Tom
I have established velvet from seed and maintained it, not vesper but SR7200. Velvet is established like creeping bent but needs the N tap turned off once established. At that point it needs to be treated like fescue, max out at 2lbs N/1000 for the growing season (10-12months). It is the finest leaf textured turf and densest. It will out compete poa and is more shade tolerant than creeping, the trick is not to kill it with kindness.
Velvet has resistance to dollar spot and snow molds, it is susceptible to copper spot and brown patch, wet and higher N diseases. When maintained properly ball mark damage is minimal due to the dry conditions it prefers. Velvet is slow growing and would take many years to creep out into fairways or surrounds as it has primarily a bunch type growth habit, only slightly stoniferous and primarily tillering.
Chris mentioned HOC of .110 which I feel is to low for velvet, from my experience .120 was too low, the stand did get too stressed and struggled to recover. I would suggest that .130-.150 could create very fast conditions if kept dry and thatch was kept diluted. If maintained properly with low N and low water it is extremely tough; fast conditions can be achieved with higher HOC's also.
Velvet lost favor with turf managers after the 2nd world war I believe, It was around that time that turf managers began their fertilizer reliance. Over 2lbs of N would create thatchy, slow, bumpy turf that would require more water, be more susceptible to stress and disease and give the poa a fighting chance.
It makes a great compliment to fescue and would give the definition you seek for putting surfaces from fescue fairways or surrounds while still being able to manage both areas very similar.