For me, hovering close to the ground is considerably easier because you take a lot of the wind out of play & in general the closer you are to it the easier it is to control. Plus if you screw up you just chop the throttle & let it drop with very little or no damage (on my profile anyway)
I'm still relatively new to 3D, but I will routinely stand a few feet away from my foamies while hovering & torque rolling them & maybe it's psychological but it just seems so much easier when I'm closer. (plus the prop wash keeps you cool on a hot day)

Now, for my glow planes I also hover them right down to the deck but I don't walk anywhere near as close to them because of the meat grinder effect.

I will still walk out, but I leave myself plenty of room for mistakes & wind gusts. The foamy would still hurt & can injure but I'm not near as worried about it as I am a big 4 stroke coming at me.