One of our contributors here, John Farley, who sadly passed away a few years ago, told me, on the topic of forced landings: If you don't need to get maximum glide performance to "make it", don't bother, point it where you think you could crash it, and don't crash when you get there. He told me that this was based upon his demonstrating power off landings in the Hawker Harrier - not a plane we would think of for power off landings. He told me that gliding approach speed was around 250 knots, but it was easy. (perhaps for a skilled Harrier pilot!).
An unconventional technique, I agree, but I have tried it and it works. I'll pick a close spot, perhaps below me, and do a fast descent/slip into it. I find it easier to manage drag, even increasing speed to increase drag, to achieve a precise touchdown, than to try to judge and perfect the positioning of turns in a gliding circuit approach at "glide speed" to a forced landing. I entirely accept that it dilutes/distracts training to a standard to teach a forced approach where speed is deliberately maintained to an "other than specified" speed. but it is also one more tool in the box, if conditions permit it's use.
While checking out an instructor in a PA-18 on skis a number of years ago, I required him to demonstrate forced landings. His judgement was poor. Each attempt became a "won't make it" in the late downwind to base area of the circuit he was flying due to poor judgement. And, he did not assure himself a suitable landing area in between (even for safety during the training). The farther he allowed himself to get from the landing spot (big circuit) the more likely that he would mis judge, and the more winds could affect the outcome either way. I demonstrated a tight slipping circuit, modulating the slip as I needed to for glidepath control (albeit steep), and touched down nicely on my selected spot. A tight gliding circuit, with some excess speed allows precision, and holding a reserve later into the final approach, reduces some factors which will affect success.