Hi Bloggs,
Damn shame: that nonsense seemed to work for me throughout most of my career when visual. Of course all the poncy stuff had been discussed and set up before TOD, but if mother nature shined favourably upon us lower down, the issue became one of let a/c meet terra firma on the spot of white paint near the beginning of black bit ASAP, but in a relaxed manner.
I was teaching base training to some cadets and asked them to confirm the profile from abeam threshold to turning finals. They came out with all the correct timing and configuration stuff. Great. Now for the real thing. On the first turn onto base leg, after the correct timing, I asked them what they could see on the ground. Confused stare. "Can you see that white roofed factory beneath you?" "Yes." "Can you see that big yellow field on finals?" "Yes." "Does that give you a clue?" "Ah Ha!"
For a light-hearted moment, but mostly for myself, I listened from the jump seat to an extensive brief for an approach. Then, a few minutes after the Descent Cx's had been done, I asked PNF to recall a couple of the more salient points made in the biblical brief. 50% pass mark! The look on the crew's faces was magic.