re: The biggest lie ever told about lawns is that Centipede is good and easy

That's a fact. I had centipede at my last house and it was awful. It was probably laid over bad dirt, but I topdressed multiple times, fertilized and had a good weed control program, etc., and it never did well. Almost always looked bad and didn't recover at all from foot traffic or dog abuse.

I've got palisades zoysia at my new house. I do 2 granular premergent applications a year, 2-3 fertilizer applications, and spot spray for weeds maybe 1-2 times a year if necessary, spray fungicide in spring if needed, and it always looks good and recovers quickly. I pay a guy to cut once a week during growing season.

I have half an acre of zoysia at this current house compared to maybe 7000sqft of centipede at my last house. I probably spend 25% of the time fooling with the zoysia.