“I remove the oxygen to play my next golf shot, obviously this means my oxygen level is depleting as I play the shot,” says Davinia. “I have to try to control my breathing, especially around the teeing areas and the greens.
“I don’t do practice swings when I play; this is to try to conserve oxygen and energy.”
Every golfer needs it, but not every player must take a burst of oxygen from a cylinder pack stored on their buggy or trolley, while at the same time weighing up their next shot. Davinia Barton, who has been a golfer only since 2023, now has all this down to a fine art.
Just a few years back, Davinia wasn’t leaving the house much, not for almost a year, as she worked around treatments and coped with the damage caused by her health condition, cystic fibrosis.
Frequent and protracted hospital stays have been a feature throughout her life since she was very young, although recent medical advancements, her continued ability to adapt, and her own health expertise around the condition, all paint a more positive picture. Emerging in that picture, and becoming brighter with every round she plays, is her new sport.
“I never thought for a minute I could ever even try golf, never mind play it regularly and get involved at a golf club,” Davinia says, smiling.
The hospital visits may still be a regular occurrence, but these days when she has to go in, instead of her flicking through magazines and books, you might find Davinia demonstrating her golf swing to the nurses by her bed, and then getting “Be careful!” exclamations for putting kinks in her IV lines in her backswing, or nearly clouting a monitor with her arms.
This friendly and bright Lancastrian has gone from being a spectator, to a ‘first-go’ sampler, to becoming a regular player, and more. She is now one of the organisers, with her good friend Katherine, of a new nine-hole get-together called ‘Nine & Wine’ at her local club, Ashton & Lea GC. These are light-hearted sessions designed for newer and existing members of any age, any standard. There is an atmosphere of no judgement.
“It’s been great for people who have their own reason for taking it step by step,” explains Davinia. “Last week’s winner has Parkinson’s and he is just looking for some camaraderie. Anyone can join in with my friend Katherine and me, and my husband Gavin supports us.”
Davinia beams happily as she describes it all. “I love my golf, both for the playing but also the amazing, great people you can meet!” We were speaking at the 2026 PING Wales G4D Open at Raglan GC during a bad-weather break, and Davinia and ‘Gav’ were swapping stories on golf and life with fellow G4D (golf for the disabled) players, including Dan from Leeds, Tom who had flown in from Killarney, Ireland, and then Martina from Coventry and Ana from London. Much laughter echoed through the lounge bar.
For Davinia herself, golf means not just physical exercise, the personal challenge, or the social contact which she loves: for her it means confidence and a feeling of independence.
“When I’m out on the course, I feel free, all the rest is put aside and I can love the game on a beautiful golf course, with friends,” she explains.
Davinia has struggled all her life with her tough genetic, progressive life-limiting condition. Cystic fibrosis is complex in nature, affecting multiple organs and the body’s essential working system. Davinia’s lungs have been severely damaged and she encounters repeated lung infections. Medications and treatments take time to administer every day and it’s not just about the oxygen. Davinia has also developed cystic fibrosis diabetes and has to manage a strict diet with great care.
Instead of buckling, you only have to meet Davinia and Gavin to recognise they share a joy of life and making progress, with a new love of golf at its heart.
“When I was born in 1979, with cystic fibrosis the majority of children weren’t expected to survive into adulthood. Research and treatments were limited,” Davinia explains. She shared a children’s clinic with three other girls: one died aged around eight years-old, another in her teens and a close friend, Jenny, passed away in her early 30s. When the two friends were 17, new worldwide infection measures came into place, which meant people with CF could no longer be in close proximity (six-feet apart), so Davinia and Jenny shared one last lunch together at MacDonalds. “And then that was it. We would then pass messages on to chat to each other via the nurses looking after us on the ward.”
Davinia’s Mum was a nurse herself, and rejected some of the conventional thinking of the time, and rather than keeping her daughter wrapped in cotton wool, she encouraged Davinia to be active. A relative who was a lifeguard taught her to swim, and she would be in the pool, her hand or wrist with a cannula in place would be wrapped inside a heavy duty plastic bag and sealed with masking tape.
