This is a two part mystery, the first part of which I'll speculate as to the answer, and the second part for which I'll ask for expert advice (or guesses!) to find the solution. Above we see a green of ultradwarf bermudagrass in the transition zone of Asia. By transition zone, I mean the area characterized by short but hot summers, and short but cold winters, with temperature average and extremes such that both cool-season (C₃) and warm-season (C₄) grasses can grow, but neither will thrive in all seasons. 

Referring to the image above, taken in mid-summer, we see what appears to be healthy grass on the right side of the green, and dead turf (or no turf) on the left side of the green. During the previous autumn season, both sides of the green were healthy and identical in appearance.

After the winter, when the temperatures warmed late in spring and the bermudagrass started to grow, only one side of the green grew. That mystery I'll solve; the right side of the green has a large amount of organic matter and thus a relatively high nutrient and water holding capacity, while the left side of the green is grown on pure sand, with very little water and essentially no nutrient hoding capacity. It seems that during the winter, it was not cold temperatures that killed the bermuda on the left side of the green, but rather a lack of water, and some type of desiccation.

But here, finally, is the mystery ... there are a few isolated areas on the "dead" side of the green that by mid-summer have recovered and are putting out stolons, rhizomes, and exhibiting extensive spreading. How did that happen?

And here is what happened:

@asianturfgrass Perhaps plugs from high OM side replaced in sandy side created micro-region of H20 and nutrient capacity? #startswithastolon

— PureTurf Consulting (@PureTurfC) August 7, 2012

On this putting green, changing the hole location the previous year caused some of the some from the high organic matter right side of the green to be changed in hole cores to the pure sand left side of the green. And that is where the grass survived the winter.