How do I set up a home golf simulator? A plain-English guide

Who does what

We supply every part and deliver it to your door, and we're here for questions at every step. We don't send a fitter: most of our customers build the simulator themselves, and a second pair of hands makes the enclosure and screen much easier. If you'd rather not do it yourself, we recommend booking a handyman through Airtasker to follow the same steps.

Set aside an afternoon. The checklist table on this page gives a rough time for each step. If a word is new to you, the glossary explains it in plain English.

Before delivery day

Do this the week before. If you're still choosing parts, start with what you need for a golf simulator.

1. Clear and measure the room. We design rooms from 3.0m wide, 2.7m high and 4.2m long, and a ceiling of 3m or more is ideal. Measure at the narrowest and lowest points, including beams, lights and garage door runners. A radar launch monitor sits behind you, so it needs more length: 5.2m for a FlightScope Mevo Gen2 and 5.85m for a Full Swing KIT. Will a golf simulator fit my room? has the size for each enclosure.
2. Find your power sockets. The projector needs a socket near where it will sit, and so does a PC if you use one. Launch monitors run on a battery but need charging. Plan the leads so none cross the spot where you stand and swing.
3. Check the Wi-Fi in the room. Wi-Fi is your home's wireless internet. Stand where you'll hit and play a video on your phone. If it struggles, sort that first: apps, sign-ins and updates all need it, and garages are often the weak spot.
4. Get the PC or tablet ready. If your setup uses a PC, switch it on the day before and let Windows, the system that runs most PCs, finish its updates. Charge the tablet and update its apps.
5. Create your accounts. Each maker has its own: a Garmin account for the R50, a FlightScope account for the Mevo Gen2, a Foresight account for the GC3, and an account with GSPro if you'll use it. Write the passwords down somewhere you'll find them on the day.
6. Have an HDMI cable ready. HDMI is the cable that carries the picture to the projector. It isn't included in our SimSpace packages, so measure the run from the R50, PC or tablet to where the projector will sit. Our 10m HDMI 2.1 cable covers most rooms.

On the day, in order

1. Unbox and check

Open everything and check it against the box list on the product page before you build. If anything is missing or damaged, tell us before you go any further.

2. Build the enclosure and hang the screen

Follow the SimSpace assembly sheet and the video its QR code links to. SimSpace says the build takes 45 minutes or less. Leave at least 30cm clear behind the screen and 8cm each side of the frame. The screen fixes to the inner velcro strips, starting at one corner, then the bungee toggles on its back go round the poles to take out the slack. It should be firm, not drum-tight: push the middle and it should give about 25cm.

3. Lay the mat

Put the rubber base down first and the hitting mat on top, with the hitting spot about 2.5m from the screen and in line with its middle. If everyone in the house plays right-handed, the mat can sit a little off-centre to give the swing more room.

4. Place the projector

The BenQ projector in our packages is short-throw, which means it fills the screen from close up: 2.04m from the screen for SIM 0 to SIM 4, about 46cm in front of the ball. It sits in a floor case or on an arm bolted to the enclosure frame. Plug in the HDMI cable, switch it on and move it until the picture fills the screen. Its keystone and Screen Fill settings then square up the edges. Keystone means straightening a picture that's wider at one end because the projector is tilted; moving the projector itself gives a sharper result than heavy correction.

5. Set up the launch monitor

Charge it fully with the charger from the box. Update its firmware, the small piece of software inside the unit, through its app or menu. Place it as its manual says, then align it so it knows which way is straight. The exact steps are in our guides for the Garmin R50, Square Golf, FlightScope Mevo Gen2, Foresight GC3 and Full Swing KIT.

6. Connect the software and hit your first shot

Open the app or software, sign in and connect it to the launch monitor. Set right- or left-handed. Then hit a few half-swing wedges with a clean ball. If the shot on screen starts where you aimed and the ball lands near the middle of the screen, you're set up.

How the pieces talk to each other

Think of it as a chain: launch monitor, then the device running the software, then an HDMI cable, then the projector, then the screen. The launch monitor measures the shot and sends the numbers to the R50's own screen, a phone or tablet app, or a PC. That device draws the shot and sends the picture to the projector.

The first link depends on the unit. Some use Wi-Fi. Some use Bluetooth, a short-range wireless link between two devices that you set up once by "pairing" them. Some use a cable to the PC. The link to the projector is HDMI in every setup we sell.

Three common setups

No computer: Garmin R50

The R50 runs Garmin's simulator, Home Tee Hero, on its own 10-inch touchscreen and has an HDMI socket, so the cable goes straight from the R50 to the projector. The driving range works without a subscription; course play needs a Garmin Golf membership. If you want GSPro later, you add a PC.

Phone or tablet: Square Golf or Mevo Gen2

Square Golf plays through its own app on iPhone, iPad or Android, and the unit talks to it by Bluetooth. The Mevo Gen2 connects to the FS Golf app over Wi-Fi: you scan the QR code on the unit. Plug it in the first time to wake it from shipping mode, and indoors put an aluminium sticker on the ball so it can read spin. A new Mevo Gen2 comes with eight E6 Connect courses that play on an iPad. To get a tablet's picture onto the projector, use an HDMI adapter for its charging port, or wireless screen mirroring through a box such as an Apple TV.

Windows PC: GSPro, Foresight Premier or E6

Big-screen course software runs on a Windows PC: GSPro and Foresight Premier need Windows 10 or 11. The launch monitor connects to the PC, and the PC connects to the projector by HDMI. The Foresight GC3 connects by USB-C or Wi-Fi and uses Foresight+ alongside Premier, with a 30-day Foresight+ trial on a new device. The Full Swing KIT runs Full Swing GOLF on a PC; our KIT Studio packages include the cables, and Studio Plus adds a gaming laptop. Software by launch monitor has the full list.

Your first week

• Fold lines in the screen drop out on their own over a few days to a few weeks.
• Use new, clean balls. Scuffed, marked and soft premium balls wear the screen faster.
• Aim for the middle of the screen. That's what makes it last.
• Re-align the launch monitor any time the unit or the mat moves.
• Keep sunlight and bright lamps out of a camera unit's lenses.
• Hold off activating paid add-on software until everything works in your room. Some licences lock to the device once registered and can't be refunded.

When to get in touch

Message us if a part is missing or damaged, if the enclosure won't go together as the sheet shows, if the picture won't fill the screen, or if you're not sure which cable or software you need. If the launch monitor misses shots, work through troubleshooting and care first. A photo or a short video of the problem lets me see what you see. For a fault in the launch monitor itself, the maker handles the warranty and I'll help you with the claim.