I prefer speeds up to about a 10...the reason most greens here don't see that is because of the difficulty in maintaining a healthy green with grass that short(it's one reason you see pro event greens turning brown on occasion)....another reason is because if you have fast greens you limit the pin positions to areas where there isn't to much slope and since the fine, but mostly non-golfing folks who set the exec greens don't play you get the pins in such silly locations that with fast greens you have people 6 putting....
"Logically a 40 foot putt, or realistically any distance, that allows you to take a considerably shorter and probably more on line stroke will result in better scoring, and will be friendly to all with practice."...not sure how you come up with this conclusion...if you can't putt slowish greens it's more often than not due to not being able to read the line and fast or slow that is a priority...with slow greens you get more foot print retention and that knocks the ball off line(even if you've read it correctly)and it also causes the ball to bounce around more and that also knocks it off line...having fast greens usually only results in better scores by golfers who are better at utilizing that advantage...
The bottom line is that anyone that practices seriously appreciates smooth and quicker greens rather than slow and bumpy(they do go together)and once a serious golfer(and there just aren't that many...although you do have more than enough people who claim to be serious, but don't even know how to practice correctly)gets used to smooth/fast it's easier to find the line and putt on that line...so yes I prefer them fast, but can also putt on slow and bumpy...
As to the controversy you tried to shunt aside(hard to do when you yourself bring it up)the greens are kept slow because they're easier to maintain and the vast majority of golfers here wouldn't be able to consciously appreciate smooth fast greens for the advantage they allow...how do I know....they keep "water" balls available at all times...their practice swing is nothing like their actual swing..."mulligans"..."what rules?"...iron protectors, towel hanging from pocket...ball retriever....don't get me wrong...I play with many of these folks all the time and enjoy playing with them more than most of the "better" golfers...at least most of them realize they will never play really well and just enjoy the time outside....
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