Planning to take your golf practice to the next level by building a golf simulator? Well, there may not be an any better idea to step up your game as a golfer. Your biggest concern at the moment would be what projector to invest in.
Can you purchase and use any projector for this purpose? Or are there any specific golf simulator projectors? Your concerns are pretty valid.
If you choose the wrong projector, golf can not be practiced indoors.
Can you use any projector for a golf simulator?
No, you can not use any projector for the golf simulator. Some golfers believe that you can use any regular projector for a golf simulator and a few argue that you can not use “any” regular projector for this purpose. However, I believe that you can use a regular projector for a golf simulator if it has all the required features.
Why Can’t You Use any Projector for a Golf Simulator?
The golf simulator requirements are “totally” different from the regular projector jobs.
Frankly, you can not even use the same projector for business presentations and home theater, how would any projector be for a golf simulator? There might be some versatile projectors that can be used for any purpose. However, that’s pretty rare.
Projectors are built keeping a purpose and its requirements in mind. That’s the major reason why when we switch the projector’s job, it sometimes does not serve us as per our expectations.
Since the golf simulator case is no different, there needs to be a projector that is built keeping its requirements in mind. If you choose any regular projector for the golf simulator, it may or may not work.
short throw distance projector for the golf simulator
Golf can only be practiced indoors if the projector has a short throw distance.
Therefore, the more appropriate answer to the question would be you can only use a regular short-throw distance projector for a golf simulator.
There are hardly any specific golf simulator projectors, so what do you need to do?
If you search best golf simulator projectors on Amazon, you would hardly find a projector built only for this purpose. What you need to do is know the qualities the golf projector should have and double-check if the projector has the same qualities/features or not.
If it has got all that the golf simulator projector needs to have, you can hit the place an order button.
throw ratio and the throw distance
The brightness, contrast, and lamp life of the golf simulator projector placement also have to be impressive. However, you first have to judge the projector by the throw ratio and the throw distance with projector calibration tools.
There is no pre-determined perfect throw ratio for the golf simulator. You have to calculate it yourself first and find a projector with the same throw ratio. Throw ratio can be calculated by the following formula;
Throw ratio = Distance/(Aspect RatioxHeight)
So, what you need to do now is find out the throw distance, aspect ratio, and height, and put them in the formula. The answer will be the idea throw ratio for your golf simulator.
Conclusion
In brief, No, you can not pick any random projector for the golf simulator. For the golf simulator, you need a short throw projector and have to calculate the short throw ratio yourself. There is no ideal pre-determined short throw ratio, however, it can be calculated easily by a formula. The formula is Throw ratio = Distance/(Aspect RatioxHeight). Only the regular projector that has the same throw ratio as your answer can be used for the golf simulator.
