Now it is possible to get a quality impact screen and enclosure that can be as little as eight feet wide and tall.  For example, the Carl’s Place DIY Golf Simulator Enclosure Kit and Shop Indoor Golf SIG8 feature a 125-inch diagonal screen that is big enough to see the details of the trees and grass when lining up your shot. While this aspect ratio is relatively new, it is becoming more popular as an easy way to get started with indoor golf and more companies are now making them available.

It depends on the projector.  The vast majority of projectors today are setup for widescreen viewing, using 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratios. One common problem is that if you try to reformat a widescreen projector improperly, the image will look like it was squished into the screen and not very realistic.  Even using a widescreen projector in a legacy 4:3 mode on many models can be a challenge since your image may not fill the upper or lower parts of the screen.   To fix this problem usually requires tinkering with the resolution settings on both your projector and computer – something that can be difficult for AV novices. 

The answer is to get a projector that is designed to work in a golf simulator.  The screen fill functions in the latest BenQ 4LED and short throw laser projectors are set up to enable anyone to setup their projector and computer to properly fill a 1:1 screen without a lot of hassle.  Once you have your enclosure setup – just go into the projector menu and choose “1:1” as the Screen Fill aspect ratio and click OK.  The projector will restart itself – and in a few seconds your golf sim image will be properly formatted for your screen.  You don’t have to mess with your computer – or figure out how many pixels you need.

The Screen Fill feature is only available on specific BenQ Golf simulator projectors since other aspect ratio’s like 4:3 and 16:9 are already built into the other models.  The latest BenQ LW600ST features a new 4LED light engine and can be placed about 10 feet from the screen – safely away from your hitting area – while delivering a stunning realistic image from ceiling to floor for just $899.  If you want a brighter projector with higher resolution, you can get the new laser powered BenQ LH820ST, which has excellent color like you can see in the video comparison below. 

Here are the three most popular 1:1 short throw projector models with key information using a 8’ x 8’ enclosure so you can find the one that is right for you.