent bounceback? I was thinking 12 or 13 feet in height for safe measure. 

 

I will be buying a 5x10 hitting mat that I'll cut to size, probably 5x8.5' or 9 and plan to get a few tees that screw into and lock on the mat. Since this will initially be a practice area and not necessarily simulator, my next priority will  be getting a video/setup, and for conveniance will probably start by using my iPhone X hardwired to a mac-mini, or I may explore a small point/shoot camera that does no less than 1080p at 60 FPS. Also considering a LiveView setup so that I can look down at an ipad while in address position, but the video quality there is the biggest drawback.

 

Appreciat any thoughts, comments, or feedback. This isn't intended to be a bottom-dollar garage setup, but also isn't intended to be a full simulator build. Long term goal would be a GCQuad with projector but that is likely a ways off. 

[SecondandGoal]

If your joists are at 10 feet, why wouldn't you want your netting hanging below them? If you hit a ball off a joist, that's going to be a huge safety risk. You want to be at least 6 inches, preferably at least a foot, from any structure, including joists and walls. You want your netting to be able to have about 6-8 inches of give without hitting what's behind it. That gives it enough slack to absorb impact, without enough tension to cause springback.

As far as the tees, check out Tomahawk tees. They're great for hitting off mats or frozen ground. For my sim setup, I just attach them to a piece of string so they don't go flying too far. Much easier than the ones that screw into the mat.

[ilikegolf26]

3 hours ago, SecondandGoal said:

If your joists are at 10 feet, why wouldn't you want your netting hanging below them? If you hit a ball off a joist, that's going to be a huge safety risk. You want to be at least 6 inches, preferably at least a foot, from any structure, including joists and walls. You want your netting to be able to have about 6-8 inches of give without hitting what's behind it. That gives it enough slack to absorb impact, without enough tension to cause springback.

As far as the tees, check out Tomahawk tees. They're great for hitting off mats or frozen ground. For my sim setup, I just attach them to a piece of string so they don't go flying too far. Much easier than the ones that screw into the mat.

Joists support the roof. He's not going to be hitting shots straight up and ricocheting at him unless his garage is really long and he's like 20 feet from his net and even then that would be an extreme launch angle to hit a joist. 

 

My netting hangs down from a 10' ceiling OP and its a 12' net so there's about 2-2.5' feet actually laying on the floor after accounting for the hooks it hangs from in the ceiling. 

Edited October 20, 2020 by ilikegolf26

[SecondandGoal]

3 hours ago, ilikegolf26 said:

Joists support the roof. He's not going to be hitting shots straight up and ricocheting at him unless his garage is really long and he's like 20 feet from his net and even then that would be an extreme launch angle to hit a joist. 

 

My netting hangs down from a 10' ceiling OP and its a 12' net so there's about 2-2.5' feet actually laying on the floor after accounting for the hooks it hangs from in the ceiling. 

 

I know what a joist is. I don't know what the pitch of his roof is, or what the building code is where he lives, but the joists are generally every 18", unless you have a very shallow pitch. He said the joists are at 10'. He also said he wants to hang his netting at 12'-13', which would be above the joists, leaving the joists exposed.

From the original post: " if my joists are at 10 feet, what height netting is required to have enough slack and prevent bounceback? I was thinking 12 or 13 feet in height for safe measure."

Even at 10' from the screen/back net, I can get a ball more than 10' off the ground with a wedge, no problem at all, which would put it in danger of hitting one of the joists if the net is above the joist. Why would you want to risk hitting the joists and having the ball ricochet god knows where? Even if it doesn't come right back at you, it could hit a window, hit a wall, hit a wall and hit you, fly out the garage door and hit your dog. 

Which is why I suggested hanging it below the joists instead. 9.5 feet off the ground a couple feet in front of the hitting area is plenty high to catch even the highest shots, without interfering with swing follow through.

[GoTime]

2 hours ago, SecondandGoal said:

 

I know what a joist is. I don't know what the pitch of his roof is, or what the building code is where he lives, but the joists are generally every 18", unless you have a very shallow pitch. He said the joists are at 10'. He also said he wants to hang his netting at 12'-13', which would be above the joists, leaving the joists exposed.

