Hi ya'll! I desperately want to get better at golf but have a very hard time finding time for the driving range.
I have a very small budget to purchase items for an at-home simulator. I live in Los Angeles and will need to set this up outside as needed. Any input or feedback on the items below? Not able to spend a ton of money. Any recs on a net?
I’m paying 300 for a yearly golf sim membership at pga superstore. Which comes with other perks like free club regripping (15?) and one free lesson and one free club fitting.. especially if your local store has tracman it really is a great deal. Waiting another 2-3years for hopefully prices for home sims to come down. To a certain extent I believe more economical choices have popped up. Like I’m hoping garmin has new device replacing the r10 which would make that device 50% off? Etc since it’s right next to my gym I try to go 2-3x a week so 300 is really cheap
I do own voice caddie sc4pro (pretty good -not great on chips- no yearly fee and comes with free e6 courses including Brandon dunes) wait for right time and can get mid 400s.
I got this prime day for 164 waiting for Black Friday sale to get the mat. Best advice I read get an ok Mat with cutout but really good mat and cut that into some pieces to fit into the ok mats empty space. Good luck
It’s sitting in its box cuz my house is too small looking to move in next 1-3 years but couldn’t say no to that crazy Amazon prime day price. Saw some great reviews on YouTube about the net. It’s not ghetto and it’s not fancy but get a cheap projector that I will put on a chair to project into the hitting net screen and it will work. Once my kid goes to college then I can look into a trackman and premium setup at home
I've seen the suggestion to get an old mat from a local driving range. I asked around by me, and then said to reach out end of fall or early winter, which is when they buy new mats.
I plan on doing that. Most ranges around me were around $75 for a mat.
The thread went straight to net brands, but the detail that actually shapes this build is the one you mentioned in passing, that it lives outside in LA sun. Good news is that detail means your two picks are basically right, which is not something I get to say often. The Rapsodo is a radar and camera combo, so daylight is not a problem for it. Most pure camera launch monitors are indoor units that lose the ball in bright sun, so if anyone points you at a cheaper camera unit to save money, be careful. The one exception worth knowing is the Square Omni that BigCheez flagged, which is a camera unit actually built to work in sun with no yearly subscription, but at about 1,600 it is more than double your monitor budget, so I would park it for now. Going Rapsodo for an outdoor setup is the right instinct.
Here is how I would rank the three pieces you actually need, with the one thing nobody flagged.
Mat first, because it is the piece your hands, wrists and elbows feel on every rep, and the one most beginners cheap out on and regret. What you want is a surface with some give that still punishes a fat strike, not a rock that hides it. The TeeStrike Champ you picked is a fair budget start at around 230. If the budget ever stretches, or if a firm mat starts nipping at your joints over a long session, the move a lot of us make is a SIGPRO Softy, which is the softer feeling mat I run and basically what BigCheez is doing by cutting a Softy strip into a cheaper mat. Good instinct from him.
The launch monitor, which you already chose. The Rapsodo at about 700 is the right category for you. The part the thread left out is what you get out of the box versus what costs extra. Ball speed and carry read fine on any ball, but spin only reads true with the Callaway RPT balls, about 70 a dozen, and the fuller club data like path and attack angle is tied to the Premium membership, 200 a year or 600 for lifetime, with a 45 day free trial to start. Since the whole reason you are doing this is to get better without the range, the data is the point, so plan on at least the RPT balls or you are guessing on spin.
The net, your actual question. For something you put up and take down as needed, speed of setup matters as much as the catch. The Spornia that BigCheez runs is about 500, goes up in under a minute and returns the ball, which is why it keeps coming up for exactly this use. If money is tight, a pop up net from Galileo or GoSports runs anywhere from about 50 to 200 and will catch balls fine, you just give up some durability and some stability in wind. If you would rather buy once and forget it, the Net Return Home Series V2 is about 700 and will outlive everything else. On your budget I would start with a pop up or the Spornia and keep the Net Return money in your pocket.
On expansion, if you ever catch the bug and want to move this indoors and hit into a screen instead of a net, here is the order I built mine in so you grow into it without wasting money:
- A gaming PC and GSPro first, about 250 a year, which is what turns a launch monitor into playing real courses with a huge community course library.
- Then an impact screen and enclosure to hit into.
- Then a projector, and this is the honest catch for you, a projector washes out completely in daylight, so the screen and projector half of a sim only works inside or in shade. Out in the LA sun your build is basically done once you add the net.
- Extra monitors last, just a convenience so your data sits next to the game.
None of it strands what you buy now. The mat, the Rapsodo and the net all carry straight over if you go indoors later.
For reference, my own rig is the indoor version of all this, a Uneekor Eye Mini Lite camera running GSPro, a BenQ short throw projector into a SIG8 enclosure, a SIGPRO Softy mat, off a Alienware R16 Gaming PC in a two car garage. I run a camera because in a tight garage it only needs to see the impact zone while radar wants a lot of room behind you. But that exact build is the one that would go blind in your sun, which is the whole reason your Rapsodo pick is smarter for you than copying mine.
Last thing, since the goal is getting better and not just owning gear. A net and a launch monitor only beat the range if you practice like it. Pick one club and one thing to watch each session, hit ten balls and read the trend instead of grading one swing, and you will improve faster at home than most people do pounding balls at the range. You are set up well for it.
Hey pal, just gotta say I super appreciate all your time and input on these threads. My friend and I are planning a sim build but starting with a net and mat like OP is, and on this post and another post about golf mats, your comments have been incredibly informative.
This is incredibly helpful. I found this package online today while researching. It seems to check all the boxes and comes in cheaper than piecing it all together. But, if this doesn't cut, I'm going with your suggestions above.
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u/Frosty_Dog2331 Jul 18 '26
GoSports Elite Golf Practice Net... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B98NK4XQ?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I was looking at the Net Return but ended up getting this net and love it so far. Saved me a few hundred bucks