I too have TTTF. I cut it to 3 inches, and I have the same issues with it not returning to it's upright appearance as you do. I think cutting to 4 inches for TTTF is too long for a few reasons. First of all it raises the height of the node where the blade meets the stem. This makes the lawn less green, and stemmier when it's cut. If you mow to 4 inches, then that means you are letting the grass get to between 5 and 6 inches. In addition to looking messy and floppy, this also makes the environment for lawn disease better, as the grass will be continually wet. Also a long period of rain in the summer can potentially cause the grass to get to over six inches if it starts at 4+ inches, which isn't a good thing. Most TTTF growers say you should mow at 2-3 inches on the bag, and that's good enough for me. Here's a good link to an overview of how grass is affected by mowing heights, fertilizer, temperature, and other factors. Hope this helps. http://www.purdue.edu/envirosoft/lawn/src/physiology.htm

I don't know what part of the country you live in. Fine fescues do not withstand heavy traffic. Mowing height is important if you are limited to only 4 hours per day of full sun. The recommended mowing height would be no lower than 3 inches as the longer the blade, the larger the leaf surface is that captures sunlight this will help the lawn do better. Watch the watering too much is not good. If you want a fine bladed lawn you can plant the fine bladed sod and later you can over seed with kentucky blue grass to help the lawn self mend, but you will have to wait 3 months before seeding as the sod grower used a post emergence weed control that will prevent seedlings from germinating. If later you do not like the fine bladed lawn you can overseed with the wider bladed fescue. There is a fescue you may want to look into, grown by pacific sod in california called medallion extreme.

I'd say yes, the fine fescue I have is very very thin,when I try to let the lawn grow to 4+ inches it flops over. I'm going to kill/replace this year. I used 100% Turf Type Tall Fescue last year (mostly Rebel variants) and its much darker, grows tall, and has a slightly thicker blade. To be fair the fine fescue I have was some old cheap mix that I never fed. After feeding it darkened a bit, but not as deep. The fine fescue thin blades allow it to grow in shadier conditions. Not sure of the science behind that, but its what is recommended for shade. How much shade do you have in that spot? If it only gets a few hours of direct sunlight, you may need a fine.

i think a big part of it is that Fine Fescue needs less (about half if not more) fertilizer than TTTF. With these yards having fertilizings skipped very often, or not fertilzied in years, but yes clippings are mulched as fertilizer, just might be all the fertilizer the Fine Fescue needed, but the TTTF died out from lack of fertilizer. Besides that though I am extremely impressed by the full sun, no irrigation tolerance Fine Fescue has shown, I'm not sure if it's chewings, hard, crepping red, etc fine fescue but leads me to think it's one of the spreading/creeping verities because of the thickness it created. So don't overlook Fine Fescue in full sun,,, although it can be killed by too much synthetic nitrogen fertilizer (possibly even by standard application rates of companies like true green and scotts), and some might not like the look of it, and it does rip out quite easily compared to other more foot traffic tolerant grasses like KBG and TTTF, but it's a tough frkn grass I wouldn't count out.