Guides · Room design and everyday use
Where Should You Put Seating in a Golf Simulator Room?
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Put seating outside the golfer's full swing and the areas a missed or rebounding ball could reach, with a clear walking route around the bay. Behind and slightly off to the side of the golfer works in many rooms, but no single spot is safe in every room. Where it goes depends on room width, the hitting position, where the launch monitor sits, and how people come in and move around.
Swing first, sightlines later
The seat centered on the screen isn't necessarily the best one. A good seat gives a guest space beyond the swing and ball hazards.
Mark the planned chair or sofa footprint with painter's tape. Then, with the space still empty, make slow practice swings with the longest club you expect to use and watch both the backswing and the follow-through. If a left-handed player will use the room, check that side too before any furniture comes in. This checks club reach; it doesn't test containment or bounceback. Follow the enclosure's installation and safety instructions as well. Carl's Place enclosure safety manual
Behind the golfer takes depth
Rear seating can give guests a natural view of the screen and separate them from the side-miss area, provided it is far enough back to clear the swing and any rebound hazards. What it costs is depth. A sofa can take the same space that a radar launch monitor, the backswing, or a walkway needs. Carl's Place recommends rear seating outside swing range and warns that side seating must also avoid shanks and bounceback. Carl's Place seating guidance
In a room that's already short, a shallow bench along a protected sidewall may use the space better than a deep couch behind the player.
Along the side wall
Side seating saves room, but a sidewall isn't automatically safe. A shank, a ricochet, or a clubhead can travel farther sideways than a neat floor plan suggests.
Let the enclosure and side protection decide where a guest can sit, with that protection between the chair and the ball. Settle it on the plan before anyone hits. Nobody should find out a chair is too close by flinching at a driver.
Getting to the fridge
Someone should be able to reach a chair, the refrigerator, the door, or the control panel without walking through the golfer's stance or right behind a swing in progress.
This matters when friends are over. Make the safe route obvious, and stop play whenever someone needs to enter the hitting area. A clear layout still needs that rule.
Sit there before you buy
Sit where the furniture will go before you order it. A low sofa can lose part of the screen behind the golfer. A tall stool may see over the player and end up in the projector beam.
Get the hitting position right first. Chairs are the easy part to move later.