How this database is built

Sourcing rules

• Manufacturer first. Specs come from official product pages, manuals, and support documentation wherever they exist. Where manufacturers publish nothing (common for space requirements), we use named retailer guidance — Carl's Place, Rain or Shine Golf, PlayBetter, Shop Indoor Golf — and attribute it.
• Every figure cites a source. Each device entry lists its source URLs and a verification month (127 unique sources across 42 devices as of v2026-06).
• Disagreement is reported, not averaged. When sources conflict (pricing during promos, space guidance), the entry quotes both and says which we treated as primary.
• Null means unpublished. A blank cell means the manufacturer doesn't publish the figure — we don't fabricate numbers to fill tables.
• Prices are dated. All prices are June 2026 street prices, captured with their promo context in price_note. Prices change weekly in this market; the verification date tells you how stale a figure could be.

The room-fit model

Our calculator and the "min depth" column use this formula, assembled from manufacturer and screen-maker guidance (all sources on the calculator page and in the dataset):

required_depth = 1 ft screen buffer
  + ball-to-screen distance (device minimum, else 10 ft)
  + max(device space behind ball, 6 ft golfer swing space)

required_width = 10 ft offset tee · 14 ft centered/both-handed
required_ceiling = device minimum, else 9 ft (10 ft comfort threshold)

• The 1 ft screen buffer comes from Carl's Place impact-screen guidance (screen flex).
• Ball-to-screen: 10–12 ft is the safety/bounceback recommendation; some camera units state lower minimums, radar units need ball flight for accuracy.
• Width thresholds (10/14 ft) are Carl's Place and Shop Indoor Golf guidance.
• 9–10 ft ceilings are the consensus across Carl's Place, Rain or Shine, Trackman, and SkyTrak guidance.
• Figures the model computed (vs. manufacturer-stated) are flagged est everywhere they appear.

Limitation: ceiling clearance ultimately depends on your height and swing plane. The model can rule a room out, but only a slow practice swing in the actual space can fully rule it in.

Update cadence & corrections

• Pricing and availability: re-verified monthly against the cited retailers.
• New device launches: added as manufacturers publish official spec pages.
• Corrections: reported errors are checked against primary sources and fixed within days; material corrections are noted on the affected page.

How automation is used

This site is operated with substantial AI assistance: collection sweeps gather specs from the sources above, and pages are generated from the structured dataset rather than hand-written prose. The sourcing rules on this page are enforced in that pipeline — no figure enters the dataset without a source URL, and a human-readable citation trail ships with every page. Generative AI is not used to invent specifications, reviews, or experiences we don't have. Full disclosure on the about page.