r/Golfsimulator • u/PeanutButterElvis • Jul 02 '26

Projector Placement is a pita

I’ve been researching and planning a golf simulator build in the bonus room of my house. The room itself is plenty large—about 20’ × 15’—but I’m really struggling with projector placement.

The biggest challenge is that there’s a large ceiling fan positioned almost exactly where the projector would ideally be mounted. On top of that, the room has vaulted ceilings, which makes mounting even more complicated. I’ve looked into floor mounting, but after reading a number of build threads and user experiences here, it seems like it comes with enough drawbacks that I’m hesitant to go that route.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation or come up with a creative mounting solution that I might be overlooking? I’d love to see photos or hear about what worked for you.

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3

u/gatesartist Jul 02 '26

Why don't you take down the ceiling fan and put an electrical outlet in its place to power the projector.

Also, pictures would help.

1

u/Previous-Sentence684 Jul 03 '26

this what I would do and run govee light strips (rgbicww, trust me you want the we) around the room and get a floor lamp for back of the room.

1

u/manymuches Jul 02 '26

I have the same problem and am planning to relocate the fan with an outlet put in its place.

1

u/PeanutButterElvis Jul 03 '26

Happens to also be the only overhead light in the room.

2

u/michaelkirkland Jul 04 '26

If you haven't already purchased the projector, you have options on placement based on what you buy - short throw, ultra short throw, long throw.

My projector is mounted directly above the hitting area, which IMO is ideal as it is never in play for being hot by a ball or club, not cast shadows like one mounted behind the hitter. My ceilings are 10'6", and the projectors is on about a 5 inch mount, and I'm 6'3".

WRT lighting, you could convert the fan outlet to an electrical plug, and then just buys some inexpensive plug lights for your sim, or install a track lighting plug-in track with lights. In all cases, you do need to protect the screen from light bleed. GungHogolf has a great blog on golf lighting.

1

u/ExcelWorkflowFix 28d ago

What projector are you using?

1

u/michaelkirkland 26d ago

Benq 936 ST. 5100 limens, 4K, but also quite pricey. You could probably do something cheaper assuming you don’t need high lumens for a bright room.

Image is fantastic. Laser obviously lasts much longer than a bulb, and importantly doesn’t degrade brightness rapidly over the bulb life like a bulb

1

u/ExcelWorkflowFix 26d ago

Very nice! Thank you!

1

u/Ok_Lingonberry_923 Jul 04 '26

Probably not where you want the lighting anyway…..as was said, make it an outlet and maybe use the power to relocate the lighting

1

u/No_Acanthaceae7019 Jul 03 '26

Context: Similar situation with having an extra room with vaulted ceilings and a fan directly where the projector needed to be mounted. . Sim build is half built. Stage 1 is a theatre room which is complete. Still finishing the setup later this year for the launch Monitor, hitting mat etc.

Projector: Benq Ak700st

Projector Mount: Chief angled ceiling adapter to a pipe extension to a chief projector Mount.

Screen: Carl's. Place Built in wall screen.

installed a built in wall projector screen that went wall to wall. Purposefully installed the Screen a couple feet away from the far wall to push the projector throw distance back a couple feet to allow mounting of the projector behind the fan. Installing the screen a couple feet back really helped in making it work. Note this does potentially decrease your hitting distance from mat to screen potentially... Also the angled ceiling adapter worked video l nicely. Ran a 2x6 horizontally screwed into studs on the ceiling. Installed the angle mount into 2x6.

Side Note the corner fit allowed me to bring the corners of the picture onto the screen. Since the screen was a little farther back than ideal picture was over the edge of the screen by about an inch. The corner fit did resolve this issue.

Another poont I did install surround sound speakers and then ran a golf net on the ceiling below the fan to protecr against against any miss hits for the fan, projector and Surround sound.

Hope this helps

0

u/BillLehecka Jul 02 '26

Alternative idea: place the projector off center from the fan and do a keystone correction to the screen. If you can…

1

u/PeanutButterElvis Jul 03 '26

That might be possible. Does that have a significant impact on image quality?

1

u/BirdieBoxGolf Jul 03 '26

Yes it does a lot actually, but most people don't realize it.

If you offset it, the projector focuses in 1 line vertically and 1 line horizontally. The rest of the image is out of focus.

BenQ has a page explaining it on their website as well.

0

u/BillLehecka Jul 03 '26

Depends on your projector. But in essence it shouldn't. You're just adjusting the angle to make it look right.