How to build your own indoor golf den

We’ve all done it. You’ll be flicking aimlessly through social media and up pops a video which promises to show you a “dream golf man cave” while an overexcited American walks you round some millionaire’s basement. Pipe dreams? Not any more.

Do-it-yourself golf simulators are becoming more and more popular as the technology becomes more readily available and, by extension, cheaper. And when lockdown hit in 2020, so did a number of these home projects.

That was certainly the case for Kevin McHugh, a 44-year-old service manager for engineering company Bosch.

When posts of his own home golf simulator setup from Kevin started popping up in our timeline on X – then Twitter, of course – it got us thinking. Just how easy is it to convert your garage into a golf den?

So, we slid into his DMs to find out, and within moments we had a series of photographs detailing the project from start to finish.

We’ll let Kevin talk you through the initial process…

“Originally, I had an Optishot setup, which was very basic,” the eight-handicapper, who plays his golf at Cathkin Braes in Glasgow, says. “I put down a mat and was hitting into a shower curtain. I found that better than a bed sheet because it was more reflective.

“Then lockdown came, and golf courses closed, and everyone started panicking. I knew a guy who had a couple of Trackman launch monitors, so I cheekily contacted him and asked if I could rent one. If you don’t ask, you don’t get! I was quite surprised when he agreed to it. Of course, then I had to build myself an all-singing, all-dancing simulator setup.

“So, I bought a brand-new screen and had a frame specially built for it. Then I bought a projector and a gaming PC. Then I just started adding to the room – I’ve got pictures and flags on one wall, and a mural of the 12th at Augusta National on the other.

“But when lockdown ended, the chap I’d rented the Trackman from wanted it back, so I bought a SkyTrak. It was great but I stopped using it because courses re-opened and I got back into playing on the course. So I sold that. Then winter came, so I bought a Garmin R10. And again, that’s great for what it costs, and I’ve since upgraded that to the Rapsodo MLM 2 Pro, which has got two cameras in it, one to record you and one to record the impact.”

It sounds like a lot of effort…

“Not really,” Kevin says. “My original setup was all built in one day but all I had to do was strip the garage out and get the shower curtain in place.

“As for the current setup, of course I’ve added to it as I’ve gone along – I’ve even got a putting surface now and all the bits on the wall to make it look good – but in terms of actually getting it from scratch to being playable, again it was just one day.”

So how much space do you actually need?

“People always ask about size – and really you don’t need much.

“My garage is five metres long and just over three metres wide, then it’s just shy of two metres high, which isn’t actually a lot.

“If you look at any of these indoor golf places, they will tell you that it wouldn’t work, but I can swing driver. Okay, it’s tentative, but it is do-able.

“People will tell you that’s not high enough for an average golfer, but my answer would always be to find a way to make it work. In fact, I’ve actually raised the floor by two inches in my garage to put the putting surface in.”

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And, Kevin says, his indoor simulator has actually helped his game…

“Funny story,” he explains, “I used to have a slice, but because my garage ceiling is just a wee bit tight, it’s helped my brain naturally flatten out my swing – because I don’t want to hit the roof.

“So, when I’m out on the course, I’m now hitting lovely little draw.

“And don’t forget about ISS…”

ISS?

“Indoor Swing Sydrome,” Kevin explains. “People say it’s a myth. It’s not. It’s a real thing.”

Go on…

“When you first hit a ball on a simulator, your 6-iron goes 130 yards and you can’t work out why. It’s just because you need to get your head around swinging indoors.

“People come into my garage all the time and say, ‘This is crap, I’m not hitting the ball far enough!’ And then I hit mine closer to 200 yards. It’s just your brain not wanting to swing on full power.”

How much does it cost to build an indoor golf den?

“Currently, I have what I would call a ‘mid-range’ setup,” Kevin explains.

