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Has Anyone On Here Ever Built a Home Golf Simulator?

Bluecondor

Bluecondor

Member
For many years, I have loved games that bring together exercise and video games. I absolutely loved Wii Sports and played Ring Fit Adventure daily for over a year during the pandemic.

About a year-and-a-half ago, I decided that I wanted to have an addition built on the back of my house. I live in a small house that is 10 minutes north of downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Housing is (was) really cheap in Pittsburgh, and I paid off my mortgage way back in 2012.

My addition is a 15 X 30 (450 square foot) room (with a ceiling between 10.5-12 feet). I am calling this my "sports room," as I want to work out in this room every day. The defining part of the room is a golf simulator that I have studied, envisioned and thought through for a long while.

Has anyone on here ever built a golf simulator or had one built like I'm doing? There are tons of forums for this online and videos on YouTube with hardcore golf sim guys, but I wanted to ask here, as people on here really understand the gaming side. Also, I just wanted to share this on here, as people here get the love of gaming and how something related to gaming just brings joy.

Here are the official specs from the designer (with some notes I added for fun):

9S9Uxg3.jpg
 
Pejo

Pejo

Member
I'm not a huge golf fan myself but you could also use it as a pretty great VR space. Do one of those Augmented Reality streams with you playing Beat Saber.
 
Bluecondor

Bluecondor

Member
SlimeGooGoo said:
OOORRRR....

You could play REAL LIFE GOLF!
Click to expand...
Definitely!!!!

The problem is that I live in Pittsburgh. I want to practice and play golf every day. With regard to weather, that is only really possible here from mid-April through late-October. I still go to the driving range nearly every day (5+ times a week), but going to the driving range on a day like today (42 degrees and a steady rain) is miserable, and going to the driving range when it is in the 30s or below in December, January and February and in the 40s or below in November and March is a grind.

The worst is that I don't have anywhere to work on my putting and my short game from late-October through April (the putting green at the driving range literally just opened up again last Friday).

So, this will be a game change for me......
 
Bluecondor

Bluecondor

Member
Pejo said:
I'm not a huge golf fan myself but you could also use it as a pretty great VR space. Do one of those Augmented Reality streams with you playing Beat Saber.
Click to expand...
I am definitely thinking about this giving me the capacity to play other VR and augmented reality games in the future. The simulator has a computer, so it can easily be connected to my Steam account. I'm also getting some higher end cameras with that that will allow me to to both stream and take golf lessons virtually. I am having the space developed so that it could be used for other cool gaming applications in the future.
 
poodaddy

poodaddy

Member
I've thought about finishing my attic into something like this, but I kind of think it'd be a waste as I have a home gym already. Think I might go with a music room instead, but this is a cool idea man. I'm jealous you paid off your mortgage early, I feel like if I paid off my mortgage I'd almost feel rich, which I'm definitely not lol, but the increase in disposable income would be great.
 
Bluecondor

Bluecondor

Member
poodaddy said:
I've thought about finishing my attic into something like this, but I kind of think it'd be a waste as I have a home gym already. Think I might go with a music room instead, but this is a cool idea man. I'm jealous you paid off your mortgage early, I feel like if I paid off my mortgage I'd almost feel rich, which I'm definitely not lol, but the increase in disposable income would be great.
Click to expand...
That's awesome that you are thinking about a music room. You have a similar concept as me, improve the house by adding a room that you will enjoy. LOL, a buddy of mine who is really into remodeling was trying to talk me out of this and remodeling my upstairs bedrooms instead. I have 0 motivation to remodel bedrooms that I have never used, but 100% motivation for this project.

Ya, I bought my house for $82,500 back in 2001. I started off with a 30 year mortgage at 6.75% interest and was able to refinance that to a 15 year mortgage at 5.25%, probably close to '08 ironically. I soon realized that paying off the 15 year mortgage was doable and I paid it off in 2012. I have saved/invested all of that "former mortgage payment" money basically, which now makes the addition possible.
 
poodaddy

poodaddy

Member
Bluecondor said:
That's awesome that you are thinking about a music room. You have a similar concept as me, improve the house by adding a room that you will enjoy. LOL, a buddy of mine who is really into remodeling was trying to talk me out of this and remodeling my upstairs bedrooms instead. I have 0 motivation to remodel bedrooms that I have never used, but 100% motivation for this project.

