In Dallas, TX. I sodded my back yard with St. Augustine about 2 months ago. Back yard is partial shade. I watered heavily for first few weeks as instructed then cut back to about 1/2" 2x per wk. Looked great for first month or so, then started getting some browning last few weeks -- seemed to start in the less sunned areas, but has now spread, and I feel if I don't take some drastic action soon, it's going to be gone. I plan to prune the tree ASAP to get more sun in.

Front yard is also partial shade like the back, gets same water, and has always done great!

Please, any helpful tips to save my back yard. More water? More sun? Both? Also, I'm new to the site, so if you can point me to most helpful posts on just general care of St. Augustine, that would be great. Thanks!

Im in the same area and did the same thing as you just about a month behind. Here is my progress:

Click here for more information

What type of st. augustine did you sod? Raleigh? This will help determine sun/shade requirements. You can see from my post that I am getting better results in the shade areas, 4 hours of direct sun. I sodded with raleigh.

I would say if you are getting 4-5+ of direct sun in the areas that are browning it is not sun (depending on what variety of st. augustine) It is probably water. Since it is established, you need at least a soaking of 1 inch water once a week. Do that then watch the yard later in the week to see if you see signs of the blades closing up (looks thinner) that is a sign of it needs water. Then, you can supplement it with a smaller watering for the 2nd time in the week. I notice the yard looking better the day after watering an inch.

Yes, Raleigh.

How does your grass look right before you water it? Is it dry looking or still fresh looking?
How high/low are you mowing?
Have you fertilized or done anything else to it since you put it down?

Can you post a picture or two? Preferably one picture from a distance and one zoomed in looking right down into it. The best lawn pictures are taken on cloudy days or when the sun is low in the sky (no shadows).

No extra fertilizing done. Here are some pics:
Backyard...

The good...pretty sure this is getting more sun:

The bad...ugh!!

I'm also in DFW. To be honest, I've done three St. A. renovations, and I've had die-off everytime. Some I attibute to over-watering, and some to the St. A. seeming to take longer to establish in shady areas. But I've had it die for seeimingly no good reason whatsover, too. I often wonder if sometimes there are pieces of sod where some of the roots aren't viable due to being cut too short, stress, etc. In these cases, 40%-50% of the grass on a piece of sod dies, but is quickly filled in by the grass that is able to establish.

If you can rule out any sort of insects or disease, just keep maintaining good cultural practices. I bet you'll be surprised by the end of summer. Or in the worst case, by this time next year.

The last picture looks like disease. Can you take another picture showing about 1/10 that much area? I need to see if there are spots on the blades.

Here are some close ups pics...
The good grass:


The bad:

Great pictures. In pic #3 I see a blade browning and yellowing from the top down but in #4 it looks like there is a plant brown from the bottom up. Much is clearly dead and lying on the ground. In any case there is fungus involved.

It is not gray leaf spot because there are no spots on the blades.
It is not brown patch because it is not early spring anymore.
It does look like take all patch or take all root rot, but I would not expect to see that in this heat. How long has this been developing?

About 4 weeks

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Was it cooler and/or rainy back then?

Much cooler (it's now over 100). Not rainy.

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spammer?

Yessir. I removed the posting - he/she has a spammer rap sheet a mile long. Gone.