In Depth Review - the Kaizen Golf Premium Simulator Impact Screen

With the recent explosion of the Personal Launch Monitor (PLM) market where these devices are becoming a lot more affordable and accurate, an immersive simulated golf experience is now within reach for more and more golfers.

Just imagine, regardless of the weather conditions outside, no matter the time of day, you can be instantly transported to the 1st tee of your favourite golf course anywhere in the world with the push of a few buttons. All from the comfort of your own home.

Of course, you can get simulated ball flight data displayed on your phone, tablet, PC or a TV screen, in fact we are really big fans of simple and functional set ups. But if you are lucky enough to have the space and budget, you can really elevate the simulation experience (and impress your mates) by projecting the image to an impact screen.

At Kaizen Golf, our Archery Baffle Impact Screen has been a hit with our customers ever since it was launched as it offers unmatched strength, exceptional noise deadening as well as decent pictures with a projector, all at a price point that will not require you to take out another mortgage. For most people, that's really all you need. 

However if you are after a more crisp image quality, we are really proud to launch our Premium Simulator Impact Screen. It is again a super heavy-duty product which offers an upgrade in terms of picture quality and again will not burn a hole in your back pocket....and your ear drums. 

In this article, we'll go through the product in detail, in terms of materials used, key features as well as tips on how to get the most of out of the Premium Impact Screen.

Materials and Construction

The Premium Impact Screen is made using a single layer smooth commercial-grade heavy polyester which is the industry standard for high-end impact screens. The strength and protection that is offered by this material and the weave design is on par with the most expensive products on the market. 

There is reinforced bordering on all 4 sides as well as grommets on the top and 2 of the sides for easy hanging and tensioning. 

The screen comes standard as a 3m x 3m product, but custom sizes are also available to suit your needs, please contact us with your requirements for a quote.

Features

Strength & Durability

As with all of our products, the Kaizen Premium Impact Screen underwent months of testing with every club in the bag and it passed the test with flying colours. Every shot was stopped dead in its tracks with minimum fuss including the driver as well as high spinning wedge shots.

As with pretty much all impact screens, over time, there will be some minor stretching/puckering and wear in areas which take the most beating. See photo below of what the 'impact zone' looked like after our long term testing. This is consistent with findings from the team at MyGolfSpy on the industry leading product costing a lot more - see their article here. 

Quietness

The Premium Impact Screen does a very good job at keeping the noise level down too. 

After testing a large number of impact screens, we still believe that the Archery Baffle Impact Screen is the quietest product out there. There is a slightly louder sound with the Premium Impact Screen compared to the Archery Baffle, but it is still more than compliant in our opinion and we were than comfortable with the noise level in our indoor garage set up. Compared to some other lower quality screens which are not much cheaper, this product is a huge step up. 

Picture Quality

This is where you pay the premium over the archery baffle product. Even with using our humble WVGA (800 x 480) Epson projector which was no where near HD, we were seeing much crisper images both in full ambient light setting as well as with just a spotlight over the hitting area - see photos below. My personal favourite is actually the full ambient light setting as it just feels more natural and there's still a good enough picture on the screen. 

The pure white colour as well as the smoother and tighter weave of the impact screen do a really good job of limiting the amount of light bleeding through the screen. This means that you will be able to see a lot more of the finer details. What was the most noticeable difference for us was how much sharper the smaller writing was on the Premium Screen. Ultimately this translates to a much more immersive sim experience. 

We also played the odd movie on it and had no qualms with the picture quality. 

Of course, the quality of the image would be even better if a HD projector was used. See photo at the top of the article for what an image with a HD projector looks like.

Indoor / Outdoor Use

When you think of golf simulator screens, you would typically think of indoor set ups. But given the polyester material used, our screen can actually withstand the outside elements and be used outside as a baffle net.

When it's darker outside, get some flood lights and a projector going, and you can enjoy a game of sim golf outside too. This is definitely an option for those who may not have the space indoors to set up a sim room.   

Usage Tips

Golf impact screens are a big investment in your golf simulator set up, so here are some tips on how to get the most enjoyment out of your screen as well as how you can extend it's life. 

• Clean clubs - the last thing you want is dirty patches on your impact screen. Clean your clubs before you your sim session, this applies to your guests too.
• Clean balls - the only thing worse than dirty patches is an imprint of sharpie markings from your golf ball on your pristinely white screen. Take care to make sure that the balls you use for your sim are clean and do not have any markings on them. 
• Watch out for scuffing - believe it or not, the number one killer of golf nets and impact screens is not ball speed. Friction from high spinning iron and wedge shots cause the most wear to your impact screen. So if you are seeing scuffing on your balls, it will be advisable to swap them out - balls are much cheaper to replace than a quality golf impact screen. 
• Leave space behind - especially if you have a wall or something hard behind your impact screen, a minimum gap of 12" is required to ensure you have a safe set up.
• Layer up - hanging or placing additional padding material behind the screen is also a great idea. There are many benefits for doing this. Firstly, it will extend the life of your screen by helping to absorb the impact from the golf ball. Secondly, it will further stop light bleeding and therefore help with image quality. Thirdly, it will help with sound dampening of our screen. Finally, it will help with reducing ball bounce back. In my set up, I have the luxury of having our archery baffle hung behind the screen, but a humble bedsheet or a foam mattress will be great additions. 
• Play with the tension - you can adjust how taut your screen is by fastening the sides of the screen. We recommend using tarpaulin clips and bungee cords to do this, see photo below. Adjust the positioning and the number of tarp clips to get the right tension. At the right tautness level, your screen should have a relatively flat/taut look without having the golf ball trampolining back at you. 

• (Optional) Invest in a good projector to maximise the sim golf experience with a quality impact screen, especially if you want to double it up as a home cinema set up. Of course some high definition and high lumen projectors can cost more than a good launch monitor so this really depends on your budget. I don't have a HD projector for my garage set up but that's not really stopped me from enjoying it.

To Sum Up

There's no doubt that - space and budget allowing - having images projected on a high end impact screen brings serious wow factor to any simulator golf set up.

Our Kaizen Golf Premium Impact Screen is a high quality product offered at a entry level price point. It is an upgrade from our Archery Baffle impact screen in terms of projector picture quality and is ideal for golfers who are looking to construct their DIY golf simulator set up. 

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding our range of golf impact screens or if you have custom sizing requirements.