Denise Lavigne discovered golf as an amateur in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region from 1958 to 1973. After a short stay in the Mauricie region (1972-1973), she joined the Club de golf de la Vallée du Richelieu from 1973 to 1980. It was there that she took her first steps as a professional player and teacher from 1981 to 1986. She then worked as an assistant at Royal Montreal from 1987 to 1989 before venturing to Switzerland.

Ms. Lavigne went on to specialize as a teaching professional. She worked at the Deer Creek Golf Club in Florida from 1987 to 2017 and assisted Joan Joyce, coach of the Florida Atlantic University team, for two years. She was a professional/technical advisor at the Golf Club de Genève from 1990 to 2005 and helped the Geneva team progress to the top national ranking. She was then appointed coach of the Swiss women's national team and accompanied them to the Women's World Amateur Championship in Argentina in 2010.

Back in Québec during our active season, she was a teaching professional at Le Mirage from 2005 to 2018, and again this summer, at Vallée du Richelieu from 2011 to 2015, as well as at Pinegrove from 2016 to 2019, and again from 2021 to 2023. Finally, she has now been Director of Instruction at Quail Ridge Country Club in Florida since 2018. She was one of the first teachers to embrace and invest in technology to support her learning environment. She has contributed to the development of several renowned golfers, including Quebecers Maude-Aimée LeBlanc (LPGA), Danielle Mills (Symetra Tour), and Marie-Thérèse Torti (inducted into the Québec Golf Hall of Fame in 2021).

From 1985 onwards, along with Yves Bergeron, she ran a number of clinics organized by Jocelyne Bourassa to promote the Du Maurier Classic. She was Head Coach of the Golf Québec women's team for the 2006 and 2007 Canadian junior championships. She also was the female coach of the Golf Québec team at the 2009 Canada Games. The women's team won bronze, the men's team silver, and Julien Goulet won bronze individually.

As an amateur player, she won the 1980 Provincial Women's Amateur Championship and was part of the junior and amateur teams on five (5) occasions to represent Québec in inter-provincial competitions presented by the CLGA as part of the Women's National Championships. She finished 2nd at the 1973 Canadian Junior Girls Championship and 2nd at the 1979 Canadian Women's Amateur Championship. She also played in the 1980 Peter Jackson Classic.

As a professional golfer, she took part in numerous mini tours in the United States, on the European Tour, and on Asian tours. She placed in the McDonald's Classic in 1982 and the U.S. Women's Open in 1984.

Over the course of her career, she was nominated twice for “Teacher of the Year” and, more recently, for the LPGA's Ellen Griffin Rolex Award. In 2012, she won the PGA of Québec's Club Level “Teacher of the Year” award and won the PGA of Québec's “Boutique of the Year” award while working at Royal Montréal (1987). She was also recognized as a "Senior Life Member" by the LPGA Executive Committee in 2022.

Denise Lavigne was elected to the Québec Golf Hall of Fame in the builder category.