You can buy plugs or sprigs in various species of grass. Commercial turf companies sell it and lawn contractors use it on large areas in need of couch/buffalo to be cheaper than all instant turf.
A few years back a tractor guy we had levelling an oval used a hopper on his tractor to spread sprigs of grass throughout one of the gardens in Melbourne (Fitzroy or one of those). It was basically bags of torn up grass spread over prepared soil then levelled over to get maximum soil contact.