Ya, I bought my house for $82,500 back in 2001. I started off with a 30 year mortgage at 6.75% interest and was able to refinance that to a 15 year mortgage at 5.25%, probably close to '08 ironically. I soon realized that paying off the 15 year mortgage was doable and I paid it off in 2012. I have saved/invested all of that "former mortgage payment" money basically, which now makes the addition possible.
Click to expand...
Jesus man my mortgage is over triple that in Maine. You got in at a great fuckin price bro, good for you. I don't see me paying my mortgage off for another 20 years or so, but I do believe I can get it paid off early for sure. I guess we'll see how disciplined I can be lol.

Yeah it's fun to turn rooms into something you love. I wish I had a better basement for remodeling, as it's really huge but the heat and plumbing pipes are just a bit too low down there and even if I put a cap up I'd have to hunch over slightly down there, and I'm only 5'11. I just like turning useless rooms into something with a purpose, feels like up cycling in a sense.
 
Bluecondor

Bluecondor

Member
poodaddy said:
Jesus man my mortgage is over triple that in Maine. You got in at a great fuckin price bro, good for you. I don't see me paying my mortgage off for another 20 years or so, but I do believe I can get it paid off early for sure. I guess we'll see how disciplined I can be lol.

Yeah it's fun to turn rooms into something you love. I wish I had a better basement for remodeling, as it's really huge but the heat and plumbing pipes are just a bit too low down there and even if I put a cap up I'd have to hunch over slightly down there, and I'm only 5'11. I just like turning useless rooms into something with a purpose, feels like up cycling in a sense.
Click to expand...
Ya, the housing market in Pittsburgh was depressed for many years, so that is the main explanation for the great price. $250,000-$300,000 is becoming more common around here in today's market. I do remember paying down my mortgage though. It was amazing to see how much of an impact it made to pay down the principal. With compound interest on a 30 year mortgage, even an extra $50 payment now and then really starts to make a difference.

I had the same problem as you in my basement. The ceiling in my basement is too low and there just isn't enough room down there. This is why I had to build an addition on the back of the house for this.
 
Bluecondor

Bluecondor

Member
Alex Anderson said:
I wish you luck in achieving your first simulated hole-in-one.
Click to expand...
Having hit on simulators before, it feels pretty accurate. At Top Golf, the simulator is sometimes off in terms of picking up where the ball goes after it lands. But, I do find that, overall, my shots on the simulator are reasonably similar to my real golf shots.

So, if I ever get a hole-in-one on the simulator, it will be very memorable.
 
crazymangya

crazymangya

Neo Member
I Enjoy GOLF+ on Meta Quest 2 a lot. Me and my 65yr. old dad we both play it for and hour or 2 on weekends.

I highly suggest you check that game out if you own a Quest 1 or Quest 2
 
Bluecondor

Bluecondor

Member
crazymangya said:
I Enjoy GOLF+ on Meta Quest 2 a lot. Me and my 65yr. old dad we both play it for and hour or 2 on weekends.

I highly suggest you check that game out if you own a Quest 1 or Quest 2
Click to expand...
I looked into the golf games on the Meta/FB VR, but reading about the golf club controllers that are available, golfers who used these controllers claimed that the golf games on Meta/FB have various limitations in swinging to simulate your actual golf swing. This concerns me, as I have only been golfing for 3 years, so I don't want to use a golf club controller and pick up bad habits if I would use it a lot. One complaint that was a deal breaker for me is from this video, which shows the guy using a very short club controller and having to slow down his swing to chip various distances. Man, I would not want to mess around with my short game shots like this, as I really have to practice to dial-in various distances for my wedges in real life:



As a golf video game (i.e. not a sim) though, the Top Golf game does seem very cool. Is the Top Golf game the one you and your Dad play?
 
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