Budget Golf Guy’s room tour starts with the space he needed to swing

Budget Golf Guy’s October 6 home tour begins with a constraint that equipment shopping could not solve. His existing house and garage had ceilings no higher than nine feet, and he says his height left him unable to swing comfortably there.

He built an addition over the former back deck, giving the simulator area ceilings of about ten and a half feet. The room grew over roughly five years from a net and mat into a family golf and gathering space.

He puts his spending at approximately $13,000, including the computer, televisions and heating and cooling. That is his own overall estimate. He did much of the construction himself, drawing on a construction background, and the video does not provide a complete itemized cost record.

For another builder, the lesson is to separate the room work from the equipment. Carl’s Place recommends ten feet or more of ceiling height for many full-swing setups while stressing that the golfer’s height, club length and swing matter. Its measuring guide advises checking the actual swing space and the launch monitor’s own requirements. A single ceiling measurement cannot settle the fit for every golfer.

Inside this room, the creator uses a Square Golf launch monitor and a homebuilt enclosure. Used televisions and a secondhand Optoma projector helped stretch his budget. An older Epson projector found a new role projecting onto the floor rather than being discarded.

Two later changes stand out in his account. A SIGPRO 3D hitting strip replaced part of the earlier mat, and he says it felt better on his wrists and elbows. That is his experience, not evidence that a particular strip prevents injury. A mini-split heating and cooling system made the Colorado room more useful through changing seasons.

The tour is a record of choices accumulated over time. Historical secondhand bargains and personal construction labor do not establish what the same finished room would cost today.

The practical starting point is visible throughout: confirm a space that accommodates your swing, then decide which purchases make it easier to use that space regularly.

Another build: leave room for the screen frame

Ty Zaczkowski’s separate July 5 installation video shows the measurements that come between choosing a screen and framing the room around it. This is a different project from Budget Golf Guy’s Colorado addition.

Zaczkowski starts with a room close to 12 feet high and plans a nominal 120-inch-high, 192-inch-wide Ace Indoor Golf screen. That is a 16:10 screen size. His framed opening is wider, about 206 inches, to allow for the rails, bungees and finishing materials around it.

One decision changes during the walkthrough. He first discusses a frame 12 inches from the back wall, then installs it 16 inches out. He says the extra distance allows more room behind the large screen and helps align the framing with the building’s supports. The video finishes with the frame, angle iron and hook-and-loop material prepared; the impact screen has not yet arrived.

Ace’s current measuring notes explain another distinction worth checking before ordering. Its screen dimensions are measured edge to edge. The company says the viewable image is four inches narrower and two inches shorter because of the top and side edges; the bottom shock-cord pocket is excluded from the ordered height.

Those are three different measurements: the room opening, the overall screen and the projected image. Zaczkowski’s walkthrough makes the space around the screen part of the room plan, while the manufacturer’s guide supplies the dimensions to check for its particular product.