A photometric launch monitor that now adds dual Doppler radar, so for the first time the SkyTrak line gives you real club data (head speed, path, face angle, smash) alongside its long-trusted ball flight numbers. It sits in the gap between cheap toys and the 10k-plus Foresight and Trackman units, aimed squarely at the golfer building a room or garage bay.
The Complete Home Golf Simulator Setup
Every part of a home sim, explained and priced — from a garage bay to a dream room.
A home golf simulator is really six decisions, not one purchase: a launch monitor (the brain that reads your ball and club), simulator software (the courses), something to hit into (a net or a framed enclosure and screen), a projector (the picture), a hitting mat (what you feel on every swing), and the floor. Get the order and the matching right and you build a room you'll use every dark evening; get them wrong and you overspend on the parts that don't matter and starve the ones that do. This is our full cut of the gear that's genuinely worth it, across every budget.
Start with the room, not the wallet — it caps everything. The single most common and expensive mistake is buying a radar launch monitor for a shallow space: radar needs roughly sixteen feet of ball flight to read straight, while a camera (photometric) unit reads the strike itself and thrives in a tight garage. Measure your ceiling, depth and width first, then buy the technology your space can actually feed. Our free Sim Room Architect tool turns your exact dimensions and budget into a fitted, costed build in a minute, and it won't recommend a unit your room can't use.
Spend where you feel it. The launch monitor and the mat are the two parts you rely on every single session, so they earn the biggest share of the budget — a trustworthy unit like the SkyTrak+ and a joint-friendly mat like the SIGPRO Softy or Fiberbuilt Player Preferred pay you back over years. The screen and projector are what make it cinematic, but a net-and-numbers bay improves your golf exactly as much as the projected version, so add the enclosure, a 4K short-throw projector and the turf once the essentials are sorted. Whatever tier you build, buy for the golf you'll actually play, not the photos.
Garmin's premium photometric launch monitor and simulator. Three cameras read ball and club data, and a 10in colour touchscreen is built straight into the unit, so it runs Home Tee Hero virtual rounds and shows your numbers without any external laptop, tablet or phone. It works indoors with a net or screen and outdoors on the range, and packs into an included carry case.
A portable camera-plus-radar launch monitor from Rapsodo that doubles as a home sim, aimed at golfers who want proper ball data without remortgaging the house for a Trackman or GCQuad.
The Garmin Approach R10 is a pocket-sized radar launch monitor aimed at the golfer who wants real data, range practice, and a basic home sim setup without remortgaging the house.
A compact camera-based launch monitor and simulator for indoor use, sold direct in the UK through Square Golf's own site.
If you ask home-sim builders which projector to get, the TK700STi is the name that comes back most, and for good reason. It throws a big 4K picture from close range, so it mounts on the ceiling behind your hitting position instead of casting a shadow across the screen, and its low input lag keeps the ball flight feeling connected to your swing. The honest caveat is brightness: at 3,000 lumens it wants a room with the lights down or under control, so if you're fighting a lot of ambient light, look at a brighter laser unit instead.
This is the top of the projector tree for a dedicated sim room, and it's the one BenQ tuned specifically for golf rather than adapting from a home-cinema unit. You get true 4K, a bright 4,000-lumen laser engine that holds a punchy image even with some room light, and golf-specific picture modes plus fast corner-fit keystone that make the install less of a fight. It's a premium spend and it isn't sold on Amazon — the golf specialists carry it — so it's the pick for a dream build where the picture is part of the point, not a starter room.
This is the projector I point people toward when the sim room isn't a blacked-out cave. The DuraCore laser puts out around 4,200 lumens, so it holds a punchy, watchable image with some daylight or overhead lighting in the room, and the laser engine means no lamp to replace for the life of the build. It projects a large image from close range like any good sim projector. It costs more than a lamp-based 1080p unit, so it's the pick when brightness — not just resolution — is what your room actually needs.
