As golf impact screens are folded up for storage and shipping purposes, it is inevitable that you will see some wrinkles when you receive it and first unfold it.
Generally, it's actually fine if you just hang it as is as you will not see much of the wrinkles when you project an image on the screen and it will smooth itself out over time as you hang and tension it.
But if you want a flatter and smoother look when the projector is not on, there are ways to get rid of these wrinkles too.
The most common ways to get rid of wrinkles from a golf impact screen are to use either a steamer or a hair dryer.
But which one is better and more effective you ask?
To find out, we recently took out one of our brand new impact screens and did an experiment. Here are the results.
Getting rid of wrinkles on a Golf Impact Screen - Steamer
Steamers are typically used for ironing out the wrinkles on cloths. We have a pretty basic steamer that we bought from Amazon for about $50, see picture below.
As this method involves high heat and getting the impact screen damp/wet, we do want to note a couple of things:
- Test out a couple of spots on the edges first to get the hang of it before you attack more visible parts of the screen
- Avoid keeping the steamer on one spot for too long so you don't soak the screen too much
- Let the screen dry out first before hitting balls into it
Getting rid of wrinkles on a Golf Impact Screen - Hair Dryer
We then picked out another wrinkle and tested out the hair dryer method.
With this method, it's recommended that you use the highest heat setting.
Photo below is a before (left) and after (right) comparison after about 5 minutes of blasting the screen with a hair dryer.
As you can see, while there is visible improvements, the wrinkle has not disappeared entirely.
With a bit more time, we think that the wrinkle will eventually go away.
But comparing with using a steamer, it will definitely take a lot longer.
Conclusion
So that was the result of a quick experiment on which method is more effective at getting rid of wrinkles from impact screens.
Based on the results, the steamer definitely was much quicker at the job, no question about that.
However it is worth keeping in mind that
- Water/steam is involved in the process so there is a element of risk / potential to mess things up
- You might not have a steamer lying around in the house
As an alternative, a hair dryer can be used, it will just take a bit longer.
If you want to get rid of the wrinkles on your brand new impact screen, we hope this article has given your some food for thought.
If you have any further questions on the information provided in this article or any feedback at all, please feel free to contact us, we'd love to hear from you!