Don't be fooled on the term short field. The tables give you ground roll and total to clear a 50 feet obstacle on approach. The Cessna Information Manual 1980 for Model 172N gives 59 knots at 50 feet for landing. That is ample speed and will give you a comfortable float before touch down. That is power on or power at idle for the final approach. A "normal landing approach" with Flaps at 40 degrees gives you a range of speeds 55 knots to 65 knots. And 55 knots is less than the "short field" of 59 knots so try and make sense of that.
59 knots over the fence with full flap is safe as houses and although associated with the terminology "short field", is the airspeed you should use for everyday landings. With airliners the performance charts give you landing distance required and the airspeed at 50 feet. That is the equivalent of the tables marked "Short Field" in the C172 manufacturer's Information Manual. Also note with the C172N there is only five knots difference in the landing speeds between 40 degrees of flap and flaps up. Bit different on the Boeing 737 where the difference is around 50 knots.
Long floats caused by excessive threshold speed are to be avoided as they can lead to a bounced touch-down caused by a pilot trying to "spike" the aircraft nose-wheel first on to the runway and the potential for nose-wheel collapse.