Our Team
Dave C. Smith, P.Ag. — Principal Consultant
David C. Smith is a Registered Professional Agrologist (P.Ag) with over forty-five years’ experience with turfgrass management and specialty horticulture. Dave is a Qualified Plantsman, Ontario Certified Horticulturist and maintains pesticide application certification. He was a Certified Golf Course Superintendent (CGCS) for over 25 years. He is a graduate of The Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph, with an Ontario Diploma in Horticulture. David is a registered Qualified Agronomist and Consultant with the Amplify Network of Agronomic Consultants and Brookside Laboratories Inc.
In 1996, Dave established DCS & Associates, an independent consulting company that provides analytical services and consultation for turfgrass establishment and maintenance as the primary scope of practice. DCS & Associates serves clients throughout Eastern Canada, including Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. DCS has developed nutritional and cultural management recommendations for over 100 golf courses, 3500 acres of sod production and approximately 500 athletic fields, equestrian facilities, park land and horticultural projects. In addition, David has provided construction and grow-in recommendations for numerous golf courses and athletic field projects.
David is past President of the Ontario Turfgrass Research Foundation and has been active in several golf superintendent associations. He was a Sports Turf Canada committee member during development of the Athletic Field Construction Manual and has been a speaker at several provincial and national conferences presenting to golf courses superintendents, athletic field turf managers, arborists, and general landscapers. David has authored articles for industry publications such as Green Master Magazine and speaks on subjects such as: Specialty Growing Medium Design, Holistic Approach to Turf Grass Management, IPM, Trends in Golf Course Management, Product Inputs for Turf Management, Basic Soils, Green and Athletic Field Site Evaluations, and Soil Management for Trees.
Before establishing DCS & Associates, David gained over 20 years of experience in the golf and sports turf industry. In that time, he acted as a Golf Course Superintendent throughout Ontario including four years as Coordinator of Outdoor Sports Facilities with the City of Hamilton.
Steve Mann, A. Ag — Consulting Partner
Steve Mann of SJM Consulting, is an I.S.A. Board Certified Master Arborist with extensive experience in evaluating the specific health, safety, and environmental importance of individual as well as more significant stands of trees in both urban and rural settings.
He specializes in large-scale tree inventory, evaluation, management, research, & impact studies. He has managed hundreds of projects related to the identification of important natural features and the significance and/or sensitivity of these features to development. He has developed numerous master plans, arboricultural management plans and replanting plans related to Golf Course properties.
Steve’s extensive industry involvement, of over 20 years, has enabled him to interact with numerous provincial as well as municipal officials on matters regarding tree conservation and large-scale planning applications.
John McGuire — Technology Specialist
John specializes in technology for precision agriculture, turf maintenance, and advanced data collection and analysis. Throughout his twenty-year career in soil, seed, fertilizer and crop science, John has had his finger on the pulse of new technologies aimed at providing growers and turf managers with better tools and data for record-keeping, decision making and precision management.
John has partnered with DCS in various spatial and elevation mapping projects including RTK GPS mapping of undeveloped land, sports park facilities and golf courses. Data is used for the design, development and renovation of park and golf course features as well as irrigation and drainage systems, and for better facility management.
Sean G. Gault, B.Sc. — Equine Racing Specialist
Sean has been actively involved in the Ontario thoroughbred racing industry for over 40 years. Much of that time has been with the Woodbine Entertainment Group in Toronto, most recently as Director of Racing Surfaces. In that role, Sean was responsible for maintenance, development and management of all racing and training surfaces, ensuring safety and consistency throughout the facility.
Sean led the team that converted the existing traprock Standardbred track at Woodbine to a natural turf racing surface. The scope of the project included course design, growing media development, drainage design, seed cultivar selection and sod production, irrigation system and pump station design, turf rails and construction scheduling.
In 1994 Sean was involved in the complete renovation of all of Woodbine’s racing surfaces which included the building of the one and a half mile E. P. Taylor Turf Course which still ranks as one of the top turf racecourses in the world. It also included the building of a 7/8 mile Standardbred race track which made Woodbine the only track in North America to host both Standardbred and Thoroughbred racing programs, one after the other, on the same day. In 1996 Sean was a member of the Woodbine team that hosted the Breeders Cup, the annual Olympics of Thoroughbred horse racing.
Sean graduated from the University of Guelph with a B.Sc. (Agr.) in 1977 and completed the Turfgrass Short Course at Guelph in 1980. He and his wife Helen reside in Richmond Hill, Ontario and have two adult sons.
Amplify is a network of over 180 agronomic consultants and partners who offer soil, turf, and environmental recommendations and guidance for clients around the world.
We proudly base our turf nutrition recommendations on MLSN guidelines developed by our friends at the Asian Turfgrass Center and Pace Turf.