“I absolutely thrived. Yes I got unwell, yes I still had to take medications and treatments, but I did well enough to join our local swimming club. The coaches looked after me, even visiting me when I was in hospital. You learn resilience for life from all this.”
Davinia adds: “My Dad had a motorbike accident and he is an amputee. He lost his right arm, and despite this he always found alternative ways to do everything. He is incredibly good at fishing. My Mum gave me the best possible care but equally encouraged me to do everything that everyone else did, including being able to stand on my own two feet in the world, by studying for a career and taking part in sports.”
This spirit led to Davinia doing well in school and qualifying to study for her degree in Diagnostic Radiography at St. Martin’s College, then affiliated to the University of Lancaster.
This came after being treated for thyroid cancer and receiving surgery as an in-patient at the Christie Hospital Manchester, which she found “all too interesting”. Davinia would study further at the University of Salford, before working in the field of nuclear medicine for nearly 15 years. Only Covid-19 led to the end of this successful working period due to her extremely vulnerable status to the virus.
Fortunately, she could depend on Gavin of course, who she met in 1999 while at university: he was a firefighter with the RAF and is now in the same line of work at BAE Systems in nearby Warton, near their home in Preston.
As a pair they have always shared an adventurous and romantic outlook. When marriage approached, Davinia was quite unwell at the time, so prospective husband, a friend in the travel business and their doctor (Professor Webb at MACFC Wythenshawe Hospital) all refused to accept that the honeymoon should be cancelled, instead finding a resort which was adjacent to an accredited cystic fibrosis centre, which luckily wasn’t needed.
Another time, when Davinia was having crucial back-to-back IV infusion treatments in hospital, Gavin whisked her away and they drove along to the Lytham Music Festival 15 miles along the Ribble estuary to hear Bryan Adams crooning, “Everything I do, I do it for you…” The Canadian singer’s words will have been poignant for this Lancashire duo.
Having to end her career had been difficult but as Davinia started to feel more confident about exploring after the Covid lockdown, a couple of remarkable things occurred on the same day in the Spring of 2022.
Golf had never been on Davinia’s radar at all, but Gavin was playing golf once a month in a society league and they were teeing off at Ashton & Lea Golf Club quite near to their home.
“When I went to watch Gav and his friends tee off, I was still just starting to go out of the house again after spending the best part of a year at home. I had planned to drive the short distance home by myself; a big deal for me, because for years I was used to having people in the car with me. So this was me being brave. It was a happy feeling.”
On the way to her car, Davinia glanced at the window of the Pro Shop and saw an England Golf ‘Get into Golf’ poster looking for new women players.
Her response was remarkable in its scope. “I didn’t feel strong enough to start the programme in 2022 so I decided to build up to it with the physiotherapy team at the cystic fibrosis centre at Wythenshawe Hospital, via online Zoom classes at home.”
Davinia went through strength conditioning via two to three Zoom classes per week for a year, until the Get into Golf programme started again in the Spring of 2023.
“Then I felt I could at least give it all a go,” she says, also hugely grateful to the Manchester Adult Cystic Fibrosis Centre and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust for helping her to purchase an electric trolley to enable her to get started; she was coached first by Dan Clark, and more lately Jack Wallbank and former Ladies European Tour player Lora Fairclough. Davinia remains thankful to all three of these fine coaches.
“It was a bit daunting when it came time for my first lesson but I loved learning the basics on the range, chipping area and putting green. I was really anxious when we started going out on holes one to three on the course, which had a huge impact on my breathing. And after we finished I went home and said to Gavin that I wasn’t going to play golf anymore. But he convinced me that it would be better the second time because I’d know what to expect, and he was right.
“Ashton & Lea Golf Club is a very friendly place, and feels like you’re part of a community. I was very unsure how people would react when I first came along and started playing whilst using the oxygen, but everyone has been so positive and encouraging.
“I discovered, and would also like to pass on, how adaptable golf can be. A lot of the time I can book a buggy to help and I can play a few holes with my electric trolley. Looking at a golf course years before I would never have thought I could go round one and hit all those shots!
“I think if someone with a health condition is thinking of taking up golf, they should be brave and do it. There are lots of ways to start, and although it seems daunting at first I think golf is a sport that everyone can play, it’s incredible. It can be adapted to suit your requirements, and everyone can play it together.
