What Are the Best Projectors for a Garage Golf Simulator?

Unless your garage ceiling is higher than average, a “short throw” projector lens is the easiest way that will fill the entire screen without the risk of creating a shadow on the screen when you are hitting.  Short-throw lenses are more expensive but make mounting a projector in the ceiling much easier. 

There are different short-throw lenses that will enable you to mount the projector in a safe place. For example, the BenQ LH820ST has a throw ratio of 0.5 – which can fill a 12-foot-wide screen from just six feet away – which will be safely above the hitting area. Other models such as the LU935ST are designed with a 0.81 throw ratio to go a little farther back – and are good for bigger screens where you can create a 14-foot-wide screen from just 12 feet away. A normal throw projector would need to be mounted about five feet or farther back and could create a shadow with a standard ceiling.

For a garage golf simulator, the projector image must cover the entire impact screen down to the floor – but not be blocked by the enclosure. Most classroom or conference room projectors are not designed for this, so they may require a lot of tilting and correction to make it work. The best golf simulation projectors have specific offsets to get the image under the top wall of the enclosure – while extending the image all the way to the floor. For example, the BenQ LH820ST combines a shorter throw (.50 ratio) lens with a 9° offset that gently bends the picture down to the floor while enabling the projector to be mounted closer to the screen. The BenQ LK936ST has a neutral offset – since it is farther back and has lens shift capability.