My room is under your minimum size: what are my options?

Which number is short?

We plan simulator rooms from 3.0m wide, 2.7m high and 4.2m long, or 4.3m for the 3m-deep SIM 5 and SIM 6. Most rooms that miss it miss on one number, and the answer depends on which. A low ceiling changes which clubs you can swing. A narrow room changes where the ball sits and whether a driver is on. A short room changes which launch monitor and which bay. Measure all three at the lowest and narrowest points, under beams, lights and door runners, then find your row below. If a term is new, the glossary explains it.

One rule before the detail. Under the minimum we call a room tight, not impossible, and we would rather look at it with you than guess. What we will not do is sell you a bay that does not stand up, or promise a driver swing the ceiling will not allow.

Ceiling under 2.7m

Two things need the height: your swing and the enclosure. We plan 2.7m as the minimum for a full driver swing, with 3m or more ideal; SimSpace's own guidance calls 3m the comfortable height. Between 2.5m and 2.7m, irons and wedges are what we will promise. Whether a driver clears depends on your height and your swing plane, so stand where you would hit and make a slow, full swing with your longest club before you order anything. If the club touches, the driver stays a range club and the room is still a good irons simulator.

The enclosure is the second limit. SIM 0 to SIM 4 are 2.5m high inside and about 2.6m over the frame, so they stand in a room from 2.6m. SIM 5 and SIM 6 are 3m high inside and need 3.1m, so they are off the list. Under 2.6m no SimSpace bay stands, and neither SimSpace nor GolfBays makes a bay under 2.5m high. The route there is a screen only, fixed to your own frame and sized to the room, with foam on the walls beside and above it.

The launch monitor follows the same logic. Floor units beside the ball, such as the Garmin Approach R50, Foresight GC3 and Uneekor Eye Mini, need nothing overhead. Ceiling units have a height window: Uneekor's EYE XO2 and EYE XR mount at 2.7 to 3.0m, so a 2.5m room rules them out. Keep the projector off the ceiling too. In a low room the floor case between the mat and the screen keeps the lens clear of the swing, so ask for it instead of the ceiling mount our packages fit by default.

Height is the one dimension you can sometimes buy back: a garage or outbuilding opened up to the rafters often gains height above the tee. Width cannot be found the same way. The low-ceiling page has the launch monitor list and the room checker.

Width under 3.0m

Width is the number that decides the driver. A right-handed driver swing needs about 2.25m from the ball to the wall behind your back, and a screen's trim and bungees take 15 to 20cm off each side of the picture. When we asked GolfBays to engineer a 2.7m-wide garage in August 2026, their verdict was that there is no workaround: angled lines, an offset mat and software aim all push the ball towards the far wall and your aim into the corner of the screen. At 3.0m a driver is possible but compressed; at about 3.3m it is comfortable; under 3.0m, plan an irons-and-wedges room and keep the driver for the range.

The narrowest SimSpace bay, SIM 1, is 2.6m inside and 2.7m over the frame. With 8cm clear each side it needs 2.86m of wall, which is why 3.0m is our planning figure. GolfBays makes its SimBox in a 2.45m width with the Pro+ screen, which we list, and it is the narrowest bay we sell; in a 2.7m room it is an irons bay. For anything narrower, or an alcove, the better answer is a screen on a frame built to the opening. Your builder frames the alcove, we size the screen to it, the frame width minus 20cm and the frame height minus 10cm, and when no stock size fits GolfBays makes it to measure. The build your own bay page has every stock size and the made-to-measure order.

One thing helps a narrow room: a single-handed household. If everyone swings the same way, the mat can sit off-centre to give the swing more room beside the player. A mixed household needs the ball in the middle, which is where the width runs out.

Length under 4.2m

Our 4.2m is 30cm clear behind the screen, about 2.5m from ball to screen and room behind you to swing. The bay that bends that rule is SIM 0: 3.3m wide, 2.5m high and only 1m deep, with side netting included. We plan it from 2.8m of length, with about 3.56m of wall and a 2.7m ceiling, so it suits a room that is short but not narrow. It is not an answer to a low ceiling: it is as tall as SIM 1 to SIM 4.

The launch monitor matters more in a short room than anywhere else. Camera units sit beside the ball, the R50 about half a metre to the side, so they add nothing behind you. Radar units sit behind the ball and we follow the manual: a FlightScope Mevo Gen2 needs 2.4m behind the ball, which makes a 5.2m room, and a Full Swing KIT 3.05m, which makes 5.85m. If your room is under 5.2m, that decision is made for you: a camera unit. Radar vs camera explains why.

Under 2.8m there is no bay to fit and no sensible distance from ball to screen. That is a different purchase, below.

When it is too small on two counts

A 2.4m ceiling in a 2.5m-wide garage is not a simulator room, and I would rather say so than sell you a screen you hit the ceiling in front of. Three things give you real practice instead, and all three move indoors with you if the room ever changes.

• A garden cage. The Pro cage bundle is 3m by 3m by 3m, freestanding on grass or patio, with driver-rated netting and a mat, so every club in the bag gets a full swing outdoors. Our founder, at 6ft 1in, swings driver in one.
• A launch monitor you take to the range or the cage. The R50 runs its own screen and courses indoors or out, so the room becomes the place you review shots rather than the place you hit them. Launch monitors lists every unit.
• Putting. A low, short room is fine for a putting mat and short-game work, and putting has the options.

In summary

Short on ceiling: irons and wedges from 2.5m, a bay from 2.6m, a floor launch monitor and the projector in its floor case. Short on width: a screen on a frame, an irons room under 3.0m, the driver at the range. Short on length: SIM 0 from 2.8m and a camera unit. Short on two: a cage, a launch monitor for the range, or putting. Send the three measurements through the free 3D design and we will draw what fits.