I have Buffalo grass and a small patch of Blue Grama grass in my back yard. We mow it about once a year in the spring. We water it rarely. It died back quite a bit last year with the drought, but it looks like it's coming back in clumps, with a few new shoots in between the clumps, so I will wait and see how it goes. The Blue Grama grass is bunchy, but it doesn't have the bare spots. A mix would be good.
We started from seed, which is a lot of work. You have to water three times a day until it germinates, and then taper back to once a week or so the first year. If you don't care how continuous the coverage is (i.e. the back 40), then you might be able to get by with mulching and watering once or twice a day.
Plugs work well, and don't need so much water. You space them a foot or so apart, water every few days, and let them spread. They do cost more, though. Sod is very expensive.
This is the right time of year to get either seed or plugs going. July is too late, unless we have a cool, wet summer.
Any area of the lawn that will get high traffic during winter and spring should be planted in some other kind of grass that is less dormant during the winter.
Oh, and I do spend a fair amount of time hand-weeding in the spring. Native grasses are not as resistant to weed-killers as bluegrass, so I don't use them on the lawn. But I just read in the paper today that prickly lettuce (my most visible weed) is edible, so I should be eating it, I guess.
County extension has a lot more information.