Issue with St. Augustine grass.

I live in Houston Texas and have St. Augustine grass. Last Summer my grass was perfect and didn't have any issues. Then when spring came around this year and the grass started to grow back in, there have been multiple spots through the yard that look like the grass is just dead and it's never actually grown back. Bellow is a picture to show what I'm speaking about I've kept the yard fertilized and watered and I just don't know what to do to fix this issue. It was aerated last year, any help would be appreciated.

In the Houston area you'd have a lot of potential for insect pests and fungal diseases. Are those bare areas where an animal has been digging? My father didn't want to accidentally poison the armadillos that would come at night to dig for the grubs. Between the grubs eating the roots and the dillos digging the grass up we had little lawn surviving in the front yard. There are safe, effective and organic treatments for insect issues. My first stop would be a local nursery familiar with the local gardening challenges. They can usually diagnose and offer solutions.

I think the beneficial nematodes I apply to my yard went a long way to reducing our grub load. When we first moved hear and dug the first garden bed I'm not exaggerating when I say we had close to fifty grubs in every square foot of soil. Now we rarely dig any up at all. You can try turning up a shovel full of turf at the edge of the affected area. That's where the grubs will now be feeding on roots and they're easy to see.

I don't know about treating or diagnosing fungal issues. This area's a little drier and my yard has ideal drainage so I've never had to learn. Once again, find a good local nursery. Houston has a good reputation as a gardening area so you probably have several options. If you were closer to Austin I'd recommend a couple out here.

Casie,

Thanks for the info, its not an armadillo we have had one in our flower bed this year but this started way before he showed up. The spots that kind of look like the armadillo are were our ditch is so if has washed out a little. Here is a better picture of the yard. I will look into if it could be grubs. I took a soil sample and i am sending it to the texas plant and soil lab to see if they can help.
Thanks

That looks like it might be cut worms doing the damage.

Let us know what the test results are please.

Redhawk