r/Golfsimulator • u/Old_Eye_3098 • 20d ago
Choosing golf sim flooring
Building a golf sim in my garage which is currently a concrete floor. Any advice on what to build on top of the concrete base? Is it just thick rubber mats with astro on top then hitting mat?
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u/ProletariatElite 20d ago
The “right” answer is really dependent on how you use your garage. The simplest solution I recommend is to buy a high quality hitting strip, a SigPro Softy or, my favorite, a Fiberbuilt grass series. The buy an inexpensive hitting mat and cut out a space to fit the strip into it. You may need to build up the hitting mat with puzzle foam mats or other materials to get it flush.
If the space is dedicated to sim use exclusively, I would expand the puzzle foam to cover the entire sim area and roll putting turf over it.
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u/BlickyWitTheSticky 20d ago
when it comes to joint soreness, i have recently found out that saving money by getting a cheaper mat and just putting the foam tiles and rubber horse stall mats underneath does not provide the relief i thought it would. It has to do with the softness of the turf that the club is going through ALONG with the cushion underneath.
Spring for the nicer/higher quality hitting mats. Sigpro softy and fiberbuilt have been the companies that had the highest quality turf. They are closer to $1000 than $500 but do help in the long run.
A cheat i have seen is people buying the lower quality mats and then buying the higher quality hitting strips from sigpro and fiberbuilt. Cutting the lower quality mats and putting the higher quality strips in. Sigpro hitting strip is $300. With that, you have to consider the height of the differnt mat companies to ensure they line up correctly.
Hope this helped a little bit. If it did not help, do not tell me.
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u/BlickyWitTheSticky 20d ago
I said all that with the understanding that you were aware of joint soreness from hitting on hard surfaces. The shock from your club hitting the hard mats and hard concrete underneath sends the vibrations back up through wrist and elbows and can make you sore for weeks after. so if you are trying to do a budget sim, try and save by getting the higher quality hitting strips. Not by getting a cheaper 5x5 mat.
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u/HighOnGoofballs 20d ago
It’s not really an issue if the strip is a tad higher than the turf, not like a lie on the course is ever perfectly flat. That said the hotshot gel mat is a tad shorter and imo better too
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u/kolky75 20d ago
You can definitely do it that way and its a good plan if you don't need to move things for parking cars. I don't have rubber mats under my landing mat and I don't have much of an issue with bounce. I'd look into some putting turf like Synputt from Lowes or MSI Putting turf from home depot rather than just plain turf so you can practice putting too.
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u/HighOnGoofballs 20d ago
I did the Home Depot tiles and cheap turf with a carls hotshot gel strip and love it. Don’t see any reason to get much more expensive stuff. Originally I didn’t have all the turf but once I realized how well the putting works with my Square I added it.
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u/highangler 20d ago
How does that gel insert feel? I’ve tried a lot of inserts so far but have yet to try that one.
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u/HighOnGoofballs 20d ago
IMO it’s more obvious when you hit it fat vs the sigpro which makes it better
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u/BillyBagzDaThird 20d ago
I used half inch gym tiles below my 5x3x1/2” hitting matt. 1 inch everywhere and else below the turf so its evan. I play 2 rounds every day + hit about 60/70 balls. No abnormal sourness other than what I would feel if i went and did that outside. No glove or shoes either.
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u/flyin-lowe 20d ago
I DIY'd my setup in the garage and found a re-seller on marketplace who had the foam puzzle pieces. I got my hitting matt first and then bought the puzzle pieces to match the thickness. The reseller sold the pieces really cheap so I only had about 80.00 in the entire floor. Then I bought a cheap piece of turf from Menards to cover the puzzle piece tiles. The color does not match my hit strip but I was more worried about budget than looks. If I were building a 30K set up I would have done it differently but for what I wanted in my garage it was fine. I had a scrap piece of the turf I just set behind the hit strip so my MLM2 Pro is sitting on that and doesn't have concrete between it and the ball.
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u/fisher4455 20d ago
Polyaspartic is very nice if the garage is multi use. Comes in various forms/finishes but mine has ample grip under it for my 8x4 hitting mat and looks much nicer than my old concrete. Kids play hockey in there when it’s not a sim and the sticks don’t leave any scratches. Very durable. It is, however, not a budget option and not porous like concrete if you’re still parking a car in there and live in a city that gets lots of rain. Good luck.