My vote would be for 3 inches. Keep it properly watered and well fertilized with Soy Bean Meal. Keep that turf strong. Bill Hill

You've got what the social scientists call a 'special situation'........which is Greek for 'Hey, we don't know'.

You can't figure this out. Not without experimenting.

You have to turn your lawn into an experiment, and specifically, mow, over a WHOLE season (May will have different results than August will...) a strip of lawn at 2", the next strip of lawn at 2.5", and the next strip of lawn at 3". Repeat. Forever. See sketch.
{{gwi:120524}}

You will be able to tell, over the course of the season, which height works better, or you will be able to tell that no height works better, and in fact things are what they are.

Then, you have to deal with the 'audience'. Whether spouse, neighbors, older kids, whatever, you will in fact have peeps asking 'what's with the uneven lawn, back there?'.....you will have to develop a thoughtful, superior, scholarly, look about you, and explain, vaguely, that you are determining which lawn height works best, in the real world, with kid traffic. Because there's a Lawn Forum, on the internet, and yes, you are hard wired into the internet, and all these cutting-edge people (and if WE aren't 'cutting edge' [lawns. mowers. trimming. Never mind.], who is?) need you to figure this out for the betterment of mankind, etc.

You will then have to get a patio chair, and a side table (placed next to the chair). Perhaps a book on the table, perhaps not. You will then be able to enjoy evenings, sitting in the chair, occasionally contemplating, studying, the course of your experiment. You will be discussed: 'Do you know what Jon's doing?'.....the audience will BRING you refills, as you sit there. They will offer advice. You will, of course, say 'Hmmmmmmmm'.

Life is good.

There's no way to deny the fact that people here are really lawn nuts.

I say mow it lower. I've had the same findings as you then again I uses the dwarf fescues and stuff that tolerates lower mowing.

I concur with quirky. I had the same issue in my backyard. I havea mix of Fine Fescue, KBG, some Tall Fescue, and a lot of Perennial Ryegrass. My backyard used to be mostly TTTF with some Midnight KBG, but now it's mostly PRG.

I mow my backyard at 3" high during the hottest/dryest part of the summer, then quickly back down to 2 1/2, then 2". But when my son has a baseball game with his friends, I bring it down to 1" 1/4 and stripe it like a real baseball field - checker board. When I'm done, it looks like carpet! PRG is amazing... Dark green, very fine bladed, dense, and fast growing. Oh, and it stripes VERY well...

Generally speaking, tttf does best on the "long" side. However, as you noticed, long grass tends to get trampled easier. There really isn't a good all purpose answer for you, so I would go with the experimentation route.

Is this by chance a partly shady area? Long grass tends to get a bit floppy in the shade under any circumstances.

Also, what are your watering habits? Grass that is drought stressed won't pop back up as quickly.

I cut mine at 3.5" except when I'm doing my fall maintenance and then it's 2-2.5". Kids and dogs can play havoc on a nice lawn, and most any kind of lawn. That's just how it is, but you can reseed, and it does come back. You didn't say where you're at, but I've attached a link for my area that seems to work well for me and others.

The only difference to what is accepted in most circles is the fertilizing cycles on this link. NCSU has determined it best to fert in Sept/Oct, again in late Nov, then again in mid Feb (instead of the 3 cycles in the fall). Good stuff.

Here is a link that might be useful: NC State Turf thoughts...

I'm on Long Island, zone 6a.

Grass is in a Part Sun area, although with the sun moving lower its more like part shade now (i.e, in June it get 6+ hours of sun, now its more like 4-5 hours and some nooks get less.)

I seeded in late August and I was watering often, now I'm down to once every 4 days.

Thanks for the feedback.