Golf Simulators and Ball Machines
What Do You Need for a Golf Simulator at Home? Start With the Room
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Home Performance Guide is a Carl's Place affiliate. We are also a Bushnell Golf affiliate, a program run by Foresight Sports, whose launch monitors appear on this page. We publish what each maker's documents say even when it is unflattering to them.
Measure the room before you pick a launch monitor. The minimum widths makers publish for one golfer run from 6 feet, in Bushnell's Launch Pro buyer's guide, to 15 feet, Uneekor's figure for golfers 6 feet or taller. A 2021 Foresight blog guide asked for 20. The room decides which units belong on your list.
This page walks through what a home golf simulator needs, in the order to check it, and points to the guide that has each maker's numbers.
Check these in order
Room width and depth
Most makers' published minimums for one golfer fall between 8 and 13 feet wide. Their blogs suggest more: Trackman's calls 15 feet or more "a strong benchmark," and Foresight's guides have said 12 to 15 feet (2026) and 20 feet (2021).
If a left-handed and a right-handed player will share a centered tee, most makers that give a figure land at roughly 13 to 15 feet. Trackman's iO DUO is the exception: Trackman says it lets both use "bays as narrow as 10 feet in width."
Every setup needs at least 8 to 10 feet from the ball to the screen. The rest of the depth depends on where the launch monitor sits.
Every maker's width, depth and ceiling figure is in our guide to how much room you need for a golf simulator.
Can you have a golf simulator with an 8 or 9 foot ceiling?
With some units. Minimum ceilings run from 8 to about 10 feet depending on the unit, and sometimes on the enclosure. The ceiling-mounted units we checked ask for more room overhead. Trackman iO needs a room of at least 9 feet 4 inches, Uneekor's EYE XO2 and EYE XR product pages give 10 feet as the minimum room height, and Foresight's Falcon manual says the ceiling should ideally be 9.5 to 10.5 feet.
Measure to the lowest light, duct or beam where the club travels. What fits an 8 or 9 foot room is in our guide to golf simulators for a 9 foot ceiling.
Which launch monitor fits a small room: radar or camera?
For depth, where the unit sits matters more than the brand. Units that sit on the floor behind the ball, which are radar units, need room back there: the Trackman 4 from 6 feet to 9 feet 6 inches, and the Garmin R10 from 6 to 8 feet. Camera units beside the ball and units on the ceiling skip that space, though SkyTrak, Uneekor and Bushnell still publish total room depths of 15 to 18 feet for their setups. Which units fit a small room or garage, on each maker's own figures, is in our guide to the best launch monitor for a small space.
Handedness is the other catch. A camera on the floor beside the ball has to move to the other side for a left-handed player, however wide the room is. SkyTrak's original user guide says to "place SkyTrak on the opposite side of the mat," and Garmin says the ball must sit between the golfer and the R50.
Depth and left- and right-handed setups for each unit are in the same room size guide.
The Bushnell Launch Pro and the Foresight GC3 share a published size and hitting zone, yet their makers give different room advice. Our guide to Launch Pro and GC3 space requirements sets the two side by side.
Can you put a golf simulator in a garage?
Yes, if it passes the same measurements as any other room. Garage door tracks and openers can hang lower than anything else overhead, so measure under them where the club travels.
Garage outlets come with their own code questions, which our guide to putting a sauna in a garage walks through.
What does a golf simulator package leave out?
Usually the computer. We lined up 29 golf simulator packages from 10 sellers' own pages in October 2026, and 23 of the 29 include no computer or tablet. Most also come with some free software time, from a 14-day trial to a first year included. When it ends, you pay for a plan or drop to a limited free tier, if the seller offers one.
Return terms vary too. Several sellers give 30 days, often with a restocking fee. Foresight's package pages allow free cancellation for only 24 hours after the order, and Bushnell takes back only the launch monitor: a bundle's net, mat, frame, screen and projector can't be returned.
Our golf simulator packages comparison lines up all 29 packages: what each includes, the room it needs, year-one cost and returns.
Power and outlets
No current document we read from 10 launch monitor makers and two projector makers asks for a dedicated circuit. One 2011 Foresight checklist did, for an older installed simulator, and it asked for a 15 amp circuit.
The rule some makers do print is about the outlet itself. Trackman's iO and Uneekor's launch monitors call for a grounded outlet, and BenQ's and Optoma's golf projector manuals say the projector must be grounded. Foresight's ceiling-mounted Falcon is the only current unit we found that asks for GFCI protection.
Full Swing's installer sheet lists the five main items in two bays at 5.8 and 6.73 amps at 120 volts. It gives those as current draw, with projector figures for the specific models it lists, and states no circuit requirement. Other room loads, such as lighting, audio and a space heater, are not included. Whether your circuit can carry the whole room is a question for a licensed electrician. What each maker says about power is in our golf simulator electrical guide.
Before you buy
The free Golf Simulator Room Planner turns the room checks on this page into a worksheet: twelve measurements to take before you shop, a table of published room minimums, a depth worksheet, and left- and right-handed setups.
Golf simulator guides
How Much Room Do You Need for a Golf Simulator?Width, depth and ceiling by launch monitor, from each maker's own pages, plus what left- and right-handed play adds.
Bushnell Launch Pro and Foresight GC3 Space Requirements: What Each Maker PublishesBushnell's own pages give a 6, 10 and 12 foot minimum width for the Launch Pro. Ceiling, width, depth and ball distance for both units, from each maker's documents.
Golf Simulator Packages Compared: What's Left Out and What Year One Costs
29 packages from 10 sellers' own pages: what each includes, the room it needs, year-one cost and returns. Most leave out the computer.
Golf Simulator Electrical Requirements by Maker: Does It Need a Dedicated Circuit?
Some installers want two dedicated 20 amp circuits. Of 12 makers' documents we read, only a 2011 Foresight checklist asks for one, at 15 amps.
Best Golf Simulator for a 9 Foot Ceiling: What Fits
Golf simulators that fit a 9 ft ceiling, checked against each maker's published minimum, with prices as of Oct. 5, 2026. Plus 8 ft and 10 ft rooms.
Best Launch Monitor for Small Space: Room Figures by Maker
Launch monitors for small rooms and garages, checked against each maker's own placement, room size and software cost. Prices as of Oct. 7, 2026.
See every golf simulator guide
Where to look
Carl's Place sells several enclosure kits, including the DIY Golf Enclosure Kit, the Pro Golf Enclosure Kit and the Curved Golf Enclosure Kit. Its size names are rounded (the "8 x 8" kit measures 100 by 100 inches outside), so compare each kit's actual outer dimensions, plus the buffer space Carl's Place asks for, with your room before you order.
Bushnell Golf sells Launch Pro simulator bundles, and its bundle pages list a minimum room size for each enclosure size. Check the one for your size against your own measurements, because Bushnell's Launch Pro buyer's guide says an indoor setup needs "at least 6 feet of width," while the bundle pages ask for 10 or 12 feet.
Affiliate links: Home Performance Guide may earn a commission if you buy through Carl's Place or Bushnell Golf.
This page is general information, not construction, electrical or safety advice. The installation documents for your launch monitor and enclosure, and the code where you live, govern your room. Make sure every golfer can swing freely before hitting a ball indoors.
Figures on this page come from each maker's own support pages, manuals, product pages and blogs, checked in September and October 2026, including Trackman, Garmin, SkyTrak, Uneekor, Foresight Sports, Full Swing, Bushnell Golf, BenQ and Optoma, plus the package pages of 10 sellers. Makers revise these figures, so check the current documents for your unit.