Bill;
Not a good definition for stolons as when used to propograte new fairway or greens. The stolons and rhizomes they are speaking of are, however what they use to make the product we are speaking of here.
Back in the day (your time) some of the popular strains of bent grasses and bermudas were and still are not availabel as seed.
They used to harvest the sod from existing plots, wash it completely clean of all soil, then put it through a chopping device and bag it up (as in the pictures) and ship it all over the world.
I am having a senior moment as to the name of the firm in Chicago, but they were the largest supplier in North America.
I purchased stolons from them for a project we did in Manotick (near Ottawa) Ontario back in 1961
I think stolonizing fairways is still common when propogating new fairways in the southern USA