From the original post: " if my joists are at 10 feet, what height netting is required to have enough slack and prevent bounceback? I was thinking 12 or 13 feet in height for safe measure."

Even at 10' from the screen/back net, I can get a ball more than 10' off the ground with a wedge, no problem at all, which would put it in danger of hitting one of the joists if the net is above the joist. Why would you want to risk hitting the joists and having the ball ricochet god knows where? Even if it doesn't come right back at you, it could hit a window, hit a wall, hit a wall and hit you, fly out the garage door and hit your dog. 

Which is why I suggested hanging it below the joists instead. 9.5 feet off the ground a couple feet in front of the hitting area is plenty high to catch even the highest shots, without interfering with swing follow through.

 

 

Thanks for your comments, both of you. I apologize if I wasn't clear, the joists are not roof joists, but floor/ceiling, so the net will hang below them. the 12-13 feet was for net size, not hanging height.

 

I hadn't really thought about hitting a wedge above the 10 foot mark, was hoping I would be close enough to the netting that it wouldn't be a problem. I mostly flight my wedges so will mostly be focusing on that and not as much the high stuff. 

 

I ended up ordering galvanized steel industrial curtain track, and a net that is 12' tall and 18' wide, with a rope border and lead rope bottom border. That will hopefully provide enough slack all around, and protect my motorcycle parked to the right from shanks 🙂 Hitting mat arrives tomorrow so once everything arrives I'll be able to get started. 

Edited October 20, 2020 by 000

[GoTime]

Does anyone have any camera setup recommendations? Thinking about trying the LiveView as a bandaid solution. Being able to view things as mirror on an ipad is appealing but as mentioned above the resolution leaves something to be desired.

[Yrrdead]

9 hours ago, 000 said:

Does anyone have any camera setup recommendations? Thinking about trying the LiveView as a bandaid solution. Being able to view things as mirror on an ipad is appealing but as mentioned above the resolution leaves something to be desired.

This thread on golfsimforums is pretty exhaustive; https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/build-your-own/computer-systems/88432-primer-what-s-needed-to-record-a-golf-swing#post183593

[mjforn]

I have 10' ceilings in my garage and 8' garage doors.  This is what I ended up with after a few dimple marks in the ceiling  and walls.

 

From Menards I got the heavy duty 10"x14"shelf brackets. These brackets were mounted on  the wall (into the studs) just under the garage door rails less than 10' apart. On those two brackets were mounted 2 - 5' lengths of 1/2 black pipe and another 10' pipe is mounted to those using 1/2" tees (cut the length of the brackets that extend from the wall),add a few nipples to make the cross 10'. This create an extension and cross bar just under the garage door rails when open. This is where I mounted the end of the net. Why, so I don't hit the ceiling when using my 60* w. Just under that I mounted another set of brackets (10"x12") more than 10' wide. Onto these I mounted another 1/2 pipe about 12' long, this is the curtain rod. On this pipe I hang a 12x16 painters tarp (this protects the drywall). The net hangs just in front of the pipe held in place by line strung from the ends of that pipe. This creates a cage that covers the ceiling and wall, and one doesn't have to rehang. On the floor I us a few indoor/outdoor rugs these cut down the ball bounces. There are a few options for the floor end of the net you could just leave the net just hang to the floor, our you could add lines to the ends that create a bigger netted area and return. After I'm done I just hang the net off the lower pipe with a few hooks, it's out of the way. The net I purchased is a 10x16 net from DynaMax its 3 years old I'll more than likely get a new one this year as this one has a few holes in it.

 

Home Depot will cut pipe to length so thats where I got the pipe from. Menards was the only place I found the shelf bracket at.

 

Drinking Scotch and watching the WS, hope this makes sense.

 

[GoTime]

On 10/24/2020 at 11:40 PM, mjforn said:

I have 10' ceilings in my garage and 8' garage doors.  This is what I ended up with after a few dimple marks in the ceiling  and walls.

