This club is already seeing a return on its 2016 £2m investment

A golf club that spent more than £2 million on itself in 2016 has said it has already seen a significant return on the investment.

Dunston Hall, in Norwich, has said there has been an upsurge in business across all sectors at the venue.

The club, owned by QHotels, invested more than £2 million during 2016 and is seeing an immediate return with increased hotel and corporate bookings, and a sharp rise in the number of wedding and membership enquiries.

The largest tranche of money – more than £1 million – went on upgrading the hotel rooms, while in excess of £500,000 was spent on the resort’s leisure club. The remainder of the investment included a six-figure sum to improve the drainage on the golf course and there was an upgrade to the car park.

General manager Calum Colquhoun explained: “Since the new bedrooms were finished, we have been delighted with the upsurge in both corporate and leisure guests, who have noticed and commented on the upgrades across the resort. Our director of sales says she’s never shown so many people around in all her time here.

“Corporate room nights are increasing month on month and 2016 was the highest number of conference bedrooms that the hotel has ever sold.

“And, at our recent wedding fayre, we received 47 new enquiries to book for 2018 with two more wedding fayres to come this year. That will, hopefully, give us a record year for weddings in 2018. All in all, the investment appears to be reaping its rewards both in the short and medium-to-long term.”

The golf course is a 6,275-yard, par-71, USGA-rated layout which contours around the estate, with parkland fairways dotted with trees and strategically placed bunkers. Dunston Hall, which offers the points-based QFairway flexible membership scheme, also features a QGolf Academy that offers a range of packages designed to suit all abilities and budgets, with the latest state-of-the-art technology providing instant swing analysis and all individual lessons receiving online feedback and a development plan.

The academy at Dunston Hall made headlines recently when it was featured on both BBC and ITV after 90-year-old Brenda Chapman added a further 15 yards to her driving distance while working with coach Caroline Grady.