I have a commercial pilot friend who once commented to me the difference between "good" landings as far as pilots and pax are concerned.

Passengers consider a 'good' landing to be a gentle one.

Pilots consider a 'good' landing to be one where the wheels touch down early enough that you still have thousands of feet of runway out in front of you.

In other words, a 'gentle' landing in the middle of the runway is a bad landing; a somewhat bumpy one right at the start of the runway is a good one.