I don't remember going into a field shorter than 2500 feet in my M20J, so don't
really have actual short field experience. Like lots of Mooney jocks though, I
plan my touchdown maybe 1000 feet or so before whatever taxiway I'm planning on
using, and don't often have to use brakes to make the turn. But here's
something I haven't been able to prove one way or the other. Going into a
short field, full flaps, touch down with the stall warning going off and
sometimes bumping the tail skid, I've never been able to tell if it's better
to leave the flaps hanging out and the airplaen light on its wheels in ground
effect for a 100 feet or so, depending on aerodynamic drag, or to suck in the
flaps late in the flare, getting full weight on the gear sooner so braking is
more effective. My own practice is to, when the nose is high and the airplane
is about to touch down, to retract the flaps so as to assure it's damn well
done flying, and that leads to short runouts, but does anyone know with some
level of certainty what's realy the best way to land short (other than keeping
the gear retracted, of course.)

I appreciate that it's an academic question and that the difference between the
two techniques isn't significant. I haven't been able to in a reliable way
tell the difference, but to be honest, I don't do heavy breaking unless it's
necessary.

Thanks