“The Rapsodo MLM 2 Pro launch monitor was £600. The projector was off eBay, and that was about £200. You don’t need a 4K HD projector or anything like that, because chances are your screen is not going to display it well enough to notice anyway. Mine is an old office projector. It’s done the job.

“The screen was new, and it’s a Golfbays Impact Pro, which cost £400.

“I then had a frame for the screen built by a metalworks company, and they did that for about £100.

“Behind the screen to act as a dampener is just old curtains and – hopefully my wife won’t read this – the mattress topper off our bed. Without them it will make a bit of a racket!

“As for other tech, the gaming PC is not something you need to spend thousands on. I got mine for £300 off Gumtree and it’s just an entry-level machine. And you don’t even need it – you can use your phone or tablet to collect your numbers.

“So, there are plenty of optional extras involved. It just depends on your budget and how advanced you want the setup to be. But you can do it on just a launch monitor and a sheet.”

Launch monitor: £600
Projector: £200
Screen: £400
Frame: £100
PC: £300
Total: £1,600

Top advice for building a golf den

“If you are going to build an indoor simulator, I would future proof it,” he explains.

“Starting off small is fine, but make sure you plan for any upgrades you may want to make because you will get the bug, and you will want to make it bigger and better.

“And don’t be put off if you’re limited by space. If you swing a club, you can make it work.”

And did he make any mistakes?

“Oh, loads!” he says. “I cut my net wrong, I cut my screen wrong, I cut my carpet wrong.

“I made the original screen frame with plastic, which collapsed on itself as soon as the first ball hit it.

“When I first mounted the projector, it was too close. It looked great, but when I stood in front of it all you could see was my shadow.

“I also put the television on the wall too close to the screen, so I had a ball ricochet off and hit it.

“I also had an incident where one ball hit a putting machine I had under the screen and came flying back, straight out the garage door and across the road – so don’t have anything lying around in that general area.

“It’s a learning curve.”

Indoor golf dens on other budgets

It’s possible to build a good indoor golf setup on a shoestring.

“I sold my Garmin R10 to a friend for £200,” Kevin explains, “and he bought a net for £100 – so you can do it super cheap.”

He adds: “If you don’t want to go second-hand, the Garmin is about £400 and then you would only need a net, or a bed sheet or shower curtain, to hit into.

“As I said, everything after that is optional extras. But if you’re like me, you’ll catch the bug and want the bells and whistles.”

After that, it’s just a case of how you want to decorate your indoor golf den.

Kevin has opted for golf memorabilia on one wall and an Augusta mural on the other. “That was only about £80,” he says.

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However, if you want to splash the cash you can go all-out.

A Trackman launch monitor is generally considered the best of the best and, brand new, will set you back in the region of £20,000.

Then, if you don’t want to build your own indoor simulator space, there are companies that will do it for you. One such company is
Golf Swing Systems.

Their offerings start at around £7,500 and you can go as far as pushing six figures if you have it.

So, how does it work? We asked marketing manager Alex O’Brien to take us through the process.

“We’re independent and unbiased,” he explains. “Each of our clients gets the setup that’s right for them – not something we’re paid to sell.

“So, someone might come to us and say, for example, ‘I have a seven-metre by five-metre room.’ We will help them find the perfect launch monitor through a demo process that shows them how everything works and allows them to try it all out.

“When they’ve settled on their preferred launch monitor, we will build everything bespoke. But the process is different for everyone. Someone might want a HD screen. Someone might want a 4K projector. Anything they want, we can build, from entry level to all-singing and all-dancing.

“At the top of the scale, there are also people who don’t have the space available now but want to build one.

“So, we can supply a ‘garden room’, or we can even build new buildings on their property for their golf simulator to go in.”

And we have to know – has Alex worked with any celebrities?

“I can’t name names, for obvious reasons,” he teases. “But yes, we’ve worked with sports stars, singers, TV personalities. All sorts.”

Have you built your own indoor golf simulator? We’d love to see it! Get in touch via all the usual ways.

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor