A finished golf simulator room in a British house, with dark acoustic panels on the walls, an impact screen showing a links fairway, a hitting mat on turf, a putting strip, and an armchair and side table at the back of the room

October 16, 2026

By Harrison Peck

Golf Simulator Room Ideas for Garages, Spare Rooms and Garden Rooms

A golf simulator is a screen, a mat and a launch monitor. A golf simulator room is the place you actually want to be on a wet Tuesday in February. The difference is the layout, the walls, the floor, the light and somewhere for your mates to sit. Here are the ideas that work in UK garages, spare rooms, garden rooms and lofts, with our prices for the kit behind them.

Quick summary

  • The layout that works puts the screen on a short wall, the mat in the middle of the room's width and the seats behind the golfer, never beside the swing.
  • Plan on at least 2.8m of height, 3m of width and 4.5m of depth with a camera launch monitor beside the ball, or 5m with a radar unit behind it.
  • Keep the screen end dark and matt, because pale walls bounce the projector's light back onto the picture and wash it out.
  • A pack of 10 acoustic tiles, each 50cm square, costs £74.99 and takes the echo out of a hard-walled garage.
  • Our putting turf is £24 a square metre off a 4m-wide roll, so a 3m by 4m floor around the mat costs £288.
  • Acoustic tiles, a blackout layer, turf, a light, a projector mount and a bag rack finish a 3m-wide garage bay for £961.96.

What is the best layout for a golf simulator room?

Screen on a short wall, hitting along the length of the room, with the mat in the middle of the width and everything else behind the golfer. That gives you 3 zones: the screen end, the hitting zone and a lounge.

Plan view of a golf simulator room 4m wide and 6m deep, with the impact screen and enclosure at the screen end, the mat, launch monitor and swing zone in the middle, and a sofa, PC cabinet, side screen and clubs in the lounge behind the golfer

The screen end is the enclosure, the impact screen and the walls around it. Nothing lives here but the screen, so keep it dark, keep it clear and keep anything breakable well away from it.

The hitting zone is the mat and the space your swing needs around it. The launch monitor sits beside the ball or behind it, depending on the type, and the projector goes on the ceiling above the ball flight, where your shadow can't reach the picture.

The lounge is everything behind the golfer: seats, a side screen for the scores, the PC and the clubs. The room behind the swing has to be there anyway, so the lounge costs you no extra floor.

Centre the mat across the width if left and right-handers will share the room. A camera unit on the floor has to swap sides between them, so leave it room on both sides of the mat.

How big should a golf simulator room be?

For a full swing with a driver, at least 2.8m high, 3m wide and 4.5m deep with a camera launch monitor beside the ball, or 5m deep with a radar unit behind it. We plan every room on the same room size rules, from a garage or a spare room to a garden cabin.

Inside the room Minimum Comfortable
Height 2.8m 3m
Width 3m 4m
Depth, camera unit beside the ball 4.5m 5.5m to 6m
Depth, radar unit behind the ball 5m 5.5m to 6m

The comfortable column is what turns a bay into a room. At 4m wide the mat goes in the middle for everyone, and the extra depth leaves space behind the golfer for seats.

The SimBox golf simulator enclosure beside its key stats: 7 sizes from 2.6m to 4m wide, with frame heights from 2.5m to 3mShop now →

Then fit the bay to the width you've got. The SimBox enclosure comes in 7 sizes, from 2.6m to 4m wide and from 2.5m to 3m tall, for £1,161 to £1,709 depending on the size and the screen. Its aluminium frame clicks together without tools, and the black velvet surround makes the projected picture look crisper.

Golf simulator room ideas by room

The usual homes for a simulator are a garage, a spare room, a garden room and a loft, and each has its own limit: the car in a garage, the ceiling in a spare room, the budget for a garden room and the roof slope in a loft.

Garage

The garage is the most popular home for a simulator, with more depth than most spare rooms and a concrete floor a mat can sit straight on. It's also cold, echoey and often shared with a car, and a garage golf simulator has to deal with all 3.

Plan view of a single garage 3m wide and 5.5m deep with the impact screen on the back wall, acoustic tiles on both side walls beside the mat, and a bag rack and PC cabinet by the up-and-over door

The screen goes on the back wall, so you hit away from the door. The door end then takes the storage, the PC and the way in, all behind the golfer, and a stray shot heads for the screen rather than the up-and-over door. Acoustic tiles on the side walls beside the mat take the ring out of bare blockwork, and a heater and a dehumidifier keep the screen, projector and PC dry through the winter.

The Vanish 11 retractable golf enclosure hanging from ceiling brackets in a home roomShop now →

If the car still needs the garage, the bay has to get out of its way. The Vanish 11 retractable enclosure lives on the ceiling: its 11ft (about 3.4m) front screen and 5ft (about 1.5m) sides come down for a session and go back up afterwards, by hand crank for £3,359 or by remote control for £4,319.

Watch out: the lowest point in the room

Measure the height where you'll swing, then look up. An open up-and-over door sits in the room just under the ceiling, and a beam, a strip light or a door motor can hang lower still. The lowest thing above the mat is your real ceiling height, and no enclosure makes up for a club that finds it.

Spare room

A spare room is warm, dry and already wired, so you're only adding the kit. The catch is the ceiling. Standard UK rooms sit at around 2.4m, and the ceiling height a driver needs is about 2.8m for most adults.

That makes most bedrooms an irons room. Our free-standing enclosures start at 2.5m tall, so under a 2.4m ceiling the usual answer is a practice net and a camera launch monitor beside the ball, with the ball flight on a TV or a tablet next to you.

Upstairs, check the floor as well. Suspended timber floors flex, so a firm sub-base under the mat keeps it level and stops every strike thudding through to the room below.

Garden room or cabin

A garden room is built around the golf rather than the other way round. You choose the height, width and depth before anything goes up, the simulator never has to be packed away, and the noise stays at the bottom of the garden. That's the case for a garden room built for golf, and the price is the case against.

A GolfBays golf simulator cabin in a back garden, with glazed doors opening onto a deckShop now →

Our golf simulator cabins come in 5 sizes, from 5.5m × 3.3m to 6.6m × 5.5m, and start at £13,299 for the 6.6m × 3.3m. From 4.4m wide, there's room to centre the mat for left and right-handers.

In England, most golf cabins can go up under permitted development if they meet the outbuilding rules, and height is the rule to watch: within 2m of a boundary, a garden building can be no more than 2.5m tall under those rules, according to the Planning Portal.

Plan the glass with the screen in mind. Daylight on the screen washes out the picture, so put the windows and glazed doors where they can't light the screen, well away from the hitting area. Run a data cable out with the power, too, because garden Wi-Fi drops out at the worst moment of an online round.

Loft

A loft works when it's already a proper room with a proper floor. The height is the problem: under a pitched roof there's only one strip that's tall enough, down the middle, so the mat goes under the ridge and you hit along it towards the gable wall, where the screen goes.

Measure at the mat, with a slow practice swing, not at the highest point of the room. The floor needs the same firm base under the mat as a bedroom's, or whoever sleeps underneath will hear every strike.

Front room: our Congleton install

Sometimes the simulator gets a room to itself. We fitted a Trackman bay in a Congleton front room in a new house: 5m wide, 2.9m high and 7m deep, which beats the comfortable width and depth in the table above and clears the 2.8m a driver needs.

The owner wanted a fitted bay rather than a free-standing enclosure, and chose grey upholstered leatherette tiles for the walls, handmade to the room's measurements before the install. The room doubles as a cinema, so the projector and the screen were chosen for films as well as golf, and we built a gaming PC for it. The install took about 3 days.

The GolfBays Pro+ golf simulator impact screenShop now →

That screen is the GolfBays Pro+ impact screen, built for full-speed drivers, quiet on impact and sharp enough for a film night. It comes in more than 30 sizes with free custom sizing, for £785 to £1,495.

Planning a sim room?

Send us your room's measurements and how you'd like to use it, and we'll suggest a layout and the kit to fill it. It's free.

Book a free consultation

What colour is best for a golf simulator room?

Dark and matt, at least at the screen end. Black, charcoal, dark grey and navy all work. Light from the projector that spills past the screen lands on the walls around it, and a pale wall throws it straight back onto the picture, so the colours go flat and the blacks go grey.

That's why the SimBox surround is black velvet, and why the tiles and curtains below are black or grey. Matt matters as much as dark, because gloss paint and shiny floors reflect the projector and every light in the room. Take the dark colour onto the ceiling above the screen end as well.

The lounge end is where a lighter colour, a club crest or a framed scorecard can go, well behind the golfer.

✓ Do this

Dark, matt walls and ceiling around the screen, with black or grey tiles and curtains to match, and the colour and the photos saved for the lounge end.

✕ Not this

White walls and a gloss ceiling at the screen end. They bounce the projector's light back onto the screen, and the picture looks washed out however bright the projector is.

Wall ideas for a golf simulator room

The walls do 3 jobs in a sim room: they soak up the noise, they take the odd mishit and they finish the look.

Acoustic tiles

Foam tiles on the walls beside and behind the golfer take the echo out of the room, and it's the garage, with its bare block walls, that needs them most.

A black acoustic foam wall tile for a golf simulator roomShop now →

Diamond acoustic wall tiles are 50cm squares of acoustic foam, in black or grey, at £74.99 for 10, which covers 2.5 square metres of wall. They go up with spray glue.

A grey foam-filled leatherette acoustic wall tileShop now →

Where a stray shot might land, use something tougher. Foam leatherette acoustic tiles are 5cm thick, foam-filled and covered in grey leatherette, so they protect the wall as well as quietening the room, at £200 for 10. They fix with spray adhesive or Velcro strips.

Curtains

Heavy duty golf simulator curtains hung either side of a simulator bay, beside their key stats: drops from 2.3m to 3.2m and widths from 1.3m to 3.8m in black or greyShop now →

Curtains are the quickest way to change a room. Hung from a ceiling track, they close the bay off from the rest of a garage, black out a window, or hide the shelves and the chest freezer when the golf starts.

Our heavy duty golf simulator curtains are made to order in black or grey, in drops from 2.3m to 3.2m and widths from 1.3m to 3.8m, from £239.20 for the smallest to £972.80 for the largest. Allow 5 to 7 days for them to arrive.

Blackout behind the screen

Projector light doesn't all stop at the screen. Some of it passes through and lights up the wall behind, and that's light the picture has lost.

The corner of the GolfBays black enclosure blackout screen with its eyeletsShop now →

The enclosure blackout screen hangs on its eyelets behind the impact screen and blocks that bleed-through, for a brighter, crisper picture. It comes in the 7 SimBox sizes, from £199 to £319.

What flooring works in a golf simulator room?

A firm, level base under the mat, and something softer everywhere else. A concrete garage floor is perfect under a mat as it is, while a timber floor in a bedroom or a loft needs a firm sub-base first, or the mat shifts as you hit.

Around the mat, turf is the obvious finish. It looks like golf, it's kind to a dropped club, and it blends the mat into the floor.

A roll of GolfBays putting turf beside its key stats: 4m wide, in lengths from 1m to 20m, 11mm putting turf sold by the square metreShop now →

GolfBays putting turf is sold by the square metre at £24, cut from a roll 4m wide: £288 covers a 3m by 4m floor around the mat, and £384 a 4m by 4m room.

Black interlocking EVA foam turf underlay tilesShop now →

Underneath it, turf underlay adds a cushioned layer of interlocking EVA foam that softens the floor, protects it and cuts the noise, for £85.

Run the turf on towards the screen and you've got a putting area in the room, so the short game gets practised between rounds rather than skipped.

The GolfBays modular putting green with 2 flags, set up on a patioShop now →

If the floor can't take turf, bring the green out when you want it. The GolfBays modular putting green goes together in minutes and gives you a 305cm by 103cm green running at about 10 on the stimp, for £399.

How do you light a golf simulator room?

Light the golfer and the ball, and keep light off the screen. Every lamp that reaches the screen competes with the projector, which is why lighting a sim room without washing out the screen comes down to where each light points rather than how bright the room is.

In practice that means 2 circuits. The first is a light over the hitting area, because camera launch monitors are sensitive to lighting quality. The second is dimmable lighting in the lounge, so the room can be bright for a chat and dark for a round.

The GolfBays golf simulator light in white and black, an LED spotlight on a powered trackShop now →

The GolfBays golf simulator light puts that first circuit in one fitting: a single LED spot you slide along a 1m powered track until it sits over the ball, for £175 in black or white.

Keep downlights away from the screen end, and treat daylight the same way, with a blackout blind or a heavy curtain on any window near the hitting area.

Seating and hosting ideas for a golf simulator man cave

The seats go behind the golfer, not beside. From behind, everyone can see the screen and talk to whoever's hitting while staying well out of reach of a club.

Bar stools see over the golfer. Higher seats keep the screen in view over the head of whoever's up, and a narrow counter along the back wall holds the drinks.

A sofa comes out of the depth. Against the back wall it runs across the room's width, but every centimetre it sticks out comes off the space behind the swing, so measure the sofa and add it to the depth your launch monitor needs.

A second screen keeps the scores. A screen on the side wall shows the scorecard, the shot data or the football, while the big picture stays on the golf.

The GolfBays 24-inch 4K touchscreen golf simulator monitor showing shot dataShop now →

The 24-inch 4K touchscreen monitor is made for simulators: it mounts on the wall in portrait or landscape and takes 10-point touch, so whoever's up next can control the simulator from the wall rather than the PC. It's £449.

Small extras earn their space. A drinks fridge under the counter and a table that folds flat against the wall make the room work for a night in without eating into the floor.

✓ Do this

Sofa and stools behind the golfer, against the back wall, with the screen in view over the mat.

✕ Not this

A chair beside the mat, where a shank or a big follow-through finds whoever's sitting in it.

Storage ideas for a golf simulator room

Clubs, balls, tees, gloves and the bags: none of it can live on the floor of a room where people swing. Get it onto the walls, or into the lounge behind the golfer.

The GolfBays Real Oak golf club organiser, an oak frame with a slotted black railShop now →

A club organiser keeps every club in view and ready to grab. The Real Oak golf club organiser has 15 slots, enough for a full set plus a pair of alignment sticks, on a compact footprint, for £199.

The GolfBays wall-mounted golf bag rack holding a stand bagShop now →

The bag itself goes on the wall. The wall-mounted golf bag rack takes a cart or stand bag of any size and gets it off the floor, for £89.99.

Keep a tray just outside the swing for balls, tees and your phone, so you're not walking to the back of the room between shots. Everything else, from spare gloves to the launch monitor's case, goes in the lounge.

How do you keep a golf simulator room quiet?

You can't make a simulator silent, but you can make it quiet enough for the house and the neighbours. The noise comes from 3 places: the club on the mat, the ball on the screen, and the echo of both off hard walls.

The screen takes the full force of every shot, so it's the one to choose carefully if you share a wall with next door.

The corner of the GolfBays Close-Knit Baffle golf simulator impact screenShop now →

The Close-Knit Baffle impact screen is woven with small holes that dissipate the sound of each strike, which makes it one of the quietest options there is, from £246. The holes cost a little picture quality, so it suits a room where the neighbours matter more than the last bit of sharpness.

The walls take the acoustic tiles, which stop a hard-walled room ringing after every strike.

The floor takes the underlay, which cushions each strike before it reaches the slab or the joists.

The clock matters too. In England, councils can serve warning notices for noise above permitted levels between 11pm and 7am, and they must look into complaints about noise that could be a statutory nuisance, according to government guidance on noise nuisances. Evening rounds that finish well before 11pm keep everyone on side.

Where should the tech go in a golf simulator room?

The projector goes on the ceiling, close to the screen and above the ball flight, out of your swing and out of your shadow.

The parts of the GolfBays universal golf simulator projector mountShop now →

The universal projector mount is £39.99 and takes a flat ceiling, a sloping one or a wall, with tilt to square the picture to the screen.

The launch monitor goes where its type needs it: a camera unit on the floor beside the ball, a radar unit behind you, or a ceiling unit overhead. A floor unit can also leave the room: radar units, and camera units built for the range, work outside, so in summer the same launch monitor, a net and a mat make an outdoor golf simulator on the lawn.

The PC goes in the lounge, away from the swing and within reach of the projector's HDMI cable.

The black GolfBays golf simulator PC cabinet with double doorsShop now →

The GolfBays golf simulator PC cabinet is 80cm wide, 100cm tall and 40cm deep, with cooling fans built in, so the PC stays out of sight without overheating, for £379.99.

The cables go in before the finish. Run the projector's power and HDMI across the ceiling, the launch monitor's under the turf, and a data cable to the PC, so nothing trails across the floor and the PC isn't relying on Wi-Fi.

How much does it cost to finish a golf simulator room?

Under £1,000 for the basics in a garage bay, and most of it can be added a piece at a time. These are GolfBays prices on 30 September 2026.

Finish What it does Price
Diamond acoustic tiles, 10 × 50cm Takes the echo out of the room £74.99
Foam leatherette tiles, 10 × 50cm Quietens and protects the walls £200
Heavy duty curtains Close off the bay, a window or the shelves £239.20–£972.80
Enclosure blackout screen Stops light bleeding through the screen £199–£319
Putting turf Turf around the mat, per square metre £24
Turf underlay Cushions the floor under the turf £85
Modular putting green A green you can pack away £399
Golf simulator light Lights the ball for the launch monitor £175
24-inch 4K touchscreen Scores and controls on the wall £449
Real Oak club organiser Holds a full set £199
Wall-mounted bag rack Gets the bag off the floor £89.99
Universal projector mount Holds the projector on the ceiling £39.99
PC cabinet Hides and cools the PC £379.99
Close-Knit Baffle impact screen A quieter screen £246–£336

Worked example: finishing a 3m-wide garage bay

GolfBays prices, 30 September 2026

Diamond acoustic tiles, 2 packs of 10 £149.98
Enclosure blackout screen, 3m × 2.5m £219
Putting turf, 3m × 4m £288
Golf simulator light £175
Universal projector mount £39.99
Wall-mounted golf bag rack £89.99
Total £961.96

The finishes only. The simulator comes on top: our cheapest package, a launch monitor with an enclosure and screen, is £1,649 before a projector.

How do you build a golf simulator room?

In this order, because each step is harder to change once the next one's done.

1. Measure the room. Height where you'll swing, width, depth and the lowest point above the mat. Note the sockets, the windows and the door.

2. Choose the kit for the room. The launch monitor decides the depth you need and where the mat goes, so the simulator itself is chosen to fit the measurements, not the other way round.

3. Mark it out. Tape the mat, the swing zone and the screen line on the floor.

GolfBays tip

Before you buy a single chair, tape the mat and a circle for the swing on the floor, then make a few slow swings with a driver. Everything that goes in the room goes outside the tape. It's the cheapest design tool there is, and it catches the sofa that was about to sit where your follow-through ends.

4. Do the shell. Insulation, heating, power and the data cable, with the cables run across the ceiling before anything goes on the walls.

5. Paint and tile. Dark, matt paint at the screen end, then the acoustic tiles.

6. Lay the floor. Firm base, underlay, then turf.

7. Put up the bay. Enclosure, screen and blackout layer, launch monitor and projector, then line the picture up with the screen.

8. Furnish it. Seats, the side screen and the storage, all outside the tape.

A 3D render of a planned golf simulator room from the GolfBays CAD design serviceShop now →

If you'd rather see the room before you build it, we'll draw it. Our virtual CAD design service turns your measurements into a floor plan showing where every component, socket and cable goes, for £400, or £900 with 3D renders of the finished room. It's normally done within 48 hours.

Golf simulator room FAQs

Is an 8ft ceiling enough for a golf simulator?

It's a room for irons and wedges. 8ft is about 2.4m, well short of what a full driver swing needs, so build an 8ft room around a practice net with the launch monitor beside the ball, and take a slow swing with the driver before you rule it in or out.

Is a 15x15 room big enough for a golf simulator?

For width and depth, yes, with a camera launch monitor. 15ft is about 4.6m, which clears the 3m of width and the 4.5m of depth a camera unit needs, but falls short of the 5m we'd want for radar. Height is a separate question: a full driver swing needs about 2.8m.

Can you put a golf simulator in a spare bedroom?

Yes, if you're happy mostly hitting irons. Most spare rooms are around 2.4m high, which suits wedges and short irons but not a driver for most adults, and our free-standing enclosures start at 2.5m tall, so a bedroom setup is usually a net, a camera launch monitor and a TV.

How much does it cost to build a golf simulator room?

The finishes are the smaller part. Tiles, a blackout layer, turf, a light, a projector mount and a bag rack come to £961.96 for a 3m garage bay at our prices, on top of the simulator itself, where our cheapest package, a launch monitor with an enclosure and screen, is £1,649.

Do you need to soundproof a golf simulator room?

Not to start with. Full soundproofing is a building job, while a quieter screen, acoustic tiles on the walls and underlay under the turf take the edge off every strike with no builders involved.

Can a golf simulator room double as a cinema?

Yes. The projector and screen that show the golf will show a film, and our Congleton install was built to do both, with a Pro+ screen for the picture. Put the sofa behind the mat and the room works either way.

Can you put a golf simulator in a loft?

Sometimes. Under a pitched roof only the middle of the loft is tall enough to swing, so the mat has to sit under the ridge, and the timber floor needs a firm base under the mat and some thought for whoever sleeps below.

How do you turn a golf simulator into a man cave?

Add the lounge: seats behind the golfer, a side screen for the scores, a drinks fridge and the clubs on the wall. Keep all of it behind the swing, and the bay still works as a practice room when you're on your own.

Finish your sim room

Acoustic tiles, curtains, screens, mats, lights and the rest of the kit that turns a bay into a room.

See golf enclosure upgrades

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