The more usual approach to this problem is of course retractable landing gear. I seem to recall that the question of whether or not to extend the gear for an off field landing is right up there with LOP vs ROP as a controversial topic, though I haven't seen it for a while. Intuitively it seems that it would be better to land gear-up if you are not sure about the surface where you are landing, but iirc there are pretty sound arguments for NOT doing this.