“And for me, as so much of my daily routine is around CF, when I arrive at the golf course I know it’s my escape, I think of nothing but golf. Having spent a lot of time in a hospital room I love being outside. Golf means the absolute world to me.”
Davinia adds: “When I think back now it’s unbelievable how far I’ve come. Prior to the Covid lockdown I was really poorly and it was looking pretty dire. But things have changed since starting on a first of its kind, a miraculous new genetic modulator treatment, which effectively saved my life and slowed down the progression.
“I love the friends we’ve made through golf, and the banter, and the places we’ve seen; golf has opened up a whole new world of opportunities.”
Davinia says that when she started her lessons, she declared that she needed to hit the golf ball as far as she could just so she didn’t have as many golf shots to play before she reached the green, for her energy levels and pace of play.
“So, I’m always working on distance! I like to think of my golf technique like my garden – it’s never done! It’s slowly, slowly with any swing or technique changes, that’s what I’ve learnt.”
Steadily improving as a player, Davinia was delighted to knock 10 shots off her golf handicap in 2025.
The first G4D tournament she entered was the Lancashire Open for Golfers with a Disability in 2025, a tournament set up by Lancashire Golf with the support of England Golf and EDGA, held at Lytham Green Drive Golf Club (only about a mile from where Bryan Adams had promised he would ‘Run to You’ a decade earlier).
“I was quite unsure about it, I hadn’t heard about disability golf or EDGA. I nearly backed out. Our then Lady Vice Captain June Deveney, Gavin, and some other members encouraged me to go online to apply for a pass and enter.
“I was completely overwhelmed at the Lancashire Open, I just had no idea about anything, but I just tried to stay calm and control the breathing. Everyone was so welcoming and lovely, and my Dad’s experience as a sportsman with a disability, and not least his dark sense of humour, gave me strength.”
As so many of the players then discover, Davinia has gone on to encourage other people with a disability to apply for an EDGA or ‘WR4GD’ pass and begin competing.
“I was asked by our club Captain Helen Smith to be her guest speaker at the Fylde Society of Lady Golf Captains (FSLGC) dinner, as her chosen charity was the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. I was absolutely honoured but terrified in equal measure, having never done any public speaking previously. I was so proud of myself for telling my story and equally proud of the incredible amount the FSLGC had raised all year for the CF Trust.”
More practise is needed Davinia says, as she looks to reduce her golf handicap further, so that she can participate in Net competitions in the future.
“Golf makes me want to keep as healthy as I possibly can and keep pushing my fitness as much as my health with allow, so that I will be able to keep playing golf, with lovely people, in beautiful places. I just love all the friends I’ve made through playing golf.”
Her best friend is of course Gavin who listens to her now, smiling, chipping in when he gets the chance. Davinia says later: “I think Gav is the bravest person I know… Yes I know he’s a firefighter and they are all incredibly brave, but he chose to spend his life with me in the cystic fibrosis world. I think that is brave.
“Gav continues to encourage me and we love nothing more than playing a round of golf with our friends and having a drink with them all after.”
Davinia adds: “Golf has given me confidence, and I think this can be the same for others.”
September, 2026, and Davinia was making her return to Lytham Green Drive to play in the second Lancashire Open. It was her first big event looking after herself, including driving with confidence to and from the course each day from home (her usual caddie Gavin was away playing in another event).
On day one it wasn’t easy. The famous Lancashire rain was in evidence, her buggy had a technical problem on the fourth hole, and she ran out of oxygen on the 17th (“You just have to keep calm, breathe gently and not speak much, which is difficult for me!”). But this was a golfer who kept going as we would expect. Playing some of her best golf, by the end of the second day the name of Davinia Barton would be found at the top of the Women’s Stableford leaderboard. It was a victory, two good rounds, and a win she will always remember.
“We were all so well looked after by Lytham Green Drive GC and Lancashire Golf. I just absolutely love all these amazing people I get to play golf with, and all their families and friends, everyone is so lovely and supportive,” says Davinia.
Happy moments from someone who only four years ago was a complete outsider to golf, thinking any sporting days for her were long gone, but who is now at the very heart of the game.
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