How to set up a home golf simulator.

The five components and the order to assemble them.

The order that matters

Most home simulator guides start with the launch monitor. That is the most expensive decision, but it is not the one that decides whether the numbers you record are worth anything. Space, then mat, then the lie you hit from, then the device.

1. Space and ceiling height

Ceiling height ends most projects. You need clearance to make a full swing with your longest club without touching anything, plus room for the ball to reach the screen or net. Measure your own swing rather than trusting a rule of thumb: stand where you will hit from, make a slow full backswing and follow-through with the driver, and have someone watch the clubhead. Width matters too, and it is not symmetric. You need more room on your trail side than you expect.

2. The mat

The mat is the surface every shot you record is struck from, and it is where most of the gap between indoor and outdoor numbers comes from. The two things to understand about any hitting mat are the pile height of the synthetic grass and the thickness and density of the rubber beneath it.

The rubber is the part that matters. It is what stops a mat behaving like turf. Grass yields to a fat strike and takes a divot. Rubber resists, and the sole skids or bounces off it into the back of the ball. The shot looks acceptable, and a strike error that would have cost twenty yards outdoors costs nothing indoors.

3. The lie

This is the step nearly every setup guide skips. If you are recording numbers to build a yardage book or to compare sessions across a winter, three things must stay constant: the ball, the mat, and the height the ball sits at. The first two are easy. The third drifts, because a wooden tee in a mat hole sits lower after a few swings and a rubber tee sits wherever it was last pushed.

Fix the lie and your session-over-session comparisons start to mean something. Leave it variable and you are measuring your tee as much as your swing.

4. The launch monitor

Buy the space and the surface first, then the device. The most important question about any launch monitor is which numbers it measures directly and which it estimates from a model. Ball speed and launch angle are usually observed. Spin is often estimated. An estimate is not worthless, but it should not be the basis of an equipment decision.

5. Protect the room, then the mat

Net or screen first, then the ceiling, the side walls and anything breakable behind you. Mats wear from the same spot being struck thousands of times, so move your stance or rotate the mat periodically rather than wearing a crater in one place.