Golf Simulator Speakers: What To Get And Where To Mount Them

Adding speakers to your indoor golf setup helps give you that immersive experience. Here's Carl's tips on setting up the best golf simulator sound system.

If you’re looking for the most immersive feel in your golf simulator, you’ll want a high-quality sound system.

Sure, your computer, tablet or projector can provide audio, but let’s be honest: it’s usually not that great. So, what are some of the options for you to upgrade your golf simulator sound system? We sat down with THE Carl and got his opinion; he’s picky about his audio sources so he knows his stuff. 

ARE GOLF SIMULATOR SPEAKERS A NECESSITY?

CARL: Nope. Projectors and computer speakers can, in general, give you decent audio in your golf simulator setup. But, speakers in your golf simulator are a nice upgrade and not that hard to do if you want a truly immersive indoor golfing experience. 

Projector audio tends to be pretty low quality, so it’s not going to be immersive. You’re going to hear the sound effects and get what you need, but you’re not going to get that “immersivity” without something a little better. So, golf simulator speakers are not necessary but absolutely recommended.

WHAT OPTIONS DO YOU HAVE FOR GOLF SIMULATOR SPEAKERS?

CARL: It all depends on how you want to run the signal out. You’re either going to be running an audio cable out from your projector or computer.

The nice thing about running it out of your projector is that you can then use the volume control on your projector remote to control it. But if you run it through your computer, then you can control just about everything there. 

Sound bars are nice, especially for golf simulators, because they are generally all inclusive where you don’t need a separate amp or receiver. You hook the audio cable up from the soundbar to the source, or connect via bluetooth, and it’s good to go. If you go this route, I would make sure to keep an eye on the size of the soundbar as you likely won’t want to get a dinky one. That won’t be much of an upgrade, especially if you have a larger setup. 

For a lot of people’s needs, big sound bars should be sufficient. If you mount them behind the screen or up above somewhere, that would work pretty well. But they are designed to be that center audio channel for a television.

I have always drifted toward real speakers. You can separate the left and right channels a little better, so if your speakers are spread out far across your golf simulator setup, you get a little bit more of that ambient effect. 

WHERE SHOULD YOU MOUNT GOLF SIMULATOR SPEAKERS?

CARL: Each golf simulator setup and room is different, but if I was going to build an awesome indoor golf room from scratch, I’d go with speakers in the ceiling. Maybe 2-4 speakers over the simulator area and a couple more on the wall behind the hitting area. That might be a little overkill and getting into full surround sound, which isn’t really necessary on the high end. 

For an average setup, I think having a couple speakers in the ceiling of your golf simulator is the best option to give you that ambient effect. 

You could also mount or place speakers behind your golf screen. There is space there anyways since you have to keep your screen away from your wall. If you’re tight on space behind your golf screen, place the speakers near the corners of the screen. There is less give there for the ball to hit your speakers.

Generally, golf impact materials are acoustically transparent enough that you’re never going to have to worry about it muffling sound. It’s pretty easy, just stick a couple bookshelf speakers you have from your basement back there and it will get the job done pretty well. That’s the easiest and fastest upgrade. 

ANY TIPS OR TRICKS TO MOUNTING A GOLF SIMULATOR SOUND SYSTEM?

CARL: In our showroom here, we actually used powered speakers. We wanted to run the audio signal directly out from the projector so that we didn’t have to run wires from the ceiling down to the computer area. We wanted to hide the wires going from the projector to the speakers above our enclosures and didn’t want to have an amplifier somewhere.

To keep those from powering on all the time, we use the switching power strip. That way when you turn the projector on, the power strip then sends power to the speakers to turn them on. When you turn the projector off, it cuts the power to the speakers. 

The speakers we use are kind of bulky for a typical golf room, but we are able to tuck them up into the open ceiling joists in our showroom. If it’s a finished room, I would lean toward a more finished ceiling speaker if you don’t have an industrial type of ceiling like we have.

WHAT BRANDS ARE BEST FOR A GOLF SIMULATOR SOUND SYSTEM?

CARL: The speakers we installed in the Carl’s Place showroom were Yamaha brand. I think those major name brands for speakers are always pretty darn safe, but you can certainly find some good value speakers out there as well. Parts Express has some great value brands. 

WHAT DO YOU PREFER TO USE YOUR GOLF SIMULATOR SPEAKERS FOR? AMBIENCE, MUSIC OR SOMETHING ELSE?

CARL: I like to have other stuff going on. I think the ambience is great and I think it’s worth having speakers just for that, but I like to multitask and be able to look into the golf sim and see both golf and a game or something on the screen. That said, it’s great to have good audio for watching sports, movie or TV show off to the side. 

If it’s a gathering with friends or something, maybe you simply listen to music and I think that’s worth it, too. 

Overall, a golf simulator sound system is worth giving a little thought to. Whether you go with a high-end surround sound effect or a pair of speakers, it’s a nice frill that makes indoor golf more immersive and fun.