 

From Menards I got the heavy duty 10"x14"shelf brackets. These brackets were mounted on  the wall (into the studs) just under the garage door rails less than 10' apart. On those two brackets were mounted 2 - 5' lengths of 1/2 black pipe and another 10' pipe is mounted to those using 1/2" tees (cut the length of the brackets that extend from the wall),add a few nipples to make the cross 10'. This create an extension and cross bar just under the garage door rails when open. This is where I mounted the end of the net. Why, so I don't hit the ceiling when using my 60* w. Just under that I mounted another set of brackets (10"x12") more than 10' wide. Onto these I mounted another 1/2 pipe about 12' long, this is the curtain rod. On this pipe I hang a 12x16 painters tarp (this protects the drywall). The net hangs just in front of the pipe held in place by line strung from the ends of that pipe. This creates a cage that covers the ceiling and wall, and one doesn't have to rehang. On the floor I us a few indoor/outdoor rugs these cut down the ball bounces. There are a few options for the floor end of the net you could just leave the net just hang to the floor, our you could add lines to the ends that create a bigger netted area and return. After I'm done I just hang the net off the lower pipe with a few hooks, it's out of the way. The net I purchased is a 10x16 net from DynaMax its 3 years old I'll more than likely get a new one this year as this one has a few holes in it.

 

Home Depot will cut pipe to length so thats where I got the pipe from. Menards was the only place I found the shelf bracket at.

 

Drinking Scotch and watching the WS, hope this makes sense.

 

 

Lol this is a lot to follow. A picture would be helpful. 

[mjforn]

5 hours ago, 000 said:

 

Lol this is a lot to follow. A picture would be helpful. 

 

Granted it's a used tarp but the big brown stain in the middle does help....

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by mjforn

[GoTime]

So my net setup stops the ball just fine, but being in the garage the balls will hit the concrete once stopped by the net and will bounce/roll toward the garage door given the slight back to front slope of the floor.

 

Any ideas how how to stop that or help them stay at the base of the net?

Edited November 28, 2020 by 000

[Curmudg3on]

6 hours ago, 000 said:

So my net setup stops the ball just fine, but being in the garage the balls will hit the concrete once stopped by the net and will bounce/roll toward the garage door given the slight back to front slope of the floor.

 

Any ideas how how to stop that or help them stay at the base of the net?

 

Place some foam rubber at the base of the net or at least some thick carpet.

[mjforn]

On 11/28/2020 at 7:27 AM, 000 said:

So my net setup stops the ball just fine, but being in the garage the balls will hit the concrete once stopped by the net and will bounce/roll toward the garage door given the slight back to front slope of the floor.

 

Any ideas how how to stop that or help them stay at the base of the net?

A friend of mine suggested using an old rug, that kept the balls from rebounding off the concrete. But moving it was a pain. I ended up purchasing a few indoor-outdoor rugs at Costco, I can leave them on the floor I just move the mat into position to hit.

 

 

.

[mjforn]

Here's a picture.....

[captr]

I have hung my 10 ft net in the garage and I want to make it retractable to the ceiling.  I have a pvc pipe connected at the bottom and hoped to use a pulley system to raise it out of the way.  Not having much luck, since the pulleys raise the bar and the net droops down into my way.  Is there a system or way to have it roll around the pvc bar and get up out of my way?  Any suggestions, pictures or videos would be appreciated----I have not been able to figure it ou.

[bayrat88]

 

On 1/12/2021 at 1:11 PM, captr said:

I have hung my 10 ft net in the garage and I want to make it retractable to the ceiling.  I have a pvc pipe connected at the bottom and hoped to use a pulley system to raise it out of the way.  Not having much luck, since the pulleys raise the bar and the net droops down into my way.  Is there a system or way to have it roll around the pvc bar and get up out of my way?  Any suggestions, pictures or videos would be appreciated----I have not been able to figure it ou.

 

I used a steel cable, turnbuckles, eye hooks, and carabiners to make a "shower curtain" type setup that I can slide to the side and bungee cord when we want to pull our car in. Works really well. Just need a bigger TV behind the net.... 

[Circaflex]

29 minutes ago, bayrat88 said:

 

 

I used a steel cable, turnbuckles, eye hooks, and carabiners to make a "shower curtain" type setup that I can slide to the side and bungee cord when we want to pull our car in. Works really well. Just need a bigger TV behind the net.... 

 

Nice! Oh and btw LGM!!!