I 'discourage' any flap at more than 15 miles unless ATC required- there is no excuse for it. Even on a 747 I practised that. If you stay below the profile, you can keep high speed until slow-up and on the slot. As an experiment once, we were doing just under 290 kts level at 10 miles in a 737-200, slowed up, gear then flaps, and dropped neatly down onto final approach hitting 1000' with the right config. Now SESMA watches you it's not so easy!