Brown patches

I have recently purchased a property with a garden for the first time - the lawn is quite large but has a number of light brown patches all over it; in fact it is probably truer to say it is brown with a few green patches... Does anybody have any recommendations for the remedial action I should be taking to deal with the issue? Thanks.

 

HI, first you need to find out why the patches are there. Did the people before you have a dog? This is one of the reasons for brown patches. Another cause could be over- energetic use of weedkiller before they left. Perhaps a photo would help.
Have a look here for other people's ideas on this problem:
http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

 

Hopefully some pictures or links to pictures appear below. Any suggestions gratefully received! Thanks.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z22/mc30b/2003_0101Lawn0005.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z22/mc30b/2003_0101Lawn0004.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z22/mc30b/2003_0101Lawn0003.jpg
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z22/mc30b/2003_0101Lawn0001.jpg

 

Oh dear! that would have to be a pack of dogs or a deliberate intention to kill it all... Chafer beetles can cause this extensive damage- dig up a samllpatch and see if you can see any cream coloured grubs with brown heads and legs at the front. they can get quite large before beetles emerge in June.

 

Hi, it ceratainly is very 'brown'. Aboves reasons sound good. I'd probably give the whole lot a good raking and watering and sow loads of new grass seeds, and see if that helps any, but i'm not a gardner, just what i'd probably do.