Foresight Sports GC3 Space Requirements – How Much Space Do You Need? [Home Golf Simulator Guide – Full Indoor/Outdoor Specs]

The Foresight Sports GC3 golf launch monitor has two huge advantages: There are no ongoing, annoying subscriptions, and it doesn’t require nearly as large a room for an indoor simulator setup as other competing products.

For a lot of golfers, the biggest drag of building a golf simulator studio is the annual subscriptions required with so many of the golf launch monitors. It can sometimes make it hard to calculate the total price of a simulator setup. But with the Foresight Sports GC3, the cost is the cost. It’s a buy-once, cry-once, straightforward transaction. And that’s a godsend for golfers who want a long-term solution.

The second biggest issue that plagues most indoor golf users is the space requirements. But because the Foresight Sports GC3 sits to the side of the golf ball rather than behind, it requires a much smaller room.

How much smaller of a room?

Let’s find out!

How Much Indoor Space Do You Need for a Foresight Sports GC3 Golf Simulator?

While room size requirements, especially ceiling height, will vary depending on the height and length of swing of the golfer, our general room-size recommendations for comfortably using a Foresight Sports GC3 indoors are:

• 10 feet wide
• 10 feet deep
• 9 feet tall

When you consider that many Doppler radar launch monitors need as much as 21 feet of room depth, you can quickly see how much of a space-saving opportunity the camera-based GC3 provides.

Rather than needing an exceptionally long room, you really just need enough depth to allow you to swing your longest club without hitting the wall behind you as well as enough space between the ball and your impact screen so that the ball can hit the screen and not ricochet back into your body. Ten feet is a good expectation, though you may find that up to 12 feet provides you even more comfort.

As for ceiling height, you of course need to be able to freely swing the driver without the risk of putting holes in your ceiling. Taller golfers with longer swings may need more than 9-foot ceilings, while shorter golfers will require less.

Ten feet of width is likely your minimum requirement. If you’re planning an ultimate setup that includes an impact screen and enclosure, you’ll need at least that width to fit those components, and you may want to go to 12 or 13 feet of width for even larger screens and enclosures.

One thing to note about room width with the Foresight Sports GC3 is that if you buy one of the PlayBetter SimStudio packages, it comes with a 5’ x 5’ hitting mat. Depending on how close you stand to the golf ball, you may have an issue fitting both the GC3 and your feet onto a hitting mat of that size. If that situation arises, you may need to place the GC3 on something like a book or magazine or extra piece of turf so that it can sit to the side but still line up with the height of the hitting mat, allowing you to stand fully on the hitting surface.

While there’s no doubt that the Foresight Sports GC3, along with products like the Bushnell Launch Pro and SkyTrak+, require less space than their radar-based launch monitor counterparts, there is a possible limitation to consider.

The Downside of the Space-Saving Foresight Sports GC3 Golf Launch Monitor

The tradeoff for having a golf launch monitor like the Foresight Sports GC3 that sits to the side of the ball and requires less room depth is that it can be a problem when you want to play simulator golf with righties and lefties at the same time.

With a radar golf launch monitor — something like the FlightScope Mevo Plus, Rapsodo MLM2PRO, or Garmin Approach R10 — the unit sits 6 to 8 feet behind the golf ball. Which means that you can stand on either side of the ball without having to move the launch monitor.

With the Foresight Sports GC3, because it sits to the side of the ball, if you switch from a righty to a lefty, you’ll need to move the golf launch monitor to the opposite side. Doing so would of course disrupt the rhythm of a simulated round of golf, so that is something to consider if you plan to play sim golf regularly with both righties and lefties.

Is the Foresight Sports GC3 a Good Indoor Golf Simulator Option?

Beyond the space-saving advantages, which are considerable, the GC3 is a great simulator option for those golfers who don’t want to hassle with annual subscriptions. Instead, with the GC3, you have three straightforward purchase options:

• Ball Data Only model with 25 simulator courses, FSX Play, FSX 2020, and Awesome Golf simulator software = $5,999
• A Ball and Club Data model with 25 simulator courses, FSX Play, FSX 2020, and Awesome Golf simulator software = $7,999
• A Ball and Club Data model those same 25 courses and simulator software packages PLUS 10 more premium courses = $8,499

The bottom line is that if you plan to own the same golf launch monitor for several years, the Foresight Sports GC3 is an outstanding option. It may cost a bit more upfront than its Bushnell Launch Pro sibling, but you’ll save money after multiple years and you won’t have to worry about keeping up with annual fees.

Be mindful of the righty-lefty limitation. But if that’s not an issue for your situation, and especially if you have room-size limitations and don’t like paying subscriptions, for a one-time price, the GC3 could be the centerpiece for the perfect indoor golf simulator setup.

About PlayBetter Golf Reviewer Marc Sheforgen

Marc "Shef" Sheforgen is a golf writer whose passion for the game far exceeds his ability to play it well. Marc covers all things golf, from product reviews and equipment recommendations to event coverage and tournament analysis. When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about golf, he enjoys traveling (often golf-related), youth sports coaching, volunteering, and record collecting.