An enclosure is where a net-and-numbers bay becomes a proper simulator, and the SIG10 is the popular mid-sized answer. It pairs a sturdy, buildable frame with the SIGPRO Premium Screen — the one that beat the most popular impact screen in MyGolfSpy's head-to-head on durability, bounce-back and noise — and it's sized so the projected image fills the whole screen rather than leaving white bars top and bottom. At roughly 10'10" wide it suits a dedicated room more than a tight garage bay, so check your width against it first, then let it turn the projector and launch monitor you already chose into a real course.
A tensioned polyester impact screen that doubles as your projection surface and your ball-stopper, aimed at anyone building a home or garage golf sim instead of paying club rates to hit into a TrackMan bay.
The FORB Pro Pop-Up net in the 10x7ft size, a simple flat-panel hitting net for back garden practice, aimed at anyone who wants to bash balls at home without a full cage.
When a home sim goes from occasional to daily, the mat is what your body notices, and the Player Preferred is the upgrade serious builders settle on. Its Pure Impact Turf gives a genuine grass-blade feel with honest feedback on where you struck it — a fat shot feels fat — rather than the trampoline bounce of a hard mat, and Fiberbuilt quotes a vibration-absorption layer that soaks up the vast majority of the shock a bare surface sends into your wrists and elbows. It's a real investment at studio-mat money, and it's built to last years of that use, which is the point: you buy it once instead of replacing a cheap mat every season.
The Softy earned its reputation on two things: it's kind to your joints and it lasts. A soft foam layer under a Teeline turf top absorbs the shock a bare mat on concrete sends into your wrists and elbows over a winter of daily reps, and it accepts a real wooden tee rather than the rubber stubs cheaper mats force on you. The clever part is the replaceable hitting strip — when the contact zone wears, you swap a strip for a fraction of the price of a whole new mat, which is why it works out cheaper over three years than the budget option you'd replace. It's a permanent-build purchase, not a casual one.
The FORB Tri-Turf is a small, foldable three-section practice mat (roughly 60cm x 40cm) with separate fairway, rough and fringe turf strips, aimed at golfers who want to rehearse different lies in the garage, garden or at the range without lugging a full mat about.
A premium roll-out putting mat with a wooden frame, two hole sizes, alignment "train track" lines and a gravity ball return, fronted by Dustin Johnson. Aimed at golfers who want to grind their short putts at home or in the office.
A 3m roll-up putting mat from WellPutt, the entry 10ft First model in their range. The surface is printed with alignment and stroke-length markers and pairs with a free app that walks you through drills built around setup, start line, pace and consistency. It is a structured practice system more than a novelty mat.
Frequently asked
- What do you need to build a home golf simulator?
- Six things: a launch monitor (the brain), simulator software (the courses), something to hit into (a net or a framed enclosure and screen), a projector for the picture, a quality hitting mat, and the floor. You can start with just a launch monitor, net and mat played off a tablet, then add the screen and projector later.
- How much does a home golf simulator cost?
- It splits into tiers: a practice bay (launch monitor, net, mat, on a tablet) runs roughly $650–$1,900; a starter sim that projects a real course is about $2,550–$5,100; a serious, fitting-grade room with 4K optics and an enclosure is around $6,350–$11,450; and a dream room with a turf floor and putting green starts near $15,250. Software subscriptions are a separate yearly cost.
- What's the most important part of a golf simulator?
- The launch monitor and the hitting mat. The launch monitor is the accuracy of everything you see, and the mat is what your body feels on every swing and what protects your joints. Spend the biggest share of the budget there; the screen and projector change how it feels, not how much you improve.
- Do I need a radar or a camera launch monitor?
- Your room decides. Radar units need roughly sixteen feet of ball flight to read accurately, so they suit deep rooms and going to the range. Camera (photometric) units read the ball at impact and work in tight spaces, so they're the right tool for most garages and spare rooms. Buying radar for a shallow room is the classic expensive mistake.
- Do I need a projector, or will a net do?
- A net with a launch monitor and a tablet is a complete practice bay and improves your golf just as much as a projected setup — it's the cheaper, sensible place to start. A projector and impact screen add the play-the-course experience, which is worth it for enjoyment and motivation, so add them once the launch monitor and mat are sorted.