Payette Airport (S75)

From Weiser we followed the river at about 500 feet AGL, the air was calm and views were awesome – this was by far the best leg of the flight!  But now to be honest, I failed after arriving at Payette. Upon entering the pattern I was way too close to the runway on my downwind leg, base turn was pretty much 180 degrees and then I had to over correct to get back onto final. Lastly I was distracted with the two golf carts that pulled up and parked to watch me land right at the end of the runway! I knew I was a bit low and the distraction from the golf carts threw off my airspeed (looking down and seeing 60mph is not good). Slow airspeed, no power and 40 degrees of flaps caused me to land hard with a fast ground roll. After landing I’m swerving down the runway looking at the soft dirt off my left side thinking “so this is how you crash an airplane – I thought it would be more dramatic”.

Questions: I like to fly low over unpopulated areas, I understand some of the risk but what are your tips so that I can do it safely?  As with the landing in Payette, it was a good lesson and I’m open to feedback!