Okay so Weatherford, TX west of Fort Worth.

You are watering faaaar too frequently. Certainly runoff would be an issue, and your approach is good, but not every other day. Maybe every other month in the winter and at most, once a week in the hottest heat of summer with temps under 105 F. The secret to this is to water deeply. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. One time may take you 8 hours or more with the runoff issue. Oscillator sprinklers apply water fairly slowly and lessen the runoff, so that might help. Watering in phases like you are helps with absorption. Something else that will help the water to penetrate is to spray the yard with shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet and follow that with 1/2 to 1 inch of water. Measure the water using tuna or cat food cans. Time how long it takes to fill the cans and use that as your watering time for all watering in the future.

With temps higher than 90 degrees F, water once per week.

With temps between 80 and 90, water every other week.

With temps between 70 and 80, water every 3 weeks.

With temps below 70, water once a month.

If you have a week of temps higher than 105, water every 5 days.

Use these times as your starting point and adjust from there. These are much closer to perfection than every other day all year long.

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Always mow at your mower's highest setting. There is never any need to
mow St Aug lower than the highest setting. This helps with everything.

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Fertilize with organic fertilizer from your feed store. I use both corn meal and alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow). These are real fertilizers in that they feed the beneficial microbes in the soil and the microbes feed the plant with real plant food. Mother Nature has been perfecting this approach for literally billions of years. Do this at least once a year if not all year long. Before I started with organic fertilizers I would get huge population explosions from various insects. All that ended with the organic fertilizer. I don't know all the biology, but the wild swings in pill bugs, ants, and roaches has stopped.

Thanks for the good tips. Last year we were watering less and could definitely tell because the grass would shrivel and essentially burn. Once we stepped up the watering the grass looked better.

On the deep watering, is this the case for St. Augustine since it is not a deep rooted grass, but a system of runners? I understand soil absorption and the need for soaking especially when the plants you are watering are deeper rooted, but I would think the approach would be different with shallow rooted plants. Maybe this is just a misconception, but just I thought I wanted to ask you. We really do not have Bermuda in our yard (deeper roots), which I could see needing a deep soak.

St Augustine has plenty of underground roots. Every node of the stolons develops roots. So, yes, deep watering really helps with St Augustine. This year is shaping up to be a little dry, especially compared to last year, but last year with all the rain spaced out perfectly, I only watered a few times. This year I watered this week in the back and we got 1/4-inch of rain today, so I will watch the front to see if it needs some more.

The soil absorption is much more for the health of the soil than for the grass. Well, the grass in healthier soil is better grass, so it's all intertwined. The deep watering helps the beneficial fungi in the soil to keep the soil soft.