Pace, you mention energy management. I mentioned how flaring was like bringing a car to a stop at a stop sign, and it is all about energy.
A graceful stop at a stop sign (in a car), is well planned out to reduce energy (by various means) by a certain point, isn't that what a flare does?
You get rid of the energy for flight and end up with a touchdown at the right place in minimal energy .
Now, sometimes, in drastic conditions (high wind, turbulence, or the myriad of evils we face in the sky) you land with more energy as a reserve for the unknown, or to compensate for the mass of your plane vs the response of the engine. But it is the same sort of thing. timing, energy, skill, and perhaps luck or good fortune in reading the unknowns (as above).