How should I light a golf simulator room?

Two jobs that pull against each other

A simulator room needs a dark screen and a well-lit hitting area. A projector can't make black, so any light that lands on the impact screen turns the picture grey. BenQ, who make the projector in our packages, put it plainly: keep light off the screen while you light up the playing area. Get that right and most of the rest follows.

Step 1: control the daylight

1. Check the room at the sunniest time of day you'll play, with the projector on.
2. Fit blackout blinds or curtains to any window that lights the screen or the hitting area. In a garage, seal the door edges.
3. Close the sides. BenQ recommends a curtain or enclosure on both sides of the screen, and SimSpace's enclosures use black velour that blocks light from the sides and top.
4. If you can't get the room dark, a grey screen helps. SimSpace says its UltraMAX grey screen boosts contrast and reduces the effect of ambient light.

Step 2: enough projector for the room

BenQ suggests 3,000 lumens or more for screens around 8 to 9ft (2.4 to 2.7m) tall, and 4,000 to 6,000 for larger screens or rooms with some ambient light. The BenQ AH500ST in our packages gives 4,000 ANSI lumens. That's plenty for a dark room. It won't beat sunlight, which is why step 1 comes first.

Step 3: light the hitting area, not the screen

BenQ's suggestions, which match what works in the rooms we design:

• PAR38 LED bulbs: they fit an ordinary bulb socket but throw a focused beam, so the light lands on the mat rather than the screen.
• Ceiling track lighting mounted to the side of the hitting area, with the spots aimed at the mat. Light from the side keeps reflections off the screen.
• Pin spotlights, which BenQ notes can be as low as 3 watts each, combined to light just the hitting area.

Never aim a light at the screen, and keep fittings behind the hitting position or beside it rather than between the player and the screen. Put the hitting-area lights on a separate switch or dimmer from the rest of the room, so you can play with just the mat lit.

Step 4: what your launch monitor needs

Camera units

Camera launch monitors photograph the ball and club at impact. What their makers say:

• Square Golf uses built-in infrared LED lighting. It wants a room with little to no sunlight, the front never facing the sun, and no interference from other infrared lighting.
• NVisage says the NEO-E uses an infrared sensor, and lighting that interferes with infrared indoors may cause it to malfunction. It also warns against strong light on the sensor and unstable lighting, and against mirrors or glass in the camera's view.
• Garmin says to minimise direct sunlight on the front of the R50 and on the clubface, and keep reflective surfaces out of the camera's view.
• TruGolf says direct sunlight into the LaunchBox's lens causes inconsistent shot capture.

The makers don't name lamp types. Filament and halogen bulbs give off much of their energy as infrared, so they're the first to swap for LED if a camera unit misreads. BenQ notes that launch monitors need enough light on the hitting area to see the ball; Square Golf and NVisage bring their own infrared light, so for them the risk is the wrong light rather than too little.

Radar units

Radar doesn't need light at all, but it is sensitive to electrical noise. FlightScope lists fluorescent lights, fans, air conditioning, TVs, computers and fridges in front of the Mevo Gen2 as causes of poor tracking. Many garages have fluorescent tubes over the middle of the floor. Move them behind the radar, or replace them with LED.

Step 5: glare and reflections

• A gloss-painted wall or ceiling next to the screen bounces light back onto it. Matt, dark finishes around the bay help.
• A shiny floor reflects light into a camera unit. A hitting mat and underlay cover it.
• Mirrors and glass in a camera's view cause misreads, so keep them out of its line of sight.
• A mat the same colour as the ball confuses cameras. Square Golf asks for a mat colour distinct from the ball.

A practical layout

In most rooms we design, that comes down to:

• Blackout on every window.
• Two or three focused LED spots on a track above and slightly behind the hitting area, aimed down at the mat.
• A separate dimmable circuit for general room light.
• Nothing lit inside the enclosure.

Test with the projector on and a few shots before fixing anything permanently. Where does a launch monitor go? has the placement distances for each model.