I've never heard this particular line of thinking before, but I have heard good players (including Jay Sigel) opine that on a par-3 or a short approach, you should be able to see the bottom of the flagstick because that's your target, whereas on longer approaches you're just trying to hit the green. I asked Jay about the 13th at Merion, and he said he didn't like it for just this reason. So I filed it away, Pete Dye style, as a potential way to get in good players' heads.